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"We are very pleased to have attracted an outstanding group of investors,who share our vision and strategy on building a premier drug discoveryorganization," said Maxine Gowen, Ph.D., President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer. "Pharmaceutical products that target GPCRs represent over 40% ofmarketed drugs today and these targets provide an attractive starting pointfor new pharmaceutical agents. Trevena's mission will be to utilize a state ofthe art approach to discover and develop novel GPCR-targeted medicines forpatients."
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Dr. Gowen was most recently the Senior Vice President of GlaxoSmithKline'sCenter of Excellence for External Drug Discovery, where she was responsiblefor delivering compounds with therapeutic proof of concept throughpartnerships with biotechnology companies. "We are thrilled to have Maxine'sleadership and believe Trevena is uniquely positioned to develop newGPCR-based drugs, across multiple therapeutic areas, which could be safe andmore effective than current pharmaceuticals," commented Farah Champsi,Managing Partner at Alta Partners.
Trevena has recruited Michael Lark, Ph.D. as Head of Research and MarkStrobeck, Ph.D. as Chief Business Officer. Michael was previously VicePresident of Biology Discovery, at Centocor. Mark was formerly Vice Presidentof Business Development for Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline.
Trevena's drug discovery platform, licensed from Duke University MedicalCenter, is based on extensive research from the laboratories of Robert J.Lefkowitz, M.D., Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, James B. DukeProfessor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Duke University Medical Center andHoward A. Rockman, M.D., Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Duke UniversityMedical Center. Drs. Lefkowitz and Rockman are founders of Trevena and willact as consultants to the company.
In connection with the Series A financing, Farah Champsi, ManagingDirector at Alta Partners, Christopher Mirabelli, Ph.D., Partner at HealthcareVentures, Robert Garland, M.D., Partner at New Enterprise Associates, TerryMcGuire, Managing Partner at Polaris Venture Partners, Ralph Snyderman, M.D.,Chancellor Emeritus, Duke University and James B. Duke Professor of Medicineat the Duke University School of Medicine and Maxine Gowen, Ph.D. joinedTrevena's Board of Directors.
About Alta Partners
Alta Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused onlife sciences investing. Founded in 1996, the firm currently manages$2 billion in committed capital through seven venture fund programs. Altainvests in life sciences companies across the development continuum, fromcompany formation to later-stage opportunities, and has funded more than 120companies in the sector to date. http://www.altapartners.com
About New Enterprise Associates
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a leading venture capital firm focusedon helping entrepreneurs create and build major new enterprises that usetechnology to improve the way we live, work and play. With approximately$8.5 billion in committed capital, NEA's experienced management team hasinvested in over 550 companies, of which more than 160 have gone public andmore than 230 have been acquired. For additional information, visithttp://www.nea.com
About Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners is a partnership of experienced venture capitalinvestors and technology executives. Our mission is to identify and
