David Grainger
Born (1966-10-12) October 12, 1966
Alma materCambridge University
Occupation(s)venture capitalist, medicxi, biotechnology executive, Methuselah Health Ltd., blogger

David Grainger is a partner at medicxi, a European life sciences-oriented venture capital firm[1] and chief executive officer of Methuselah Health Ltd., a drug development company doing proteomics research in the longevity space.[2][3]

He was formerly with Index Ventures, an international venture capital firm with offices in London, Geneva and San Francisco,[4] in the firm's life sciences practice. He also writes for Forbes.com on topics related to the pharmaceutical industry.[5]

Education

Reared in England, Grainger graduated with degree in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) from Cambridge University in 1989, and a PhD in Vascular Cell Biology from the same institution in 1992.[6]

Career

After receiving his PhD, Grainger undertook post-doctoral research in the British Heart Foundation Smooth Muscle Cell laboratory at Cambridge University.[7] Following publications in Nature[8] and elsewhere[9] setting out his Protective Cytokine Hypothesis explaining the role of the cytokine TGF-beta 1 in the cardiovascular system,[10] Grainger was appointed principal investigator in the Department of Medicine at his alma mater, Cambridge University, in 1997.[11]

While at Cambridge University, Grainger founded life sciences companies including FingerPrint Diagnostics (2001),[12] and Funxional Therapeutics (2005).[13] FingerPrint Diagnostics merged with SmartBead Technologies to form Pronostics, a molecular diagnostics company, in 2006.[12][14] Funxional Therapeutics, based on an anti-inflammatory drug candidate spun-out from Grainger's Cambridge University lab, became an Index Ventures portfolio company where Grainger also served as chief scientific officer[13] until it was sold to Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012.[15]

Grainger joined Index Ventures in 2012,[16] and a blogger on topics related to the pharmaceutical industry under the pen name “DrugBaron”.[17] where he was involved with funding and advising a variety of companies, including XO1,[18] a biotech company developing an anticoagulant, where he served as chairman and interim CEO before it was sold to Johnson & Johnson[19][20][21] He co-founded medicxi in February 2016 with fellow former Index Ventures partners Francesco De Rubertis, Kevin Johnson and Michele Ollier.[1][22]

Publications and Patents

Grainger has co-authored a number of papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals,[23] including Nature,[8] Science[24] and Nature Medicine.[25]

Grainger formerly blogged under the pen name “DrugBaron” on a range of topics related to the pharmaceutical industry,[26] and now has a column on similar topics on Forbes.com.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Backed by J&J and Glaxo, veteran VC group splits from Index, unveils $227M fund". FierceBiotech. 1 February 2016.
  2. "Methuselah Health CEO David Grainger is out to aid longevity". FierceCEO. 4 January 2018.
  3. "Methuselah Health Using Protein PTM Analysis to Tackle Age-Related Diseases". GenomeWeb. 28 February 2018.
  4. "Index Ventures Raises $442 Million in New Fund". New York Times Dealbook. 17 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Forbes.com Contributor column: David Grainger". Forbes.
  6. "BusinessWeek profile: David Grainger". Archived from the original on 18 January 2014.
  7. "Heart Disease Breakthrough Claimed". Nature Medicine. 25 November 2002.
  8. 1 2 Grainger DJ, Kemp PR, Liu AC, Lawn RM, Metcalfe JC (1994). "Activation of transforming growth factor-beta is inhibited in transgenic apolipoprotein(a) mice". Nature. 370 (6489): 460–2. Bibcode:1994Natur.370..460G. doi:10.1038/370460a0. PMID 8047165. S2CID 4318812.
  9. Grainger, David (2007). "TGF-β and atherosclerosis in man". Cardiovascular Research. 74 (2): 213–22. doi:10.1016/j.cardiores.2007.02.022. PMID 17382916.
  10. Grainger DJ (2005). "Transforming growth factor beta and atherosclerosis: so far, so good for the protective cytokine hypothesis". Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 24 (3): 399–404. doi:10.1161/01.ATV.0000114567.76772.33. PMID 14699019.
  11. "Index Ventures backs novel anticoagulant". Mednous. 17 June 2013.
  12. 1 2 "Cambridge merger creates Pronostics". Biotech Business week. 7 August 2006.
  13. 1 2 "Boehringer Ingelheim acquires Funxional products". thepharmaletter. 24 July 2012.
  14. "Revolutionary Coronary Test Ends Heartache for Patients and NHS". BusinessWeekly. 31 January 2007.
  15. "Boehringer buys PhII respiratory drug program". FierceBiotech. 23 July 2012.
  16. "Is Big Pharma Learning from Its Late-Stage R&D Setbacks?". Forbes.com. 7 June 2013.
  17. "To Save Pharma R&D, David Grainger Says Drug Developers Must Think Like CEOs Of Lean Startups". Forbes.com. 14 December 2013.
  18. "XO1 Cracks Coagulation Conundrum, Raises $11M". BioWorld News. 16 June 2013.
  19. "XO1 Raises $11M From Index Ventures to Develop Anticoagulant Drug". Dow Jones. 17 June 2013.
  20. "Index Ventures Invests $11 Million on Clot-Busting Drug". Bloomberg News. 16 June 2013.
  21. "Venture capitalists ride biotech wave one drug at a time". Reuters. 10 April 2015.
  22. "J&J and GSK join Medicxi's European life sciences push". FT. 2 February 2016.
  23. "Google Scholar search: David J. Grainger".
  24. Grainger, D.J. (1993). "Proliferation of human smooth muscle cells promoted by lipoprotein(a)". Science. 260 (5114): 1655–1658. Bibcode:1993Sci...260.1655G. doi:10.1126/science.8503012. PMID 8503012.
  25. Brindle, Joanne (2002). "Rapid and noninvasive diagnosis of the presence and severity of coronary heart disease using 1H-NMR-based metabonomics". Nature Medicine. 8 (12): 1439–1444. doi:10.1038/nm1202-802. PMID 12447357. S2CID 8676147.
  26. "DrugBaron site".
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