Montreal, Quebec – Montreal, January 23, 2013– AmorChem is delighted to welcome Dr. Kevin McBride who is joining the group as Director of Project Management.
“The experience that Dr. McBride gathered in different biotechnology companies throughout his career will be very helpful to AmorChem in both our due diligence efforts and in the execution of the different projects in our portfolio,” says Dr. Inès Holzbaur, General Partner at AmorChem.
“We are very happy to add Dr. McBride to our team. His vast experience in drug discovery fits nicely in the spectrum of our internal expertise,” says Dr. Elizabeth Douville, General Partner at AmorChem.
Dr. McBride’s varied career includes work in academic settings such as the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal, the School of Pharmacy of the University of London and the Montreal Jewish General Hospital as well as in small local biotechnology companies such as Chronogen inc. and Compatigène inc. He also collaborated with an American biotechnology company, En Vivo Pharma inc., the acquirer of a CNS asset which he co-discovered. His expertise is focused on the management of scientific and drug discovery programs aimed at a number of therapeutic indications.
ABOUT AMORCHEM L.P.
AmorChem L.P. (www.amorchem.com) is a venture capital fund located in Montreal focused on investing in promising life science projects originating from Quebec-based universities and research centres. The principal limited partners of this fund are Investissement-Québec, FIER Partenaires, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Merck & Co. This fund is the latest addition to the GeneChem portfolio of funds, a fund manager in existence since 1997. AmorChem’s innovative business model involves financing research-stage projects to enable them to reach pre-clinical proof-of-concept (“POC”) in a semi-virtual mode within 18-24 months. The fund seeks to generate returns through a two-pronged exit strategy: sell projects having reached POC to large biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies; or bundle them into new spin-out companies. The projects will be managed by AmorChem using external resources. To that effect, AmorChem has established a strategic partnership with the Biotechnology Research Institute in order to access its R&D platforms. In addition, to enabling projects requiring small molecules as tools or drug leads, AmorChem has founded NuChem Therapeutics Inc., a medicinal chemistry contract- research company (www.nuchemtherapeutics.com).
Media contacts:
Elizabeth Douville
514-849-6358 elizabeth@amorchem.com
Inès Holzbaur
514-849-7454 ines@amorchem.com
