Clarus Ventures Closes $660 Million Fund

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Clarus Ventures, LLC ("Clarus Ventures"), a leading life sciences venture capital firm, announced today the single close of Clarus Lifesciences II, L.P. ("Clarus II"), a $660 million fund in Limited Partner commitments. This is the second investment fund formed and managed by Clarus Ventures, since the firm was established in 2005.

Clarus II will invest $20-60 million in biotechnology, specialty pharmaceutical and medical technology companies that are developing innovative products for the treatment of human diseases. The firm's first fund has committed 90 percent of its proceeds to date.

"We have effectively completed the deployment of our first fund and built a diversified portfolio of exciting companies," said Robert Liptak, a Clarus Ventures Managing Director. "These include companies with strong growth in revenue and profitability such as Globus Medical; products near commercialization such as Sientra, Pelikan, Oxford and Zogenix; and those with breakthrough products and technologies such as Aerovance, Centaurus, CoMentis, ESBATech, Pearl, ProActa, SarCode, Taligen, and Variation. We plan to follow a similar investment strategy for Clarus II. With the diversity and depth of our team we believe we can leverage our experience to identify and help grow leading companies in the life sciences field."

The Limited Partner base for Clarus II was effectively the same as in Clarus I. A small, select group of new high-quality investors who knew the firm well also participated.

The Clarus Ventures team is led by Nicholas Galakatos, Dennis Henner, Jeffrey Leiden, Robert Liptak, Nicholas Simon, Michael Steinmetz and Kurt Wheeler, an established group of investment professionals with deep and complementary backgrounds within the life sciences industry. The team uniquely balances broad investing expertise with leadership experience in major biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

About Clarus Ventures

Founded by a group of accomplished investment professionals with extensive and complementary industry backgrounds, Clarus Ventures is a life sciences venture capital firm with a team that has a long history of success in creating value. Internal operating experience combined with longstanding relationships with key opinion leaders and industry thought leaders and decision makers allow this team to identify unique investment opportunities and shepherd them to maturity. Clarus Ventures augments its core expertise of investing in biopharmaceuticals and medical technology with deep and diverse expertise in research and development, commercialization, business development and operations management at the global level. The firm has $1.2 billion under management and has offices in Cambridge, Mass., and South San Francisco, CA.

For additional information on Clarus Ventures, please visit www.clarusventures.com.

CONTACT: Nicholas Galakatos, Ph.D., +1-617-949-2223, or Robert Liptak,
+1-617-694-2222, both of Clarus Ventures; or Tony Russo of Russo Partners,
+1-212-845-4251

Web site: http://www.clarusventures.com/

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