Biotech Financing Options and Their Implications

Prior to joining CAMP4 as Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ann Barbier was Chief Medical Officer of Translate Bio, leading the development of an inhaled mRNA for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis. Her prior experience includes positions at Agios, Shire, Envivo, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis. During her career, Dr. Barbier has made significant contributions to several approved products such as Elaprase® (Hunter syndrome), Aubagio® (multiple sclerosis), Firazyr® (hereditary angioedema) and Pyrukynd® (pyruvate kinase deficiency) and has led several investigational new drug applications for new chemical entities. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Pieris Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, she has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Barbier received her M.D. and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and a Master of Science from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. She pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Tariq Kassum brings nearly 20 years of experience in corporate development, strategy, and business leadership to Celsius. He joined the company in 2019 from Obsidian Therapeutics, where he was a co-founder and served as chief operating officer and head of corporate development. During this time, Dr Kassum helped build Obsidian into a leading platform technology company and played a central role in the company’s strategic partnership with Celgene. Prior to Obsidian, Dr Kassum spent seven years with Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Takeda, most recently as vice president, business development and strategy for Takeda Oncology, responsible for transactions, collaborations, alliance management and strategic planning. Before that, he led Takeda’s global corporate development efforts, where he managed multiple acquisitions and divestitures in the US and internationally. He was also part of the business development team at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.Prior to Takeda, Dr Kassum was an analyst covering healthcare equities for institutional investment firms, where he led scientific due diligence and investment decisions on numerous companies and pharmaceutical compounds across multiple therapeutic areas. He began his career as an investment banker with CIBC World Markets, serving clients in the biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals industries.Dr Kassum holds an MD from the University of Toronto and an AB from Cornell University.

Geoff Meyerson is CEO and Co-founder of Locust Walk. He brings a track record of success in investment banking, venture capital and licensing where he has closed >50 transactions of all varieties including playing a role in a majority of Locust Walk’s closed transactions.Prior to Locust Walk, Mr Meyerson worked in business development at a venture-backed biotech company, Zelos Therapeutics, where he was on the management team and negotiated a drug delivery collaboration with Aegis Therapeutics. Before Zelos, he worked as a venture capitalist at SR One, the venture capital subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, where he closed eight financings in the US and Europe. His first and most active investment where he co-lead the due diligence was for Algeta, a Norwegian radiopharma company with a product for bone metastasis. They concluded a $3B sale to Bayer, received FDA approval for their product Xofigo, and achieved a >20x return to investors. Mr Meyerson also worked at MedImmune in business development helping with their small molecule strategy, which resulted in three transactions, where he also assisted with two other transactions. He got his start as an investment banker in UBS’ Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group, where he closed 12 financing and M&A transactions with a variety of life sciences companies.He holds an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School, a Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in Economics from Duke University.