Arix Bioscience plc Dr Roberto Iacone appointed as EiR

 
TIDMARIX 
 
Arix Bioscience plc 
 
           Arix names Dr Roberto Iacone as Entrepreneur in Residence 
 
 New role extends collaboration with Takeda Ventures to identify opportunities 
      for early stage investment and creation of biotechnology companies 
 
LONDON, 9 March 2020: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX) ("Arix"), a global venture 
capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech 
companies today announced the appointment of Dr. Roberto Iacone as Entrepreneur 
in Residence ("EiR"). In his new role, Roberto will focus on company creation, 
sourcing early stage European investment opportunities that Arix will jointly 
fund with its partner, Takeda Ventures, Inc. the strategic venture investing 
arm of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. 
 
Roberto has over 15 years' experience in the life sciences sector. He joins 
Arix from his role as EiR at Versant Ventures where he was involved in the 
successful founding of new companies, including Black Diamond Therapeutics, 
where he served as VP Biology. Previously, Roberto was the Director and Global 
Head of the Rare Diseases Research Division at Roche, where he was employed for 
10 years. During his tenure at Roche, he was responsible for generating disease 
area strategies and advancing several assets for immunological and neurological 
disease from discovery to early clinical development, which included both large 
and small molecule programs. He obtained his MD/PHD from the Max Planck 
Institute and University of Naples Federico II. 
 
Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am delighted to welcome 
Roberto to the investment team. Roberto brings a wealth of international 
experience and excellent track record of creating companies that foster 
exciting science. He will be a valuable addition to Arix and Takeda as we work 
together to create innovative new companies that address serious medical need." 
 
 
Mike Martin, Head of Takeda Ventures commented: 
 
"Takeda has a leading partnership model that values external collaboration to 
unlock innovation no matter where it resides. My colleagues and I look forward 
to working with Roberto and the rest of the team at Arix to identify exciting 
opportunities to create early-stage companies that could one day deliver 
transformational medicines to patients." 
 
Roberto Iacone commented: "Arix has a superb portfolio of innovative companies 
and I am very excited to be working with such an experienced investment team. 
The partnership with Takeda is a fantastic opportunity for both companies to 
work together to build exciting biotech companies and their respective 
pipelines." 
 
Roberto will be the second Entrepreneur in Residence at Arix after Munich based 
Christian Schetter, who joined in December 2018.  Roberto will be based in 
Basel. 
 
 
[ENDS] 
 
 
Enquiries 
 
For more information, please contact: 
 
Arix Bioscience plc 
Charlotte Parry, Head of Investor Relations 
[phone] 
[e-mail] 
 
Optimum Strategic Communications 
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Shabnam Bashir 
[phone] 
[e-mail] 
 
About Arix Bioscience Plc 
 
Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused on investing in 
and building breakthrough biotech companies around cutting edge advances in 
life sciences. 
 
We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, 
expertise and global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new 
treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring this 
exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of investors. 
 
www.arixbioscience.com 
 
 
 
END 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 09, 2020 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)