NAARDEN, Netherlands and MUNICH, Germany, May 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forbion, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm, announces the appointment of Silva Deželan PhD, as Forbion’s first Head of Impact & ESG. Silva has over 15 years of experience in ESG integration, sustainability and impact investing, including private equity, most recently as ESG Director at Stafford Capital Partners and before that as Director, Sustainability, Private Equity at Robeco. Silva contributes her knowledge of ESG best-practice to a number of professional organizations, including as vice-chair of Invest Europe’s ESG Committee, and as a member of the Responsible Investment Committee of the Dutch Association for Private Equity and Venture Capital (NVP).
Sander Slootweg, Managing Partner and co-founder of Forbion, said: “Forbion’s purpose is to impact the future of medicine for the benefit of patients. As a highly respected ESG leader in our sector, Silva brings a wealth of experience to Forbion as we further refine our approach to impact and ESG. Silva’s appointment underscores our commitment to embedding sustainability, impact and ESG throughout our investment strategy and process, and more importantly, to supporting our portfolio companies in achieving the highest potential patient impact in their respective disease areas.”
Silva Deželan, Head of Impact & ESG at Forbion, said: “I am extremely impressed by Forbion’s determination to pursue the highest standards in impact and ESG, and to be a catalyst for bold and innovative thinking. As a leading investor that supports ambitious management teams and successful life sciences companies at different stages of development, Forbion is in a position to influence the dissemination of impact and ESG best-practice across many companies. I am excited to be part of this important endeavour within life sciences, a sector with such obvious and significant societal impact.”
Forbion has been enforcing ESG principles for all its investments since 2012, using a framework that includes, among other criteria, ESG risk assessment, monitoring and reporting. Since 2017, the company has been assessing the impact of its investments on patients and society using a distinct scoring mechanism, which takes into account factors such as the severity of the disease being addressed, the level of unmet medical need and the size of the addressable patient population, the curative potential, significance of the innovation, and cost-saving potential.
For more information on how Forbion approaches impact and measures social output, see here.
For more information, please contact:
Forbion Communications
Email: laura.asbjornsen@forbion.com
Head of Communications
Brunswick Group
Ayesha Bharmal, Charis Gresser
Email: Forbion@Brunswickgroup.com
Notes for Editors:
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 €3 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 investments in 95 companies across 8 funds. Forbion’s record of sourcing, building and guiding life sciences companies has resulted in many breakthrough therapies and valuable exits. Portfolio company successes include NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ: NAMS), Gyroscope (acquired by Novartis) and Replimune (NASDAQ: REPL). Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. 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
