Chris Varma, Co-Founder And Former President And CEO Of Blueprint Medicines, Joins MPM Capital As Entrepreneur-In-Residence

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MPM Capital has appointed Chris Varma, PhD, as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In this role, Chris will primarily be responsible for advancing MPM’s oncology company creation activities. An experienced entrepreneur and investor in the industry, he has held leadership roles at multiple early-stage, venture-backed biomedical startup companies.

“We look forward to Chris’ contributions to our already substantial oncology company creation and investing activities”

“We look forward to Chris’ contributions to our already substantial oncology company creation and investing activities,” said Ansbert Gadicke, MPM co-founder and Managing Director. “Since closing our Oncology Impact Fund early last year, we’ve already made 11 investments in that fund and 10 oncology-related investments in our BV2014 Fund, the majority of which were founded and incubated by MPM.”

As co-founder of Blueprint Medicines (Nasdaq: BPMC), an oncology therapeutics company, Chris served as its President and Chief Executive Officer and was responsible for developing its platform, recruiting leadership and scientific teams, raising a $40M Series-A financing, and building its therapeutic pipeline - now in clinical testing. Most recently, Chris co-founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vision Medicines, Inc., an orphan ophthalmology company.

Chris earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences & Technology, his MS in Management and Computer Science from Stanford University, and his BS in Computer Science from Stanford University. He currently serves as a member of the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Therapeutics Advisory Council and the HMS Discovery Council. He is also a leadership board member of The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and a member of the board of directors of the Global Oncology Initiative (GO).

About MPM Capital — MPM Capital (http://www.mpmcapital.com) is an early-stage life sciences venture firm founding and investing in companies that seek to cure major diseases by translating scientific innovations into positive clinical outcomes. MPM’s portfolio of companies aims to revolutionize the face of medicine across multiple areas including cancer, diabetes, obesity, pain, eHealth and more. With its experienced and dedicated team of operating executives and medical and scientific advisory board, MPM is powering novel medical breakthroughs that transform patients’ lives.