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David Berry (inventor)

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David Berry
David Berry on October 11, 2015
Born (1978-02-10) February 10, 1978 (age 46)
New York City, New York
EducationMIT, Harvard Medical School
Occupation(s)Ceo, innovator, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, inventor,

David Berry (born February 10, 1978) is an American innovator, entrepreneur, inventor, CEO, and venture capitalist. Berry has co-founded and helped build over 25 companies in life sciences, technology, and sustainability including category-defining companies such as Seres Therapeutics, Indigo Agriculture, and Axcella Health. He was selected as a 2014 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.[1] He was named as the Innovator of the Year by the MIT Technology Review TR35 list of one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35 for his creation of LS9[when?].[2] Berry was a founding member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Network, which authored the Sustainable Development Goals.[3] He speaks globally on topics such as innovation and entrepreneurship.[citation needed]

Early life and education

Berry was born in New York City in 1978. He graduated Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY in 1996. Berry graduated with a S.B. Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Robert Langer and Ram Sasisekharan, completing his dual degree through the Harvard-MIT Program of Health Sciences and technology in just over 5 years as one of the fastest combined degrees in the history of the program.[4] Berry was recognized in 2005 with the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for invention and innovation.[5] He also started multiple companies during his graduate education.[citation needed]

Berry has been an author of 14 scientific papers and over 200 patents and applications.[citation needed]

Career

Berry joined Flagship Pioneering in 2005, a Cambridge, Massachusetts based venture capital firm that creates and funds early-stage start-ups addressing unmet needs in healthcare and sustainability. The firm has more than $2.4 billion under management. [6] Since inception, Flagship has conceived and launched over 40 first-in-class companies through VentureLabs and supported another nearly 50 best-in-class. Berry has been described "a rising star of the Boston-area venture capital scene," [7] and "one of the most brilliant thinkers." [8] Berry has founded over 20 companies at Flagship including Seres Therapeutics (NADAQ: MCRB), Evelo Biosciences, Joule Unlimited, Axcella Health, Eleven Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: EBIO), Indigo Agriculture, and LS9 (acquired by Renewable Energy Group).[9] Berry additionally launched category-defining companies including T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO), Seventh Sense Biosystems, and KSQ Therapeutics.[10]

Berry speaks on topics including entrepreneurship, innovation, life sciences, sustainability and beyond. Berry frequently talks about the biology century[vague] and has been cited as referring to biotech as being at the first big inflection point since the foundation of Genentech.[11]

Honors and awards

Other affiliations

Berry is a founding member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which authored the Sustainable Development Goals.[15] The Sustainable Development Goals contains 17 goals and 169 targets agreed to by 193 countries at the United Nations[16] to foster sustainable development with a 2030 target.[17]

Berry is a Trustee at the Hackley School,[18] and was previously a member of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, its board, from 2006-2011.[19]. David has also served as a board member of the Juventas New Music Ensemble.[20] and of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

Company creation

Seres Therapeutics

In 2012, Berry founded Seres Therapeutics, a company that develops a new class of therapeutics based on insights into the biology of the human microbiome.[21] Seres is pioneering a new approach to treating microbiome diseases by catalyzing a shift from a disease state to one of health building upon a functional assessment associated with disease and health to construct a consortium of organisms to enable the shift.[22] The company raised over $130M as a private company, including a $65M investment from Nestle Health Sciences.[23] Seres publicly listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol MCRB in June 2015, raising $134M.[24] The company's stock had the second best first day performance of any stock after its IPO since 2000, reaching a valuation of $2B.[25] Seres signed a partnership valued at $2B with Nestle Health Sciences in early 2016.[26]

Seres lead, SER-109 was advanced into the clinic for recurrent C. difficile [27] where it clinically cured 29 out of 30 patients.[28] The FDA has granted SER-109 Orphan Drug, as well as Breakthrough Therapy, designations.[29] SER-109 is currently in a Phase 3 trial for recurrent C. difficile.[30]

The company is also developing therapeutics for ulcerative colitis, metabolic diseases, and other infectious disease.[31] A Phase 1b clinical trial was launched testing SER-287 in ulcerative colitis in 2015[32][33] which showed positive objective responses in its topline readout.[34]

Seres has developed the first therapeutic product composed of a defined consortium of microorganisms, and has launched a clinical trial with SER-262 in primary C. difficile infection which will read out in the first half of 2018.[35]

Indigo

In 2013, Berry founded Indigo to pioneer microbial solutions that naturally promote plant health and improve agricultural production by harnessing the beneficial microbes residing within plants.[36] Plants live in harmony with their microbiome. The plant microbiome has been an unappreciated means to change agriculture for the better.[37] The company raised over $200M in 2017 with a valuation of over $1.4B, [38] having raised one of Boston's biggest financing rounds in 2017 and making it a unicorn, [39] after having raised the largest private agtech financing round in history in 2016 at 100M.[40] The company has raised over $350M since inception. Indigo's products have been shown to improve yields by 10+% including in a 50,000 acre field trial in Texas.[41]

Axcella Health

Axcella Health
Nasdaq: AXLA
Russell 2000 Index component

In 2009, Berry founded Axcella Health, which is pioneering defined amino acid combinations (DAACs) as a new therapeutic product class that leverages the preferred and essential roles than amino acids have in health and disease.[42] The company's unique platform has allowed it to rapidly generate multiple clinical candidates across liver diseases, neurological conditions, muscle diseases, and beyond, having completed over 18 clinical trials. Former CEO of Sanofi, Chris Viehbacher, joined the company's Board of Directors,[43] along with Greg Behar, CEO of Nestle Health Sciences.[44] The company has raised over $130M, and was named by Forbes as the hottest healthcare startup in 2015.[45][46]

KSQ Therapeutics

Berry launched KSQ Therapeutics in 2015 along with academic founders David M. Sabatini, Jonathan Weissman, and Bill Hahn. The company, helmed by David Meeker, the former CEO of Sanofi-Genzyme, has raised $76M in financing, and is pioneering CRISPRomics as a unique tool to define the precise function that each human gene plays across a multitude of diseases.[47] KSQ's approach has allowed it to advance a pipeline of cancer and immune disease drug programs against novel therapeutic nodes to pioneer a new set of disease-tailored medicines.

Evelo Therapeutics

In 2014, Berry founded Evelo Therapeutics,[48] to pioneer monoclonal microbial--single bacteria that can drive the immune system specifically, reproducible, in a dose-dependent manner. Monoclonal microbials leverage the privileged interface between bacteria and the immune system in order to achieve unprecedented immune control. The company is developing therapeutics to treat cancer as well as autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.[49][50] Evelo has raised over $80M led by Flagship Pioneering, and also including Google Ventures and Celgene including a $50M Series B in 2017.[51]

Joule Unlimited

In 2007, Berry founded Joule Unlimited, which is developing Solar Fuels—drop-in fuels produced directly from the sun. Joule is pioneering solar fuels through a new technology that converts sunlight, carbon dioxide, and salt water into drop-in fuels for prices as low as $20.[52] The company recruited former Total CEO and Alcatel CEO Serge Tchuruk as its CEO.[53] In March 2010 [54] and again in March 2011, Joule was named by Technology Review as one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies. Joule was named as one of the 10 most important emerging technologies in 2011.[55] Joule's unique and innovative approach to fuels led to its being named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2012[56] and to its receiving the Silver Medal in the 2011 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.[57] Joule's technology has now been successfully scaled to a demonstration facility,[58] and the company has announced a commercial partnership with Audi.[59] Berry has been recognized multiple times as one of the top people in bioenergy by Biofuels Digest.[60]

LS9

In 2005, Berry founded LS9, with Chris Somerville, Jay Keasling, and George M. Church, which uses synthetic biology to engineer microorganisms to covert sustainable, plant-based materials into low-carbon fuels and chemicals. LS9 has successfully built on technologies he invented with other co-founders to produce a scalable platform for renewable fuels and chemicals.[61] This technology was successfully scaled to a fully operational 135,000L facility in Okeechobee, Florida.[62] The impact and importance of LS9's technology led to its being named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2008[63] and its being awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s highest environmental honor.[64] LS9 was acquired by Renewable Energy Group in 2014.[65]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Meet the 2014 class of Young Global Leaders". Agenda - The World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  2. ^ a b "Web Site Temporarily Unavailable".
  3. ^ "Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Leadership Council". unsdsn.org. Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  4. ^ "David Berry: A "Fearless" Innovator with a Passion for MIT - MIT Admissions". mitadmissions.org.
  5. ^ a b "Lemelson-MIT Program". mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2005-02-19.
  6. ^ [http://flagshippioneering.com/news/flagship-pioneering-announces-capital-raise-618mm/}
  7. ^ "David Berry of Flagship Ventures on Funding Advice, Investment Themes, Trends in Biofuels". Xconomy.
  8. ^ ""Brain Storm: David Berry is Going to Solve the Energy Crisis…With Pond Scum" April 20, 2011". Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  9. ^ "Flagship Ventures website - Team". Archived from the original on 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  10. ^ "KSQ Therapeutics Emerges With $76 Million In Financing To Pioneer High-Confidence Drug Development".
  11. ^ "Video: "Biotech is still in its Infancy" – Keynote by Boston's Prominent Biotech VC".
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2014-03-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "BBJ names 2012's 40 under 40 honorees". Boston Business Journal. 4 September 2012.
  14. ^ Innovators Help Reshape Reality, January 2, 2008
  15. ^ "Sustainable Development Solutions Network - Leadership Council". unsdsn.org. Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  16. ^ "World leaders adopt Sustainable Development Goals".
  17. ^ "Press release – UN General Assembly's Open Working Group proposes sustainable development goals" (PDF). Sustainabledevelopment.un.org. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  18. ^ "Trustees & Administration". hackleyschool.org.
  19. ^ "Members of the MIT Corporation". mit.edu.
  20. ^ "About - Juventas New Music Ensemble". juventasmusic.com.
  21. ^ "All Companies". flagshipventures.com.
  22. ^ "New Microbiome Startup Seres Health Is Developing Bacteria-Filled Pills to Treat Diseases - MIT Technology Review". MIT Technology Review.
  23. ^ Merced, Michael J. de la. "Nestlé Health Science to Invest $65 Million in a Biotech Start-Up".
  24. ^ "Seres guts out a $134M IPO to fuel microbiome R&D". FierceBiotech.
  25. ^ BRIAN DEAGON. "Seres Therapeutics IPO Soars, Raises $133 Million". Investor's Business Daily.
  26. ^ "Seres Inks Nestlé As Potential $2B Partner; Key Microbiome Data Soon - Xconomy". 11 January 2016.
  27. ^ "Seres Health Announces Interim Clinical Data" January 13, 2014
  28. ^ Seres Health (8 September 2014). "Seres Health Presents Final Data for Study of SER-109 in Recurrent Clostridium... -- CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --". prnewswire.com.
  29. ^ "Seres Therapeutics Announces Achievement of Target Enrollment of SER-109 Phase 2 Study for the Prevention of Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection - Business Wire".
  30. ^ "Seres Therapeutics Initiates SER-109 Phase 3 Study in Patients with Multiply Recurrent C. difficile Infection".
  31. ^ "Product Pipeline". serestherapeutics.com.
  32. ^ "Press Releases - Investor & Media - Seres Therapeutics".
  33. ^ "SER-287 - Seres Therapeutics". Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  34. ^ "CORRECTING and REPLACING Seres Therapeutics Reports Positive Topline Results from SER-287 Phase 1b Study in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis".
  35. ^ "Press Releases - Investor & Media - Seres Therapeutics".
  36. ^ "Flagship VentureLabs™ Introduces Symbiota, Pioneer of Agricultural Innovation Through the Plant Microbiome - Symbiota". 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  37. ^ "Indigo Agriculture - Home Page – Indigo Agriculture".
  38. ^ "Farming startup Indigo raises $203 million with help from Dubai fund".
  39. ^ "Indigo Agriculture is Boston's newest 'unicorn' startup".
  40. ^ "Indigo Raises $100M Series C, the 'Largest' Private Equity Round for an AgTech Co".
  41. ^ "Agriculture takes promising step towards boosting crop yields".
  42. ^ "PIONEERING A NEW PATH TO HEALTH".
  43. ^ "Pronutria Adds Ex-Sanofi CEO Viehbacher to Board". Xconomy.
  44. ^ Revill, John (23 February 2016). "Nestlé Buys Stake in U.S. Pronutria Biosciences" – via Wall Street Journal.
  45. ^ Solomon, Brian. "#20 - Pronutria Biosciences - In Photos: The Hottest Startups Of 2015".
  46. ^ "Pronutria Biosciences Rebrands as Axcella Health - Axcella Health, Inc".
  47. ^ "KSQ Therapeutics Emerges With $76 Million In Financing To Pioneer High-Confidence Drug Development".
  48. ^ "HOME".
  49. ^ "HOME".
  50. ^ "Flagship Ventures Launches Evelo Therapeutics To Develop Microbiome Therapies for Cancer - Flagship Ventures".
  51. ^ "Evelo Biosciences Announces $50 Million Series B Financing and Expansion of Board and Leadership Team".
  52. ^ "Joule picks New Mexico site for solar fuel project; now competitive with $20/barrel diesel?". biofuelsdigest.com.
  53. ^ "Joule Names Industry Veteran Serge Tchuruk as President and CEO - Red Rock - A Joule Unlimited Company". Archived from the original on 2015-09-25. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  54. ^ "MIT Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies 2015, from Tesla to Uber - MIT Technology Review". MIT Technology Review.
  55. ^ "10 Breakthrough Technologies 2015 - MIT Technology Review". MIT Technology Review.
  56. ^ "Technology Pioneers 2012". Africa Competitiveness 2013.
  57. ^ Michael Totty (17 October 2011). "Joule Unlimited Forges a Faster Path to Biofuels - WSJ". WSJ.
  58. ^ "News Articles from Forbes, CNN, Biofuels Digest & more - Joule Unlimited". jouleunlimited.com.
  59. ^ "News Articles from Forbes, CNN, Biofuels Digest & more - Joule Unlimited". jouleunlimited.com.
  60. ^ "The Top 100 People in Bioenergy". biofuelsdigest.com.
  61. ^ "MIT Technology Review".
  62. ^ "Web Site Temporarily Unavailable".
  63. ^ "World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers 2008
  64. ^ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Chemistry 2010 Award Recipients Archived 2010-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  65. ^ "Renewable Energy Group Enters Industrial Biotech with Acquisition of LS9". regi.com.
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