US life science investment firm establishes European presence in Zurich

Launched in 2019, Adjuvant's debut fund will support promising new technologies for indications that the venture capital industry has largely ignored. To finance these ambitious goals, Adjuvant has assembled a unique coalition of conventional and catalytic investors. In addition to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the group includes Anthos Fund & Asset Management, the Ford Foundation, Global Health Investment Corporation (with funding from the Government of Germany through KfW), Merck, Novartis, among others.

The life science investment firm announced this week that Phillipe Dro will join as a partner and be based in Zurich, Switzerland. As a seasoned biopharma and medical device entrepreneur and executive with more than 25 years of experience, Dro brings significant operational, scientific, technical and product development expertise to the Adjuvant Capital team. He is currently chairman of the Board of Amsterdam-based Scenic Biotech, as well as Swiss companies, Luciole Medical and LimmaTech Biologics.

"We are excited to welcome someone of Philippe's caliber to the Adjuvant team," said Glenn Rockman, managing partner at Adjuvant Capital. "With decades of leadership in the life science and medical device industries as a CEO, founder and investor, Philippe will play an important role in expanding Adjuvant's presence and investment activities across Europe."

Most recently Phillipe Dro served as Chairman of the Board of Mestex AG, a Basel-based company acquired by Grünenthal a few weeks ago. He also served as CEO and member of the Supervisory Board of Swiss-based GlycoVaxyn AG, leading it through its acquisition by GSK in 2015. Earlier in his career, Dr. Dro was chairman and CEO of Endoart S.A., a medtech company, where he led a corporate turnaround that resulted in its acquisition by Allergan. He was part of the founding team of a G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) biotech company, Axovan, which was acquired by Actelion in 2003. Dr. Dro previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry, where he held various operational and managerial positions at Novartis, SkyePharma and Antares Pharma.