Arix Bioscience plc

Arix names Dr Roberto Iacone as Entrepreneur in Residence

New role extends collaboration with Takeda Ventures to identify opportunities for early stage investment and creation of biotechnology companies

LONDON, 9 March 2020: Arix Bioscience plc (LSE:ARIX) ("Arix"), a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies today announced the appointment of Dr. Roberto Iacone as Entrepreneur in Residence (“EiR”). In his new role, Roberto will focus on company creation, sourcing early stage European investment opportunities that Arix will jointly fund with its partner, Takeda Ventures, Inc. the strategic venture investing arm of Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Roberto has over 15 years’ experience in the life sciences sector. He joins Arix from his role as EiR at Versant Ventures where he was involved in the successful founding of new companies, including Black Diamond Therapeutics, where he served as VP Biology. Previously, Roberto was the Director and Global Head of the Rare Diseases Research Division at Roche, where he was employed for 10 years. During his tenure at Roche, he was responsible for generating disease area strategies and advancing several assets for immunological and neurological disease from discovery to early clinical development, which included both large and small molecule programs. He obtained his MD/PHD from the Max Planck Institute and University of Naples Federico II.

Joe Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Roberto to the investment team. Roberto brings a wealth of international experience and excellent track record of creating companies that foster exciting science. He will be a valuable addition to Arix and Takeda as we work together to create innovative new companies that address serious medical need.”  

Mike Martin, Head of Takeda Ventures commented:

“Takeda has a leading partnership model that values external collaboration to unlock innovation no matter where it resides. My colleagues and I look forward to working with Roberto and the rest of the team at Arix to identify exciting opportunities to create early-stage companies that could one day deliver transformational medicines to patients.”

Roberto Iacone commented: “Arix has a superb portfolio of innovative companies and I am very excited to be working with such an experienced investment team. The partnership with Takeda is a fantastic opportunity for both companies to work together to build exciting biotech companies and their respective pipelines.”

Roberto will be the second Entrepreneur in Residence at Arix after Munich based Christian Schetter, who joined in December 2018.  Roberto will be based in Basel.

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Enquiries

For more information, please contact:

Arix Bioscience plc
Charlotte Parry, Head of Investor Relations
+44 (0)20 7290 1072
charlotte@arixbioscience.com  

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Shabnam Bashir
+44 (0)20 3950 9144
optimum.arix@optimumcomms.com

About Arix Bioscience Plc

Arix Bioscience plc is a global venture capital company focused on investing in and building breakthrough biotech companies around cutting edge advances in life sciences.

We collaborate with exceptional entrepreneurs and provide the capital, expertise and global networks to help accelerate their ideas into important new treatments for patients. As a listed company, we are able to bring this exciting growth phase of our industry to a broader range of investors.

www.arixbioscience.com