The Seattle- and Bay Area-based venture firm Frazier Healthcare has added industry vet David Socks to its ranks. He’ll be based in Boston, bringing a Massachusetts presence to the healthcare and life sciences-focused firm, which has more than $2 billion under management across seven funds.
“We’re taking a pretty broad approach, because as a firm we’re relatively therapeutic area-agnostic,” Socks said. He’ll be looking at products as opposed to platforms, with preference toward assets in the preclinical or clinical development stages, rather than early research.
“I’ve spent a lot of time looking in the halls of big pharma, but think there are interesting opportunities in biotech companies and academic medical centers as well,” Socks said. He’s now working on finding the assets to launch a couple new companies in Boston, as those venture-minded folk are wont to do.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Socks has worked both in biotechs and in venture capital, and two of the companies he co-founded were in Frazier Healthcare’s portfolio. Most recently, Socks co-founded Incline Therapeutics, which was bought out last year by The Medicines Company for up to $390 million.
Before that, Socks co-founded Cadence Pharmaceuticals in 2004, which notably was acquired by Mallinckrodt last year for $1.3 billion. From 2000 to 2004, he was a venture partner at La Jolla-based Windamere Venture Partners.
The appeal of joining Frazier comes from having “a terrific working relationship over the past 12 years across several companies,” Socks said in a statement. Frazier Healthcare’s statement says he is “enthusiastically welcome,” and that – importantly – Socks gives the venture firm “a valuable presence in the highly innovative, fast-growing Boston life sciences community.”
