Claris Ventures appoints pharmaceutical industry veteran Michael Hodges as a Partner

Claris Ventures appoints pharmaceutical industry veteran Michael Hodges as a Partner

Claris Ventures appoints pharmaceutical industry veteran Michael Hodges as a Partner

February 27th, 2023 Claris Ventures, a biotech venture capital fund based in Turin (Italy), is appointing Dr. Michael R. Hodges, MD as a Partner to the Investment team. The firm had a final closing of its first fund at €85m, in July 2021. Since then, Claris Ventures had built a portfolio of eight biotech companies, expected to further grow in the coming months, positioning itself as a hands-on investor able to partner with top Italian scientists, backing the launch of new ventures able then to attract international capital and interest.

Michael is a successful pharmaceutical industry veteran, with experience both with large pharmaceutical companies and small biotech ventures. He started his career in pharmaceutical medicines with Pfizer, Inc., where he worked in research and development program, that resulted in the successful approval and launch of multiple drugs. In addition, Michael has worked in biotech that successfully raised financing (~$150m), IPO/F-1 submission, reverse merger(s) plus two successful M&As – Santaris Pharma (acq. by Hoffman-La Roche in 2014) and Amplyx Pharmaceuticals (acq. by Pfizer in 2021).

The new Partner will join the Founding Partners Pietro Puglisi and Ciro Spedaliere.

“Claris Ventures was born on the hypothesis that quality, hard work and experience will be crucial to unlock the full potential of the Italian biotech ecosystem.” – said Pietro Puglisi and Ciro Spedaliere – “We are honored to welcome Michael on board, whose track record further raises the bar and the ambitions of the whole team”.

“I am very excited to join Claris Ventures where I can use my experience of developing drugs, raising capital and M&As in making the portfolio of investments successful” – added Michael Hodges.