Karen Boezi has been involved in building, leading and investing in biopharmaceutical companies for more than 30 years, including over 25 years as a life science institutional venture and angel investor. Currently, she is the Chief Operating Officer of Thirona Bio, a fibrosis company focused on local inhibition of TGF-β, and a Board member and investor in Acrigen Biosciences, a company developing precision gene editing technologies.
In 1991, Karen took her first foray into life science platforms when she invested in and was the start-up manager of NeXagen (NXGN/NXTR). The company developed the oligonucleotide combinatorial chemistry platform called SELEX which generated Macugen. The Company was acquired by Gilead Sciences (GILD) for $550M and spun-out Eyetech (EYET, acquired by OSI) and Somalogic (SLGC). Karen also invested in the radio-conjugate and prodrug platforms that Coulter Pharmaceuticals (CLTR, acquired by Corixa for $900M) was developing which led to the commercialization of one of the first radiolabeled conjugates, Bexxar. As an angel investor, Karen also backed Bioniz (acquired by EQ for up to $330M), a company which developed two currently clinical stage, novel structured-domain peptides, generated with the company’s proprietary multi-cytokine specific inhibitor generation platform. She also advised the academic founder in the formation of Design Therapeutics (DSGN), a company developing GeneTAC™ (Gene Targeted Chimera) molecules from a DNA targeting platform designed to address the underlying cause of inherited nucleotide repeat expansion diseases.
As an operator, Karen was the CEO of Redwood Bioscience, leading the company through its successful sale to Catalent (CTLT). Redwood, now a division of Catalent Biologics, continues to be a pioneer in developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and toxin-linker technology for improving oncology care. Based on research from the lab of Nobel Laureate, Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD, the Redwood division now has a pipeline of 10 ADCs, four of which have been out-licensed. Prior to joining Redwood, Karen was a founding Partner of Thomas, McNerney & Partners (TMP), a health care technology-focused venture firm with $600 million under management. She launched TMP with a colleague from Warburg, Pincus, where she was part of the seed stage life science team, and a partner from Coral Ventures, where she was a General Partner. TMP was recognized for managing one of the top performing 2006 vintage venture funds globally. During her venture and angel careers, she invested in over 20 companies that went public and/or were acquired. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1991, Karen took her first foray into life science platforms when she invested in and was the start-up manager of NeXagen (NXGN/NXTR). The company developed the oligonucleotide combinatorial chemistry platform called SELEX which generated Macugen. The Company was acquired by Gilead Sciences (GILD) for $550M and spun-out Eyetech (EYET, acquired by OSI) and Somalogic (SLGC). Karen also invested in the radio-conjugate and prodrug platforms that Coulter Pharmaceuticals (CLTR, acquired by Corixa for $900M) was developing which led to the commercialization of one of the first radiolabeled conjugates, Bexxar. As an angel investor, Karen also backed Bioniz (acquired by EQ for up to $330M), a company which developed two currently clinical stage, novel structured-domain peptides, generated with the company’s proprietary multi-cytokine specific inhibitor generation platform. She also advised the academic founder in the formation of Design Therapeutics (DSGN), a company developing GeneTAC™ (Gene Targeted Chimera) molecules from a DNA targeting platform designed to address the underlying cause of inherited nucleotide repeat expansion diseases.
As an operator, Karen was the CEO of Redwood Bioscience, leading the company through its successful sale to Catalent (CTLT). Redwood, now a division of Catalent Biologics, continues to be a pioneer in developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and toxin-linker technology for improving oncology care. Based on research from the lab of Nobel Laureate, Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD, the Redwood division now has a pipeline of 10 ADCs, four of which have been out-licensed. Prior to joining Redwood, Karen was a founding Partner of Thomas, McNerney & Partners (TMP), a health care technology-focused venture firm with $600 million under management. She launched TMP with a colleague from Warburg, Pincus, where she was part of the seed stage life science team, and a partner from Coral Ventures, where she was a General Partner. TMP was recognized for managing one of the top performing 2006 vintage venture funds globally. During her venture and angel careers, she invested in over 20 companies that went public and/or were acquired. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Speaking In
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Monday, June 5
