Gimv announces it has created a Life Sciences Advisory Board. The new Advisory Board consists of 6 seasoned industry veterans with expertise in drug- and medtech development, company building and M&A. Michel Darnaud (former president cardiac surgery at LivaNova), Peter Hirth (former CEO Plexxikon), Ismail Kola (former CSO UCB), Kasim Kutay (CEO Novo Holdings), Alexandre LeBeaut (CSO Ipsen) and Edwin Moses (former CEO Ablynx) will assist the Gimv Life Sciences team with portfolio development, deal sourcing and assessing general industry trends.

Gimv has been active in Life Sciences since 1982, investing in more than 80 companies and generating a consistent top tier IRR. Successes include Ablynx, Plexxikon, Devgen, Covagen, Prosonix and Endosense. Embedded in the broader Health & Care platform, Gimv’s Life Sciences team is looking to invest in European early and late stage biotech and medtech companies in an amount of EUR 10-25 million per company, with funding coming from Gimv’s balance sheet in an evergreen setting. The Life Sciences team, including partners Karl Nägler, Bram Vanparys and Patrick Van Beneden, manages an active portfolio of 11 companies today and aims to expanding this to 15-20 companies over the coming years.

Karl Nägler: “Creating this advisory board highlights Gimv’s ambitions in the biotech and medtech field for the years to come. At Gimv we want to be partners for ambitious entrepreneurs. By establishing our Advisory Board we broaden the network and add value to our portfolio.”

Bram Vanparys adds “We are very happy to establish a close collaboration with these renowned and successful professionals, each of whom has done great things in our industry. With this collaboration, we can further increase Gimv’s value to patients, portfolio companies and shareholders.”