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news.OrbiMed, an investment management firm focused on the healthcare sector, has expanded its investment team into Israel. Nissim Darvish, senior managing director, Anat Naschitz and Erez Chimovits, managing directors and Aya Jakobovits, venture partner, will form the core of OrbiMed’s Israeli team.
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OrbiMed said that the Israeli team is expected to collaborate closely with its global team of nearly 40 professionals to invest in companies across all stages of development.
In addition, OrbiMed has qualified to participate in the Israeli government-backed public-private program that funds venture groups investing in Israeli life sciences.
Mr Darvish is a veteran of the life sciences industry, with 15 years of experience covering medical technology development, corporate leadership and investment management. He spent eight years with Pitango, where he was a general partner managing life sciences investments. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Impulse Dynamics.
Ms Naschitz has over 15 years of international healthcare operational and investment experience. She spent seven years with McKinsey & Company in London, where she was an associate partner, managing strategy and M&A projects for senior leadership of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. She led pharmaceutical spinout work resulting in the creation of two European biotech companies, which subsequently had IPOs for over $1bon.
She then joined Apax Partners, where she focused on life sciences investments. More recently, she worked with investors and companies on transactions and corporate strategy and served as a director/advisor to the boards of multiple medical device and biopharmaceutical companies.
Mr Chimovits has 14 years of operational experience, including 10 years of senior managerial experience in publicly traded biotech companies. He is currently the CEO of NasVax, a company developing improved vaccine and immunotherapeutic products.
Under his leadership NasVax acquired Protea and struck agreements with GSK and Novartis. Previously, he spent more than seven years with Compugen, most recently as president of Compugen US and executive VP of commercial operations at Compugen. At Compugen, he had P&L responsibility for more than 100 people and led multiple transactions with blue chip pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Teva, Abbott, Medarex and others.
Ms Jakobovits is currently EVP, head of R&D at Agensys, a subsidiary of Astellas Pharma. Previously she was director of discovery research and principal scientist at Abgenix, which she founded. Abgenix was acquired by Amgen for $2.2bn.
Mr Darvish said: “We plan to tap into the many, attractive biopharmaceutical and medical device investment opportunities in Israel.”
Jonathan Silverstein, general partner of OrbiMed, said: “OrbiMed has been investing in Israel for over a decade, with notable transactions including Given Imaging, SuperDimension and Predix, subsequently acquired by Epix.
“We believe the outstanding level of local innovation creates a fertile landscape for venture capital. Our Israeli team has an impressive investment and operational track record and has gained our confidence over years of collaboration.
“The current expansion is part of our overall plan to build the firm’s geographic presence. Most recently, we expanded into Asia, where we launched a $185m Asia-focused healthcare private equity fund and opened offices in Mumbai and Shanghai. Our commitment in all regions is to become the capital provider of choice for life sciences companies pursuing growth and new opportunities.”