Page 21 Bain Capital Helthcare
P. 21
When Bain Capital contemplated an investment in a
partially developed neurological drug portfolio from
Pfizer, the firm had to answer two questions:
First, did the compounds show
clinical promise and commercial
differentiation? And, second, could
Bain Capital start a world-class
neuroscience company from scratch?
For patients suffering from devastating
neurological disorders such as Parkin-
sons disease, epilepsy, and schizophre-
nia, the answers, thankfully, were “yes.”
Diseases of the nervous system have
long been of interest to the firm. “One
of the reasons for that interest is that
it’s been a difficult area in which to
develop drugs,” explains Chris Gordon,
Co-Head of Bain Capital’s Private Equity
business and Global Head of Health-
care. “It’s a little counterintuitive, but
the reason it’s an area of interest is that
because
of the challenges, it’s been an
underserved area.”
Not only that, but drug development
also plays to one of the firm’s
distinguishing strengths: the
combination of investment acumen
and scientific expertise.
Building the Right Team
Pfizer believed in the drugs, but
deemed neurological disorders a “non-
core” business, and sought a partner
that could help bring these promising
compounds to market. Having already
partnered with Pfizer on the successful
launch of SpringWorks (see next page),
Bain Capital proposed a new—and
novel—partnership.
“We were approached by well over
100 entities wanting to work with us,”
remembers Morris Birnbaum, Former
Chief Scientific Officer of Internal
Medicine at Pfizer. “Perhaps one of the
most unusual opportunities was when
Bain Capital approached us with the
idea of spinning out a new company,
taking advantage of all those assets.”
“You don’t often see private equity
invest in noncommercial pharma
companies because the nature of
pharmaceutical research is that it’s high
risk,” says Marjin Dekkers, Chairman
of Novalis LifeSciences and a former
Cerevel board member. “It’s the domain
expertise of the Life Sciences group
with the carve-out expertise of Bain
Capital Private Equity that creates this
very unique situation.”
Pfizer also wanted to continue playing
a role in developing the drugs, therefore
choosing a firm with an established
record of partnership was paramount.
So, in 2018, Bain Capital and Pfizer
joined forces once again, and the hard
work of building Cerevel Therapeutics
began.
A Start Up (with a Leg Up)
“We got the opportunity to start from
the very beginning,” says Tony Coles,
Cerevel’s founding Chief Executive
21
Bain Capital
Healthcare
partially developed neurological drug portfolio from
Pfizer, the firm had to answer two questions:
First, did the compounds show
clinical promise and commercial
differentiation? And, second, could
Bain Capital start a world-class
neuroscience company from scratch?
For patients suffering from devastating
neurological disorders such as Parkin-
sons disease, epilepsy, and schizophre-
nia, the answers, thankfully, were “yes.”
Diseases of the nervous system have
long been of interest to the firm. “One
of the reasons for that interest is that
it’s been a difficult area in which to
develop drugs,” explains Chris Gordon,
Co-Head of Bain Capital’s Private Equity
business and Global Head of Health-
care. “It’s a little counterintuitive, but
the reason it’s an area of interest is that
because
of the challenges, it’s been an
underserved area.”
Not only that, but drug development
also plays to one of the firm’s
distinguishing strengths: the
combination of investment acumen
and scientific expertise.
Building the Right Team
Pfizer believed in the drugs, but
deemed neurological disorders a “non-
core” business, and sought a partner
that could help bring these promising
compounds to market. Having already
partnered with Pfizer on the successful
launch of SpringWorks (see next page),
Bain Capital proposed a new—and
novel—partnership.
“We were approached by well over
100 entities wanting to work with us,”
remembers Morris Birnbaum, Former
Chief Scientific Officer of Internal
Medicine at Pfizer. “Perhaps one of the
most unusual opportunities was when
Bain Capital approached us with the
idea of spinning out a new company,
taking advantage of all those assets.”
“You don’t often see private equity
invest in noncommercial pharma
companies because the nature of
pharmaceutical research is that it’s high
risk,” says Marjin Dekkers, Chairman
of Novalis LifeSciences and a former
Cerevel board member. “It’s the domain
expertise of the Life Sciences group
with the carve-out expertise of Bain
Capital Private Equity that creates this
very unique situation.”
Pfizer also wanted to continue playing
a role in developing the drugs, therefore
choosing a firm with an established
record of partnership was paramount.
So, in 2018, Bain Capital and Pfizer
joined forces once again, and the hard
work of building Cerevel Therapeutics
began.
A Start Up (with a Leg Up)
“We got the opportunity to start from
the very beginning,” says Tony Coles,
Cerevel’s founding Chief Executive
21
Bain Capital
Healthcare
