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Pharma Luminary, Dr Ismail Kola, Joins Forepont Capital Partners Venture Capital Team

March 28, 2019 Off By BusinessWire

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Forepont Capital Partners is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr
Ismail Kola as a senior partner in their Venture Capital Team.
Additionally, Dr. Kola will lead Forepont’s Incubation Fund (FIF).

Dr Kola will play a key role in the conception and launch of Forepont’s
next generation of pioneering biotechnology and life science companies
as well as serve as an ongoing strategic resource for all companies in
the Forepont ecosystem supporting their clinical development strategies.
Additionally, he will serve on the board of directors of several
portfolio companies. Dr Kola will join Forepont Capital Partners
Investment Committee.

Dr Kola joins Forepont from UCB, where he has served as Chief Scientific
Officer since 2009. Prior to that, he was the Chief Scientific Officer
at Schering Plough. During his distinguished career, he has served as
Professor of Human Molecular Genetics, Monash University Medical School
and Director of the Research Center for Functional Genomics and Human
Disease. He holds Adjunct Professorships of Medicine at Washington
University, St Louis, Missouri, USA and Monash University Medical
School, Melbourne, Australia; a Foreign Adjunct Professorship at The
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; and is a William Pitt Fellow at
Pembroke College, Cambridge University, UK.

Dr. Kola is the holder of 10 patents and is author or co-author of 159
peer-reviewed papers and commentaries.

“Ismail brings expertise, scientific knowledge and a network that can
only come from one of the most successful pharmaceutical and biotech
scientists in the world. The ability to identify winners early is what
makes a research scientist a Chief Scientific Officer. Quite simply,
this is what Ismail brings to our team,” said Senior Partner Mark
Goldstone.

“The opportunity to help Forepont and its uniquely creative ecosystem of
companies really captured my imagination,” said Dr. Kola. “Their focus
on improving outcomes and efficiencies through any scientific platform
makes this opportunity most appealing. Today we need to look to all
aspects of science and breakdown the barriers between silos in order to
solve some of our biggest medical challenges without the traditional
costs to do so. Mentoring a new generation of science entrepreneurs will
add to the pleasure of the challenge.

About Forepont Capital Partners. Headquartered in New York
with offices in London & Paris, Forepont Capital Partners, deploys
capital to fuel growth of new medicines and technologies that drive
better healthcare outcomes. Forepont is currently closing its second
Venture Capital Fund.