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Acceleron Pharma Closes $30.5M Offering - cbl

By Bill Murphy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Acceleron Pharma Inc. has closed a $30.5 million share offering, raising the amount from 47 investors, according to an SEC filing.

Principals named in the filing by the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company are the following executive officers:

· CEO John Knopf;
· Chief Manufacturing Officer Matthew Sherman;
· CFO and Senior Vice President Kevin McLaughlin;
· Senior Vice President for Manufacturing Robert Steininger; and
· Senior Vice President for Corporate Development Steven Ertel.

Also named in the filing were the following directors:

· Joseph Zakrzewski, CEO of Amrin Corp.;
· George Golumbeski, senior vice president for business development at Summit, N.J.-based Celgene Corp.;
· Anthony Evnin of Cambridge, Mass.-based Venrock Associates;
· Edwin Kania of Cambridge, Mass.-based Flagship Ventures;
· Jean George of Waltham, Mass.-based Advanced Technology Ventures;
· Richard Pops, CEO of Alkermes plc;
· Terrance McGuire of Waltham, Mass.-based Polaris Venture Partners;
· Wylie Vale of the Salk Institute;
· Tom Maniatis, professor at Columbia University;
· Carl Gordon of New York-based OrbiMed Advisors;

Other investors in the company include Boston-based MPM BioEquities; Larchmont, N.Y.-based Bessemer Ventures, with offices in Wellesley Hills, Mass.; and Sutter Hill Ventures, of Palo Alto, Calif.

Acceleron develops therapies that can repair and modulate the growth of a variety of tissue systems.

Reg D filing: http://tinyurl.com/6m8bkvm

Also, at citybizlist see:

VC-Backed Acceleron Pharma Raises $8.4M of $11.5M Offering - cbl

Acceleron Pharma Announces Departure of Jasbir Seehra, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer

Acceleron Pharma expands nearly 20,000SF in Cambridge

Bios from Acceleron site:

JOHN KNOPF, PH.D.
CEO, ACCELERON

In June of 2003, Dr. Knopf worked with co-founder Jasbir Seehra to develop the strategy and found Acceleron Pharma. Dr. Knopf was formerly Site Head of the Wyeth Research facilities, Cambridge, MA and Vice President of Metabolic and Respiratory Disease until late 2002. Dr. Knopf was a key scientist at Genetics Institute from 1982 to 1998, where he participated in the development of pioneering biopharmaceutical products and helped establish GI as a premier biopharmaceutical company. He also established a structure-based small molecule discovery group at GI in Cambridge that has introduced several small molecules into the clinic. Dr. Knopf is the author of several key scientific manuscripts in the area of signal transduction, and of a number of patents. He received his Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo and his bachelor's degree from SUNY at Stonybrook.

MATTHEW L. SHERMAN, M.D.
CMO AND SVP

Dr. Sherman joined Acceleron in May 2006 as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Most recently, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Synta Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for clinical research, clinical operations, biostatistics, data management, regulatory affairs, quality assurance and program management. Previously, Dr. Sherman worked at Genetics Institute and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in various capacities including Therapeutic Area Director for Oncology. While at Wyeth, Dr. Sherman provided senior oncology and hematology leadership for worldwide clinical development for both small molecule and biologic therapeutics, including the submission and approval of Mylotarg® by the FDA. Dr. Sherman is board certified in Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine and held various clinical positions at Harvard Medical School with corresponding hospital appointments at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Sherman holds a B.S. in chemistry Phi Beta Kappa from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. with honors from Dartmouth Medical School. He has published over 75 papers and book chapters on laboratory and clinical development of novel drugs as well as in clinical and molecular pharmacology and holds several patents.

KEVIN MCLAUGHLIN
CFO AND SVP

Mr. McLaughlin joined Acceleron in November 2010. He brings more than 30 years of financial and operating management experience spanning the biotech, high tech and education industries. He most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Qteros, Inc., a cellulosic biofuels company. From 1996 through 2007, Mr. McLaughlin held several executive positions with PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He joined the company as their first Chief Financial Officer where he had responsibility for private financings, partnership financings, the company's initial public offering and subsequent secondary stock offerings. Later, Mr. McLaughlin became COO, and then President and CEO, as well as serving as a member of the Board of Directors. In this capacity he was responsible for negotiating the sale of the company to GlaxoSmithKline. He began his career in senior financial roles at Prime Computer and Computervision Corporation. Mr. McLaughlin received a B.S. from Northeastern University and M.B.A. from Babson College.

ROBERT STEININGER
SVP, MANUFACTURING

Mr. Steininger joined Acceleron in March 2007 as Senior Vice President, Manufacturing. He was previously the Vice President of Process Sciences at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing the processes for the bulk production of both large and small molecule clinical candidates. Mr. Steininger also served as a VP within the Millennium Product and Portfolio Management organization. Prior to joining Millennium, he held multiple roles at Genetics Institute (now Wyeth Pharmaceuticals) from 1984 to 2000, including Director of Clinical Production, Director of Process Technology, Director of Regulatory Affairs, and Senior Director of Research, Genomics. Mr. Steininger is a member of the advisory board for the Massachusetts chapter of ISPE, an Advisory Board member of the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and on the Biotechnology Advisory Board for the RISTA program at the Cambridge High School. He has been involved in setting up Biotechnology outreach programs with local grade schools and high schools while at Wyeth and Millennium. Mr. Steininger received a S.B. in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

STEVEN ERTEL
SVP, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT

Mr. Ertel joined Acceleron in January 2006 to lead the business development, market development, and investor/public relations functions. His experience spans the continuum from drug discovery to commercialization. He has worked at leading biotechnology companies including Genentech, Biogen Idec, and Synta Pharmaceuticals where he has led project teams of preclinical and clinical stage programs, ran a market development department, launched a novel biologic agent, and directed business development activities. Additionally, Mr. Ertel has experience in venture capital at Oxford Bioscience Partners. He has a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

ANTHONY B. EVNIN, PH.D.
VENROCK ASSOCIATES

Tony Evnin joined Venrock in 1974, has been a General Partner since 1975, and a Managing General Partner since 1980. He is based in Venrock's New York office, focuses on investments in life sciences, healthcare, and material sciences and led financing of many biotech companies over the last 25 years. Tony is a Director of Caliper Technologies Corporation, Sonic Innovations, Inc., Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc and a number of private companies, including Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc., AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Icagen, Inc., Memory Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Renovis, Inc., and Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., He previously served on the boards of Athena Neurosciences Inc. (acquired by Elan Corporation), Centocor, Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Genetics Institute (acquired by Wyeth Corporation), IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., SUGEN, Inc. (acquired by Pharmacia & Upjohn Company), and Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc.). Tony is a Trustee of Princeton University and Rockefeller University. He previously held positions at Story Chemical and Union Carbide Corporation. Tony has a A.B. degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

JEAN GEORGE
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY VENTURES

Jean George joined Advanced Technology Ventures in 2002 with 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including 10 years at Genzyme Corporation. Jean assesses new deals in the life sciences and therapeutics markets, and utilizes her operational skills to actively assist portfolio companies on their strategic planning and development. Jean is currently on the Boards of Critical Therapeutics, Inc., Hypnion, Inc., and Proteolix, Inc. Prior to joining ATV, Jean was a Director at BancBoston Ventures, where she led the health care team's investment activity in NuGenesis Technologies Corp., Microbia, Inc., Syntonix Pharmaceuticals and Neurometrix, Inc. Previously, during Jean's tenure at Genzyme, she held a variety of operational roles in marketing, product development and business development, including Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. Jean was a member of the founding team of the Genzyme Tissue Repair Division, and held responsibilities for identifying new product opportunities and potential acquisition candidates for the Therapeutic Products Division. In addition to her extensive operating background, Jean spent six years working in chemistry and bioresearch fields. Jean earned an MBA from Simmons College Graduate School of Management and a BS in Biology from the University of Maine.

CARL L. GORDON, PH.D., CFA
ORBIMED ADVISORS

Mr. Gordon is active in both private equity and small-capitalization public equity investments. He was a senior biotechnology analyst at Mehta and Isaly from 1995 to 1997. He was a Fellow at The Rockefeller University from 1993 to 1995. Mr. Gordon received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His doctoral work involved studies of protein folding and assembly. He received a Bachelors degree from Harvard College.

EDWIN M. KANIA, JR.
FLAGSHIP VENTURES

Flagship Ventures manages over $700 million in committed capital including the OneLiberty Funds. Prior to co-founding Flagship Ventures in 1999, Mr. Kania spent 15 years as Managing General Partner of OneLiberty Ventures and as General Partner at its predecessor firm, Morgan Holland Ventures. His direct investment experience covers over 100 companies. In addition, he has been intimately involved in the launch and development of more than a dozen companies as the founding and lead investor. Mr. Kania is currently a director of Aspect Medical Systems (Nasdaq: ASPM), EXACT Sciences (Nasdaq: EXAS), and several private companies. He holds a degree in physics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

TERRANCE G. MCGUIRE
POLARIS VENTURE PARTNERS

Terry McGuire is a co-founder and managing general partner of Polaris Venture Partners based in the Boston office. Terry focuses on life sciences investments.

Prior to starting Polaris, Terry spent seven years at Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. investing in early stage medical and information technology companies. Terry began his career in venture capital at Golder, Thoma and Cressey in Chicago. Terry has co-founded three companies: Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH); AIR (Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.), acquired by Alkermes (ALKS); and MicroCHIPS. Terry represents Polaris on the boards of directors of Acceleron Pharma; Biolex Therapeutics; Life Line Screening; Microbia; MicroCHIPS, Inc.; and Remon Medical Technologies Inc. He has also represented Polaris on the boards of Akamai; Aspect Medical Systems; Cubist Pharmaceuticals; deCODE (DCGN); GlycoFi; and Transform Pharmaceuticals.

Terry currently serves on the boards of the Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College; the Private Equity and Entrepreneurship Center at the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College; the National Venture Capital Association; the MIT Center for Cancer Research; the Advisory Board of Harvard Business School's Healthcare Initiative; the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; and the Advisory Board of the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School. He is a former board member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and MassMEDIC. Terry holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in engineering from The Thayer School at Dartmouth College, and a BS in physics and economics from Hobart College.

TOM MANIATIS, PH.D.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Dr. Maniatis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. After postdoctoral studies at Harvard University and the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, England, Dr. Maniatis held faculty positions at Harvard University, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology before taking his present position at Columbia. Dr. Maniatis was a pioneer in the development of gene cloning technology, and he has published extensively in the field of eukaryotic gene regulation. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and has received numerous awards for his research contributions, including the Eli Lilly Research Award in Microbiology and Immunology, and the Richard Lounsbery Award for Biology and Medicine from the U.S. and French National Academies of Science. Dr. Maniatis is a cofounder of Genetics Institute, where he chaired the scientific board and served on the board of directors for over 17 years. During this time the company gained FDA approval for several protein-based drugs, including recombinant human erythropoietin, Factor VIII and Factor IX, as well as bone morphogenic proteins. Dr. Maniatis was also a cofounder of ProScript Inc., which discovered the drug Velcade, currently the leading commercial product of Millennium Pharmaceuticals. He received his undergraduate education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University.

RICHARD F. POPS
ALKERMES

Richard Pops serves as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes. He assumed the role of Chairman of the Board in April 2007 and he previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes from February 1991 through April 2007. Under his leadership, Alkermes has grown from a privately held company with 25 employees to a publicly traded pharmaceutical company with more than 500 employees and two commercial products. In addition to Acceleron, Mr. Pops currently serves on the Board of Directors of: Alkermes, Inc.; Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.; Epizyme; the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO); the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows.

WYLIE W. VALE, PH.D.
SALK INSTITUTE

Dr. Vale is Head of The Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology at the Salk Institute. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Vale is recognized for his work on the molecular, pharmacological and biomedical characterization of more than a dozen neuroendocrine peptides, growth factors and their receptors. He is a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Neurocrine Biosciences, a public company, founded in part based upon his group's identification and study of peptides and receptors mediating the endocrine, metabolic and behavioral responses to stress. Dr. Vale's group has also characterized activin A, a member of the TGF-beta/BMP family of growth factors as well as the activin receptor type II, the first signaling receptor for this family. In recognition of his discoveries, he has received numerous awards and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He is a past President of the American Endocrine Society and is the current President of the International Society of Endocrinology. Dr. Vale received his undergraduate education at Rice University and his Ph.D. at Baylor College of Medicine.

JOSEPH S. ZAKRZEWSKI
AMARIN

Mr. Zakrzewski is currently Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Amarin Corporation, a publicly traded company focused on the development and commercialization of cardiovascular drugs. He was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Xcellerex, a privately-held company focusing on commercializing its proprietary next generation manufacturing technology for biotherapeutics and vaccines. Mr. Zakrzewski also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular drugs, overseeing the launch of Omacor®, a drug to treat elevated triglyceride levels. Reliant Pharmaceuticals was sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2007. Prior to Reliant, Mr. Zakrzewski served in numerous leadership roles at Eli Lilly & Company with responsibilities in R&D, manufacturing, finance and business development. Mr. Zakrzewski received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.S. in Biochemical Engineering from Drexel University. He received an M.B.A. in Finance from Indiana University.

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