Advent targets pharma

UK venture house Advent Venture Partners has formed a new company focused on buying specialty pharmaceutical prescription products for development and marketing in Europe.

The company, called Speciality European Pharma, is headed up by Geoff McMillan, formerly of Biofocus, Roche and Elan in the CEO position, and is joined on the board by Tony Playle, formerly head of European operations for Aventis.

Raj Parekh, general partner at Advent Ventures, said: “The European market for regulatory approval, marketing and distribution of specialty pharmaceutical products is a complex one. Many useful specialty products are simply not broadly approved or available within Europe today and we see a considerable business opportunity for a company focused on acquiring products in one territory and accelerating their approval and distribution into others. Hence our formation of Speciality European Pharma.”