I caught up Friday afternoon with Reid Leonard, the Merck executive who will head up the new $250 million Merck Research Venture Fund. While the New Jersey pharmaceutical company still hasn't made an official announcement about Leonard's new gig, word started leaking out earlier this month on Twitter.
Leonard, who began working at Merck in 1989 and rose to be a top licensing exec at the company, told me a bit about the fund's strategy and origins:
The initiative to get it established was the work of David Nicholson, who is head of worldwide licensing for the company. Several of us had been pushing the notion for a few years that, given the overall reduction in the amount of venture capital available to early-stage life sciences companies, and the increasing role of corporate venturing, it was really a good time for Merck to consider stepping up in this way. Our future pipeline depends on accessing innovation from outside.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Merck's Reid Leonard, based in Boston, will oversee new $250 million investment fund - Innovation Economy - Boston.com
