Gurnet Point Capital, an investment firm focused on the healthcare and life sciences sectors that was founded by Ernesto Bertarelli and is led by Christopher Viehbacher, has launched Boston Pharmaceuticals, a fully integrated drug development company that will offer an innovative alternative model for drug development and commercialization.

Boston Pharmaceuticals will partner with academic, biotechnology and biopharmaceutical groups to acquire clinical assets at various stages of their development. The company is composed of a small team of clinical development experts operating like a small company and building a substantial portfolio of clinical and commercial assets. It is agnostic to therapeutic area specialization, focused instead on validated mechanisms of action of targeted diseases and efficiently achieving robust clinical and regulatory endpoints. Boston Pharmaceuticals will assume the risk of clinical development in de-risking the clinical assets and creating value for patients.

The company’s focus is around: the development phase of drug R&D; virtual development through service providers and external experts; validated mechanism of action of targeted diseases; robust clinical endpoints; and sale or commercialization of clinical programs

The company will be led by two executives with deep experience in the development and commercialization of novel medicines: Christopher Viehbacher, the managing partner of Gurnet Point Capital and the former CEO of Sanofi, who will serve as its chairman; and Dr. Robert Armstrong, the former head of external R&D at Chorus (Eli Lilly), who will be its CEO.