BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Third Rock Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm focused on building life sciences companies, today announced that Felix W. Frueh, Ph.D., has joined Third Rock as an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR). As an EIR, Dr. Frueh will provide strategic input on new and existing portfolio companies with a particular focus on personalized medicine.

We are pleased to welcome Felix to our growing team of industry leaders, said Alexis Borisy, partner of Third Rock Ventures. Since the founding of Third Rock, we have been dedicated to launching companies focused on personalized medicine, and Felix is the ideal person to help us continue to grow and develop those companies in our portfolio and discover new opportunities to invest in the space.

Dr. Frueh is a thought leader in personalized medicine with 15 years of R&D, management and policy experience. Most recently, Dr. Frueh served as president of the Medco Research Institute, leading Medcos real-world, outcomes-oriented research initiatives and collaborations after having formed Medcos personalized medicine research and development organization. Prior to joining Medco, Dr. Frueh was associate director for genomics at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he built and led the core genomics review team in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and chaired the first FDA-wide, interdisciplinary pharmacogenomics review group (IPRG). Before joining the FDA, he held senior positions at several biotechnology companies. Dr. Frueh has been a member of various working groups on genetics and genomics at the FDA and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He serves on the board of the Personalized Medicine Coalition and is also a board member at Enterome Biosciences. He is an adjunct faculty member at the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy (IPIT) at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and held faculty appointments in the Departments of Pharmacology and Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he also received his Ph.D. in biochemistry.

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to see new technologies and innovative approaches in personalized medicine make an impact on the lives of patients, said Dr. Frueh. I believe that Third Rocks approach to investing in cutting edge science has the potential to make a tremendous difference, and I look forward to being a part of that effort.

About Third Rock Ventures

Third Rock Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2007 with the mission to launch transformative life sciences companies. With more than $800 million and two funds under management, the firm is focused on working with passionate entrepreneurs to build exceptional companies working in areas of disruptive science that will make a difference in the lives of patients. The firm has assembled a team with deep expertise and a proven track record of building respected and successful life sciences companies. With decades of complementary, cross-functional operational and leadership experience, the Third Rock team actively engages with its portfolio companies to provide hands-on strategy and experience to successfully launch companies with the best vision, science, operations, people and culture. With offices in Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA, Third Rock is well positioned geographically to closely collaborate with its portfolio companies to achieve their goals. To learn more about Third Rock and its portfolio companies, please visit http://www.thirdrockventures.com.

Current Third Rock Portfolio Companies

Ablexis, Afferent Pharmaceuticals, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Alcresta, Allena Pharmaceuticals, Alnara Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Eli Lilly & Co. in 2010), bluebird bio, Blueprint Medicines, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, CytomX Therapeutics, DC Devices, Edimer Pharmaceuticals, Eleven Biotherapeutics, Ember Therapeutics, Foundation Medicine, Global Blood Therapeutics, Igenica, Kala Pharmaceuticals, Lotus Tissue Repair, MyoKardia, Nine Point Medical, PanOptica Pharmaceuticals, Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, SAGE Therapeutics, Seventh Sense Biosystems, Taris Biomedical, Topica Pharmaceuticals, Warp Drive Bio and Zafgen.

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Third Rock Ventures Appoints Personalized Medicine Expert Felix W. Frueh, Ph.D., as Entrepreneur-in-Residence