David Blech

David Abraham Blech (born November 25, 1955) is an American businessman, investor, and venture capitalist. He is one of the financial pioneers of the biotech industry and was once known as the "King of Biotech".

Blech graduated from Baruch College and earned a Master's in Music Education at the Teacher's College of Columbia University.

Since 1980 Mr. Blech has been a founder of companies and venture capital investor in the biotechnology sector. His initial venture investment, Genetic Systems Corporation, which he helped found with his father and his brother Isaac Blech, was built around promising scientists, including the high profile microbiologist Robert Nowinski. It developed the first inexpensive and accurate test to diagnosis sexually-transmitted diseases using monoclonal antibodies, allowing tens of thousands of babies to be born to women who otherwise would have become sterile from pelvic inflammatory disease. The company was sold to Bristol Myers in 1986 for $294 million (3%) of Bristol Myers stock.

In 1989, Blech co-founded Icos Corporation with Nowinski and George B. Rathmann, receiving the largest start up financing in biotech history at $33 million. Icos discovered the drug Cialis, which was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2003 for over $2.6 billion. The Blechs also co-founded Celgene Corporation in 1986, which was a unit of the Celanese Corporation, and was spun off as an independent company following the merger of Celanese Corporation with American Hoechst Corporation. Celgene introduced two major cancer drugs, and has a current value of over $35 billion, making it the 5th largest biotech company in the world.

...
Wikipedia