Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW) has announced the appointment of healthcare industry and venture capital veteran, Dr Geoff Brooke, as Chairman, effective 1 March.
The appointment adds significant life science and financial expertise to the Actinogen Board, with Dr Brooke having three decades international experience as the founder, lead investor and/or Chairman/Director of numerous healthcare companies with a realised value of more than $1.5 billion.
He was the Managing Director and Founder of leading life sciences venture capital firm, GBS Ventures - one of Asia Pacific’s premier investors in the healthcare space. He was responsible for GBS’s healthcare venture activity in the region and raised $450 million in venture and private equity funds, focused on biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and services.
He was also responsible for numerous investments and exits via NASDAQ and ASX public listings and trade sales, as well as being lead investor in numerous investments syndicated in multiple rounds with premier US venture firms.
Dr Brooke was also President and Founder of US-based seed healthcare venture capital firm, Medvest, with investors including the venture capital arm of leading global multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson.
Medvest was focused on founding companies based upon health care-related technology, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, therapeutic devices, medical services and information systems.
Dr Brooke now acts a private investor in, and independent director for, a number of small to medium-sized Australian and US private and public companies, including Non-Executive Director for ASX-listed company, Acrux (ASX:ACR).
“We are thrilled to have someone of Geoff’s calibre joining Actinogen as Chairman. Geoff brings a wealth of expertise across the Australian and US listed healthcare space and in-depth knowledge of all aspects of financing healthcare and life sciences companies,” said Dr Bill Ketelbey, CEO of Actinogen Medical.
“His knowledge will be invaluable as we progress through to study completion and data read-out of our XanADu Phase II clinical trial - the largest global Alzheimer’s dementia study conducted by an Australian biotech company – which is on target to treat first patients with Xanamem in early Q2 2017.”