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Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D., Managing Member
Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D. is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical business executive with 25 years of experience in management, scientific research, and business development. Throughout his career, Dr. Lichter has applied his exceptional combination of business acumen and deep technical knowledge to creating commercially successful biotech collaborations and identifying the commercial potential of scientific discoveries at their earliest stages. Dr. Lichter is the inventor on 260 patent and patent applications for six Avalon portfolio companies, including 55 issued patents. Dr. Lichter has been either directly responsible for or participated in licensing or merger and acquisition deals valued in excess of $1 billion.
Dr. Lichter led Avalon VIII's investments in Afraxis, Carolus, Otonomy, and Zacharon. Dr. Lichter has served as CEO of all these companies, which has included leading both their business and scientific operations during the companies' formative periods. He is on the boards of directors of all of these companies.
Prior to joining Avalon as a Member of Avalon VIII, Dr. Lichter collaborated with Avalon and Mr. Kinsella on six investments, starting in 1993 when Dr. Lichter was recruited by Mr. Kinsella as the first employee and co-founder of Sequana Therapeutics, a portfolio company of Avalon Ventures V, L.P. ("Avalon V"). In 2000, Mr. Kinsella recruited Dr. Lichter to be the CEO of XenoPharm, a drug safety company which Mr. Kinsella co-founded. Dr. Lichter drove the development of the company and its ultimate acquisition by Deltagen. Dr. Lichter was co-founder and operational manager of Sytera ("Sytera"), an Avalon Ventures VI, L.P. ("Avalon VI") and Avalon VII portfolio company, and CEO of Akesis, an Avalon VII portfolio company. As Sytera's Vice President of Operations and Business Development, Dr. Lichter held various roles in the company and was the inventor on key enabling intellectual property that led to the company's acquisition by Sirion Therapeutics. He was also a founder of InCode BioPharmaceutics. Dr. Lichter also was instrumental in assisting Mr. Kinsella in investing in Syndax ("Avalon VII"), where Dr. Lichter is an observer to the board of directors.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Lichter was Executive Vice President of Business Development at Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM), where he negotiated strategic transactions with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Proctor & Gamble, and served as the in-licensing manager for genomics and discovery central nervous system ("CNS") research at Pfizer. While at Pfizer, Dr. Lichter led the company's investments in Incyte and Celera, both involved in studying innovative links between genetics and disease. Dr. Lichter participated in seven other Pfizer-biotech collaborations and completed over 50 university licensing deals. Dr. Lichter also served as Vice President of Pharmacogenetics at Genset SA, where he was responsible for managing Genset's collaboration with Abbott Labs and developing collaborations with Pharmacia and Upjohn.
Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Lichter held postdoctoral positions in Human Genetics at Yale University and at the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company. Dr. Lichter received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
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