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Marc Ostro, Ph.D.General Partner
P: 484.320.4902
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Dr. Ostro has considerable experience as a researcher, entrepreneur, company executive, Wall Street analyst and financial advisor.
After earning a B.S. degree in Biology from Lehigh University in 1971 and his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Syracuse University in 1976, he began studying liposomes as a delivery vehicle, first as a post-doctoral student and then as an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Biology at the University of Illinois Medical School. Dr. Ostro was the first to use liposomes as vehicles to deliver genetic material into cells. As a result of this work, Dr. Ostro was given a Young Investigator Award by the National Institutes of Health.
In 1981, he commercialized his discoveries by co-founding The Liposome Company, one of the first few biotechnology companies in history. The Liposome Company, for which Dr. Ostro served as President, Vice Chairman, and Chief Science Officer, was sold for over $700 million (including contingent rights) in 2000. He played a key role in raising approximately $200 million in equity financing for the Company in three private and five public offerings. While he was at The Liposome Company, he also helped orchestrate four spin-offs and joint ventures, negotiated numerous licensing agreements with pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Europe and Japan, and led a research team that successfully developed two cancer-related products that are now on the market. This accomplishment required Dr. Ostro to become intimately involved in the clinical and regulatory aspects of drug development. These skill sets provide him with the tools necessary for the evaluation of clinical trial designs and regulatory strategies which are integral to the selection of high quality investment opportunities.
Throughout the 1980's, Dr. Ostro was a pioneer in both the science and business of biotechnology. He founded the Journal of Liposome Research and was involved in editing similar peer-reviewed journals, edited two books and authored more than 30 articles, including one in Scientific American, on liposomes while sitting on four scientific advisory boards and organizing numerous international conferences. He holds twelve patents in the U.S. and Europe and was an expert witness for the Senate Subcommittee on Patents and Trademarks. Dr. Ostro continued in his pioneering role in the biotechnology industry when, in 1993, he took his expertise to Wall Street to become the first biotechnology equity analyst with senior biotechnology management experience. He began with Mabon Securities (1993-1994), where he initiated and grew the firm's biotechnology practice. Later, as a Managing Director and a leader of UBS SecuritiesÕ biotechnology analyst group (1994-1997), he played an influential role in the biotechnology public markets. At UBS, he was involved in numerous IPOs and secondary offerings.
In 1997 for a brief period Dr. Ostro became Senior Vice President of Ross Financial Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenneth Dart, a billionaire financier, and was charged with making sizeable, long-term, pro-active biotechnology investments for Mr. Dart's portfolio. Later as Senior Managing Director and Head of KPMG's Life Science Group (1997-2000), he was involved in mergers, acquisitions, private placements for public and private biotechnology companies, in and out licensing of products, and general financial, operational, and technical consulting. While at KPMG, Dr. Ostro also authored three articles on the rationale for mergers within the biotechnology industry.
Dr. Ostro has served on the Board of Directors of eleven biotechnology companies. Dr. Ostro joined Dr. Moller and Dr. Kantesaria in the management of TL VenturesÕ biotechnology portfolio in January 2002.
