Anaphore, a US-based healthcare provider, has hired Paul Grayson as executive president replacing Katherine Bowdish, who will remain as a consultant to the company.
Grayson was previously chief executive of Fate Therapeutics and left in February to set up his own company. Prior to Fate, he was a managing director of venture capital firm Sanderling Ventures and founding executive chairman of Senomyx.
Russell Greig, Anaphore’s executive chairman since June last year after leaving drugs company GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venturing unit SR One, said: "The addition of Paul reflects Anaphore’s movement into its next phase of development.
"His deal-making experience and leadership qualities will bring a new dimension to the company as we increase our efforts to unlock the value of our technology platform."
Anaphore recently formed a partnership with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation to discover and develop Atrimer drug candidates for the treatment of autoimmune disorders. Since its founding in 2008, Anaphore has raised $38m from SR One, Merck Serono’s corporate venturing unit and peer Aravis and venture capital firms 5AM Ventures, Versant Ventures and Apposite Capital.