David Grainger

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David Grainger
Born (1966-10-12) 12 October 1966 (age 58)
Alma mater Cambridge University
Occupation(s) venture capitalist, medicxi, biotechnology executive, Methuselah Health Ltd., blogger

David Grainger is a partner at medicxi, a European life sciences-oriented venture capital firm [1] and chief executive officer of Methuselah Health Ltd., a drug development company doing proteomics research in the longevity space. [2] [3]

Contents

He was formerly with Index Ventures, an international venture capital firm with offices in London, Geneva and San Francisco, [4] in the firm's life sciences practice. He also writes for Forbes.com on topics related to the pharmaceutical industry. [5]

Education

Reared in England, Grainger graduated with degree in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) from Cambridge University in 1989, and a PhD in Vascular Cell Biology from the same institution in 1992. [6]

Career

After receiving his PhD, Grainger undertook post-doctoral research in the British Heart Foundation Smooth Muscle Cell laboratory at Cambridge University. [7] Following publications in Nature [8] and elsewhere [9] setting out his Protective Cytokine Hypothesis explaining the role of the cytokine TGF-beta 1 in the cardiovascular system, [10] Grainger was appointed principal investigator in the Department of Medicine at his alma mater, Cambridge University, in 1997. [11]

While at Cambridge University, Grainger founded life sciences companies including FingerPrint Diagnostics (2001), [12] and Funxional Therapeutics (2005). [13] FingerPrint Diagnostics merged with SmartBead Technologies to form Pronostics, a molecular diagnostics company, in 2006. [12] [14] Funxional Therapeutics, based on an anti-inflammatory drug candidate spun-out from Grainger's Cambridge University lab, became an Index Ventures portfolio company where Grainger also served as chief scientific officer [13] until it was sold to Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012. [15]

Grainger joined Index Ventures in 2012, [16] and a blogger on topics related to the pharmaceutical industry under the pen name “DrugBaron”. [17] where he was involved with funding and advising a variety of companies, including XO1, [18] a biotech company developing an anticoagulant, where he served as chairman and interim CEO before it was sold to Johnson & Johnson [19] [20] [21] He co-founded medicxi in February 2016 with fellow former Index Ventures partners Francesco De Rubertis, Kevin Johnson and Michele Ollier. [1] [22]

Publications and Patents

Grainger has co-authored a number of papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, [23] including Nature , [8] Science [24] and Nature Medicine . [25]

Grainger formerly blogged under the pen name “DrugBaron” on a range of topics related to the pharmaceutical industry, [26] and now has a column on similar topics on Forbes.com. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Backed by J&J and Glaxo, veteran VC group splits from Index, unveils $227M fund". FierceBiotech. 1 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "Methuselah Health CEO David Grainger is out to aid longevity". FierceCEO. 4 January 2018. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "Methuselah Health Using Protein PTM Analysis to Tackle Age-Related Diseases". GenomeWeb. 28 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Index Ventures Raises $442 Million in New Fund". New York Times Dealbook. 17 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Forbes.com Contributor column: David Grainger". Forbes .
  6. ↑ "BusinessWeek profile: David Grainger". Archived from the original on 18 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Heart Disease Breakthrough Claimed". Nature Medicine. 25 November 2002.
  8. 1 2 Grainger DJ, Kemp PR, Liu AC, Lawn RM, Metcalfe JC (1994). "Activation of transforming growth factor-beta is inhibited in transgenic apolipoprotein(a) mice". Nature. 370 (6489): 460–2. Bibcode:1994Natur.370..460G. doi:10.1038/370460a0. PMID   8047165. S2CID   4318812.
  9. ↑ Grainger, David (2007). "TGF-β and atherosclerosis in man". Cardiovascular Research. 74 (2): 213–22. doi: 10.1016/j.cardiores.2007.02.022 . PMID   17382916.
  10. ↑ Grainger DJ (2005). "Transforming growth factor beta and atherosclerosis: so far, so good for the protective cytokine hypothesis". Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 24 (3): 399–404. doi: 10.1161/01.ATV.0000114567.76772.33 . PMID   14699019.
  11. ↑ "Index Ventures backs novel anticoagulant". Mednous. 17 June 2013.
  12. 1 2 "Cambridge merger creates Pronostics". Biotech Business week. 7 August 2006.
  13. 1 2 "Boehringer Ingelheim acquires Funxional products". thepharmaletter. 24 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "Revolutionary Coronary Test Ends Heartache for Patients and NHS". BusinessWeekly. 31 January 2007.
  15. ↑ "Boehringer buys PhII respiratory drug program". FierceBiotech. 23 July 2012.
  16. ↑ "Is Big Pharma Learning from Its Late-Stage R&D Setbacks?". Forbes.com. 7 June 2013.
  17. ↑ "To Save Pharma R&D, David Grainger Says Drug Developers Must Think Like CEOs Of Lean Startups". Forbes.com. 14 December 2013.
  18. ↑ "XO1 Cracks Coagulation Conundrum, Raises $11M". BioWorld News. 16 June 2013.
  19. ↑ "XO1 Raises $11M From Index Ventures to Develop Anticoagulant Drug". Dow Jones. 17 June 2013.
  20. ↑ "Index Ventures Invests $11 Million on Clot-Busting Drug". Bloomberg News. 16 June 2013.
  21. ↑ "Venture capitalists ride biotech wave one drug at a time". Reuters. 10 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "J&J and GSK join Medicxi's European life sciences push". FT. 2 February 2016.
  23. ↑ "Google Scholar search: David J. Grainger".
  24. ↑ Grainger, D.J. (1993). "Proliferation of human smooth muscle cells promoted by lipoprotein(a)". Science. 260 (5114): 1655–1658. Bibcode:1993Sci...260.1655G. doi:10.1126/science.8503012. PMID   8503012.
  25. ↑ Brindle, Joanne (2002). "Rapid and noninvasive diagnosis of the presence and severity of coronary heart disease using 1H-NMR-based metabonomics". Nature Medicine. 8 (12): 1439–1444. doi:10.1038/nm1202-802. PMID   12447357. S2CID   8676147.
  26. ↑ "DrugBaron site".
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