Forbion appoints Dr. Peter Høngaard Andersen as Operating Partner and Dr. Matt Cooper as Venture Partner
Naarden, The Netherlands – 20 July 2022 – Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, today announces the appointments of Dr. Peter Høngaard Andersen and Dr. Matt Cooper as Operating Partner and Venture Partner, respectively, expanding the Forbion team, network and expertise investing in drug development companies that impact the future of medicine, especially in the disease areas of CNS, autoimmunity and inflammation.
Dr. Andersen has had a longstanding, successful career in the life sciences, and has held various leadership positions at global pharma companies, including Lundbeck A/S and Novo Nordisk in R&D, IP, litigation, public affairs, strategic development, business development and mergers and acquisitions. In his career, he has co-founded a number of biotech companies including Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Zealand Pharmaceuticals, Glycom and Epitherapeutics. Most recently, Dr. Andersen has acted as an Adjunct Professor at the Copenhagen Business School in Health Care Innovation, and was Founder and Managing Director of Innovation Fund Denmark between 2014 and 2019 formed from a merger of three independent funds. He received his Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Copenhagen Medical School. Dr. Andersen was Chairman of Forbion portfolio company Prexton Therapeutics, before it was successfully sold to Lundbeck A/S for up to $1Bn.
Dr. Cooper brings extensive experience in life science platforms, clinical diagnostics and therapeutics for inflammatory, autoimmune and infectious diseases. He has founded or co-founded six companies including Sitala and Inflazome in the Forbion portfolio. The latter was acquired in September 2020 by Roche for $450m plus further substantial milestone payments. He was also the founder of the Center for Superbug Solutions, Community for Open Access Antibiotic Discovery & Center for Drug Discovery and Design at the University of Queensland, where he was a NHMRC Australia Fellow, following research at Cambridge University. Dr Cooper has more than 350 academic publications and over 200 patents and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr. Peter Høngaard Andersen, newly appointed Operating Partner at Forbion commented: “I was attracted to Forbion because of its reputation as one of Europe’s leading life sciences venture capital firms. Moreover, contrary to most Venture Capitalists, Forbion has shown significant interest and activity in diseases of the central nervous system, my personal focus throughout my career. I therefore look forward to working closely with the wider team and to further help build great companies in this high-impact space.”
Dr. Matt Cooper, newly appointed Venture Partner at Forbion commented: “Forbion is one of the leading European venture teams with substantial resources and know-how that can help drive new medicines into the clinic. I am impressed by the knowledge, experience and attitude of individuals from all reaches of the life science sector in the team, their high ethical standards and relentless focus on solutions for patients suffering from diseases without adequate treatment.”
Marco Boorsma, General Partner at Forbion noted: “Peter and Matt are recognized leaders in the drug discovery and development space and we have worked with them successfully for many years. Their networks, experience and expertise will be instrumental in supporting Forbion’s successful strategy of building and growing new companies in areas of high medical need.”
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For more information please contact:
Forbion and BGV
Laura Asbjornsen
Email: laura.asbjornsen@forbion.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Ashley Tapp, Sue Charles
Email: forbion@consilium-comms.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700
About Forbion
Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany and Singapore. Forbion invests in life sciences companies that are active in the (bio-) pharmaceutical space. Forbion manages well over EUR 2 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-) pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion’s current team consists of over 30 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with successful investments in 92 companies. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. Its investors include the EIF, through its European Recovery Programme (ERP), LfA, Dutch Venture Initiative (DVI), AMUF and EFSI facilities and KfW Capital through the Programme, “ERP – Venture Capital Fonds investments”. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.
For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com
