Regeneron Ventures has formed a venture capital fund focused on promising biopharmaceutical, health care, and health technology companies. The fund’s general partner will be independently managed by former Regeneron executives Jay S. Markowitz, M.D., and Michael Aberman, M.D., who will lead the fund’s investment strategy together. And Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is the fund’s exclusive limited partner and has committed $100 million annually for five years.
Drs. Markowitz and Aberman started their medical careers before transitioning into investing and operational roles in biotech. They also share Regeneron’s patient-centric mission and commitment to doing well by doing good.
Before joining Regeneron Ventures, Michael Aberman, M.D., was the CEO and Co-founder of XenImmune Therapeutics, a seed-stage biotech company. Previously, he was the president and chief executive officer of early-stage biotech company Quentis Therapeutics. Before Quentis, Aberman spent over seven years at Regeneron, most recently as the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategy. In that role, Aberman was a senior management team member responsible for investor relations, corporate communications, business development, and corporate strategy. Aberman joined Regeneron after six years as a biotechnology analyst at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. Previously, Aberman was Director of Business Development at Antigenics, an oncology-focused biotechnology company. Aberman received his B.A. from Cornell University, his medical degree from the University of Toronto, completed residency training in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital, and received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business.
Jay Markowitz, M.D., joined Regeneron Ventures from ARCH Venture Partners, where he was a Senior Partner. In his three years at ARCH, Markowitz founded three companies and served as a board member and advisor for two others. He has 16 years of public market investment experience at T. Rowe Price Associates and Capital World Investors, where he focused on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. From 2017 to 2020, Markowitz was a Senior Vice President at Regeneron. Before his investment career, Markowitz was a transplant surgeon and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed a transplant surgery fellowship at UCLA, a general surgery residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and a research fellowship in cellular and molecular immunology in the division of cancer biology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Markowitz received his M.D. from Duke University, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, and his B.A. in chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, from Columbia University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
KEY QUOTES:
“Understanding that the most groundbreaking, transformative approaches to preventing and treating disease may yet to be discovered, the fund will invest for the long-term, agnostic to therapeutic area, technology and stage of development.”
– Jay S. Markowitz, M.D.
“Our goal is to cultivate an ecosystem where the next generation of biotech companies can thrive, drawing on the lessons learned and successes achieved at Regeneron and throughout our careers. Together, we will strive to identify and support groundbreaking advancements that push the boundaries of what’s possible in science and medicine.”
– Michael Aberman, M.D.
