Frazier Healthcare Partners Adds Highly Experienced Biopharmaceutical Executive to Life Sciences Team

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Frazier Healthcare Partners announced the addition of Maria Fardis, Ph.D. as a Venture Partner on the Life Sciences team. She has over 20 years of scientific and management experience in numerous public and private biopharmaceutical companies. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of 4PinesCo, Inc., a Frazier-founded search company focused on identifying, in-licensing, and developing high-quality therapeutic candidates.

Dr. Fardis previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Iovance Biotherapeutics. She transformed Iovance from an early-stage development company to a company with multiple late-stage programs involving lifileucel and LN-145 for the treatment of multiple solid tumors. She raised over a billion dollars in multiple rounds of financing for the company. Prior to Iovance, Dr. Fardis served as the Chief Operating Officer of Acerta Pharma B.V., where she worked on the development of Calquence® until the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca. Prior to that, she worked at Pharmacyclics, Inc., where she was a key contributor in the creation of a broad clinical program leading to global approvals for Imbruvica® in multiple hematologic malignancies, and where she served as Chief of Oncology Operations and Alliances. Prior to joining Pharmacyclics, Dr. Fardis held increasingly senior positions in Medicinal Chemistry and the project and portfolio management department at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she was involved with multiple therapeutic areas including antivirals, oncology, and cardiovascular therapeutics and worked on the development and life cycle management of Letairis®.

Dr. Fardis received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.S. summa cum laude, in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She also holds an M.B.A., received with highest honors, from Golden Gate University.

“We are thrilled to have Maria join the Life Sciences team,” said Jamie Topper, Managing Partner at Frazier. “She is a highly experienced biopharmaceutical executive who will help us with our company creation efforts.”

About Frazier Healthcare Partners

Founded in 1991, Frazier Healthcare Partners is a leading provider of growth and venture capital to healthcare companies. With over $6.2 billion total capital raised (as of May 2021), Frazier has invested in more than 200 companies, with investment types ranging from company creation and venture capital to publicly traded companies and buyouts of profitable lower-middle market companies. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., the Frazier Life Sciences team invests globally in private and publicly traded companies that develop and commercialize innovative biopharmaceuticals to address important unmet medical needs. Since 2005, 61 Frazier Life Sciences portfolio companies, many of which were created or seeded by Frazier, have completed IPOs or M&As.

For more information about Frazier Life Sciences, visit their website at www.frazierhealthcare.com/life-sciences.