Author: KBD Admin

PALO ALTO, Calif. – November 1, 2024 – Frazier Life Sciences (FLS), a longstanding investment firm investing in innovative biopharmaceuticals, today announced the addition of industry veterans John Smither and Jim Williams, MBA, as Senior Advisors.

“John and Jim are seasoned veterans in the field, and each brings a differentiated skill set that will enable us to strengthen our execution across the private and public investment strategies of the firm,” said Patrick Heron, Managing Partner at FLS.

John has over 25 years of financial experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Before joining FLS, John served as the Chief Financial Officer of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc., where he led the company’s successful initial public offering and four follow-on financings. Prior to Arcutis, Smither served as the Chief Financial Officer at Sienna Biopharmaceutics, Kite Pharma, a Gilead Company, Unity Biotechnology and Kythera Biopharmaceuticals. John held several financial positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Finance and Administration for Amgen’s European operations in 28 countries, and served as Executive Director of Corporate Accounting. John is currently on the Boards of NewAmsterdam Pharma (Nasdaq: NAMS) and Genlux Corporation (Nasdaq: GNLX).

“The FLS team has created and supported many successful life sciences companies,” said John. “I am eager to join this team and help make a meaningful impact across the FLS portfolio to continue bringing important innovations to patients in need.”

Jim has over 35 years of investment strategy expertise. Prior to joining FLS, he was the first Chief Investment Officer for the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles which provides funding for Getty’s museums, conservation projects, library and grant program, and a staff of over 1,500 employees focused on the visual arts.  Before that, Jim was President of Harbor Capital Advisors and Harbor’s family of mutual funds.  Jim serves on the Boards of Trustees for Ariel mutual funds and SEI mutual funds. He sits on the Board of the Toigo Foundation, which promotes opportunities for minorities in the financial services industry. 

“I appreciate the commitment FLS has made over the years to deliver novel therapeutics with tangible effects on human health worldwide,” said Jim. “I look forward to contributing to the team’s strategy of accelerating the long-term growth and success of promising biotech companies.”

About Frazier Life Sciences:

Frazier Life Sciences invests globally in private and publicly traded companies that discover, develop, and commercialize innovative biopharmaceuticals. Frazier Life Sciences manages over $3.9 billion in capital, including Venture Funds focusing on company creation and private companies and the long-only Public Fund focused on small and mid-cap public companies. Since 2005, over 60 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by FLS, have completed IPOs or M&As. The Frazier Life Sciences team consists of over 40 professionals with deep expertise in biopharmaceuticals, primarily located in Palo Alto, Calif. (headquarters), San Diego, Seattle, Boston, New York and London.

For more information about Frazier Life Sciences, please visit frazierls.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Simpson has helped build 11 companies that have been acquired or gone public, most recently serving as CEO of Icosavax

PALO ALTO, Calif. September 19, 2024 – Frazier Life Sciences (FLS), a longstanding investment firm investing in innovative biopharmaceuticals, today announced the addition of industry veteran Adam Simpson as Venture Partner in its Company Creation team.

Over the last 25 years, Simpson has served as a co-founder, executive and/or board member of 11 life sciences companies that have either been acquired or gone public. His broad experience from these roles focuses on team building, advancing novel technologies through clinical proof-of-concept and leading significant fundraising, partnerships and acquisitions. He will leverage his financial, operational and emerging company knowledge to support new company innovation and portfolio company growth at FLS. Simpson will be based in Frazier Life Sciences’ San Diego office.

“Adam has a strong track record of successfully building companies that advance technologies through proof of concept and achieve meaningful exits,” said Patrick Heron, Managing Partner at FLS. “We look forward to having his strong biopharmaceutical operational and business development experience on our team as we continue to develop new and innovative companies.”

Simpson most recently served as Co-Founder, CEO and Board Member at Icosavax (Nasdaq: ICVX) through its IPO and subsequent acquisition by AstraZeneca. He built a team that leveraged a virus-like particle platform to advance multiple product candidates into the clinic for respiratory diseases, including an RSV/hMPV combination vaccine through Phase 3 readiness. Earlier in his career, Simpson was CEO and served on the board of PvP Biologics, where he advanced an oral enzyme to treat celiac disease from preclinical candidate into the clinic and led the company’s acquisition by Takeda. He also served as Co-Founder and CBO of Meritage Pharma until its staged sale to Shire, which led to the first FDA-approved oral treatment for eosinophilic esophagitis. Simpson began his career as an attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, focusing on life sciences transactions.

“Joining the team at Frazier Life Sciences gives me the opportunity to bring my years of operational and business development experience to support the creation and growth of multiple new companies on the West Coast,” said Simpson. “I’m excited to work together with the team at Frazier Life Sciences to help our portfolio companies have the necessary team, resources and foundation from the start.”

“With the addition of Adam to the team, we are excited to continue our growth in San Diego,” said Dan Estes, General Partner at FLS. “We look forward to working with Adam to create and grow potentially world class biopharmaceutical companies, bringing novel medicines to patients.”

About Frazier Life Sciences:

Frazier Life Sciences invests globally in private and publicly-traded companies that discover, develop, and commercialize innovative biopharmaceuticals. Frazier Life Sciences manages over $3.9 billion in capital, including venture funds focusing on company creation and private companies and a public long-only fund focused on small and mid-cap public companies. Since 2005, over 60 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by Frazier, have completed IPOs or M&As. The Frazier Life Sciences team consists of over 40 professionals with deep expertise in biopharmaceuticals, primarily located in Palo Alto, Calif. (headquarters), San Diego, Seattle, Boston, New York and London.

Venture Partners are employed by a subsidiary of FLS, provide advisory and consulting service to FLS and often serve in operational positions within FLS portfolio companies or search companies (“SearchCos”). Venture Partners are permitted to receive a material equity position in a portfolio company or SearchCo, and any compensation paid to such Venture Partners is borne directly or indirectly by the portfolio companies, SearchCos or the applicable FLS fund and will not offset any management fees.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Ailsa Dalgliesh, Ph.D.
Head of Investor Relations
ailsa@frazierls.com