Index Ventures hires

Index Ventures has added two senior executives to its life science practice and a venture advisor. Kevin Johnson and Gianni Garotta join as executives in residence. Ennio Ongini takes on the role of venture advisor within the team.

Johnson was most recently with Cambridge Antibody Technologies, one of Europe’s most successful biotech companies, where he was a member of the start-up team, chief technology officer and member of the board. He led the team that produced Humira, the first fully human therapeutic antibody and was part of the management team that floated CAT on the London Stock Exchange in 1997.

Garotta has a combined record of academia, pharmaceutical and biotech experience. He was most recently vice president of academic collaborations at Serono. Prior to this he was head of both the interferon and the antibody groups at Roche as well as head of biology at Human Genome Sciences.

Gianni’s experience in identifying, evaluating, and negotiating the transfer of assets from academia as well as his background in drug development and immunology makes him an asset to the team.

Ongini will be acting as a venture advisor to Index. He has extensive drug discovery experience, particularly in the areas of CNS and cardiovascular, and contributed significantly to the identification and development of marketed drugs such as Claritin, Doral and Felbatol.