Christoph Westphal

Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., is a biomedical entrepreneur.

Current position

Westphal is currently the chair and CEO of Flex Pharma. Westphal was previously the President of SR One, which is a GSK venture capital firm that invests globally in emerging life science companies. Dr. Westphal is a Founder and General Partner of the Longwood Fund, a venture capital fund based in Boston.

Westphal currently serves on the Board of Directors of Flex Pharma (Nasdaq FLKS) and the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School, the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the board of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and he is a member of the Boston Commercial Club. Westphal has been the lead or senior author on several patent applications and scientific papers in journals, including Cell, Nature and Nature Genetics.^[1] l

Background

A serial biotech entrepreneur,^[2] Westphal has been recognized for his rare ability to combine cutting-edge science with business acumen.^[3] He has cofounded 6 companies as largest investor and CEO—Alnylam, Momenta, Sirtris, Acceleron, Verastem and Flex Pharma (Nasdaq ALNY, MNTA, SIRT, XLRN, VSTM, FLKS).Companies founded by Dr. Westphal have developed important drugs, including approved drugs for multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease: for cystic fibrosis (phase 3), for amyloidosis (phase 3), for currently incurable cancers (phase 2), and for serious inflammatory disorders (phase 2). To date, none of these compounds have successfully been brought to market.

In 2004, Westphal co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, which is developing new drug candidates that target the sirtuins, a recently discovered family of enzymes that appear to control aging to treat diseases of aging including Type 2 diabetes, inflammatory disorders and cancer. In 2007, Westphal led the company through IPO and for a total of 6 years, resulting in recognition by the Boston Globe as one of the Globe 100 top companies that year.^[4] In June 2008, GSK acquired Sirtris for $720 million.^[5]

Westphal has been featured on 60 Minutes with Morley Safer,^[6] CNN’s Vital Signs with Dr. Sanjay Gupta,^[7] an ABC News Special hosted by Barbara Walters,^[8] and as the subject of a Fortune cover article.^[9] In April 2010, Fortune named Westphal one of their Fortune Visionaries, along with Academy Award winning director James Cameron and Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi.^[10]

Prior to his role at SR One, Westphal served as the Senior Vice President of GSK’s Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (ceedd).^[11]

Westphal was also co-founder of Concert (Nasdaq CNCE), Alnara (sold to Lilly in 2010) and Ovascience (Nasdaq OVAS). Prior to establishing Sirtris, Westphal was a general partner at a venture fund and a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Westphal earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University; and he graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University.

In 2002, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[12] Companies co-founded by Dr. Westphal have created substantial shareholder value and aggregate market capitalizations (sustained) of over $12 billion and have created roughly 1,000 good jobs in the Boston area.

Honors

Stevie Award for Executive of the Year from The 2009 American Business Awards ^[13]
2009 E-3 Public Company Science & Technology Company Executive Award at the annual Emerald Investment Forum ^[14]
2008 Outstanding Individual of the Year Award at the annual Laguna Biotech CEO Meeting ^[15]
2008 Corporate Leader Award of Distinction from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) ^[16]
Recognition in the Pharmaceutical Executive “45 Under 45,” 2008 ^[17]
Recognition in the PharmaVOICE 100, a list of the 100 most inspiring people in the life-sciences industry, 2008 ^[18]
Mass High Tech All Star Award in 2007 ^[19]
Ernst & Young’s New England Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Biopharmaceutical category in 2006 ^[20]
Named one of Fortune's Fortune Visionaries in 2010 ^[21]

References

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