Hopen Life Science Ventures

Hopen Life Science Ventures is a Michigan-based private investment and management firm established in 2006, with a focus on early- to mid-stage life science developments. The firm operates an office in Ohio and primarily targets investments in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and technology sectors within the United States, particularly in the Midwest. Hopen Life Science Ventures offers significant advantages to promising idea owners, including substantial funding, development expertise, and access to a wide network of industry relationships. Through its venture capital fund, Hopen Life Science Ventures Fund II, the firm typically invests between $3 million and $5 million in 8 to 12 companies, with a preference for global market opportunities.

Thomas Buschert

Chief Financial Officer

Jerry Callahan

Venture Partner, Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Nathan Fredrickson

Associate

Michael Fulton

Managing Director

Mark Olesnavage

Managing Director and Co-Founder

11 past transactions

Cirius Therapeutics

Series A in 2017
Cirius Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate MSDC-0602K, is an oral small molecule that is in Phase 2b clinical trial being developed to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis with fibrosis. Cirius Therapeutics, Inc. was formerly known as Octeta Therapeutics, LLC and changed its name to Cirius Therapeutics, Inc. in March 2017. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Delphinus Medical Technologies develops, commercializes, sells, and services the breast cancer screening solutions to hospitals and imaging clinics in the United States and internationally. It commercializes SoftVue, a three-dimensional and tomographic ultrasound imaging and risk assessment device that examines women's breasts for the presence of benign and/or malignant masses, assesses breast cancer risks, diagnoses breast diseases, and monitors therapy. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Detroit, Michigan.

NeoChord

Series C in 2015
NeoChord, Inc. is a medical technology company that specializes in developing devices to address degenerative mitral valve disease (DMR), a condition that can lead to serious complications such as atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure. The company's flagship product is the NeoChord Artificial Chordae Delivery System, a disposable device designed to repair damaged heart chordae through a small incision while the heart continues to beat. This innovative approach allows for mitral valve repair to be performed via a 2 to 3-inch incision between the ribs, significantly less invasive than traditional methods that require larger incisions and the use of heart-lung machines. Founded in 2007, NeoChord is headquartered in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

Prevacept Infection Control

Venture Round in 2014
Prevacept Infection Control is a clinical-stage company focused on developing and commercializing products that prevent infections associated with indwelling catheters.

Sierra Oncology

Series D in 2014
Sierra Oncology, Inc. researches, develops, and commercializes therapies for the treatment of patients with hematology and oncology needs. Its lead drug candidate, momelotinib, is a selective and orally-bioavailable JAK1, JAK2, and ACVR1 inhibitor that has been investigated in two completed Phase 3 trials for the treatment of myelofibrosis. The company is also advancing SRA737, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor Checkpoint kinase 1 is being investigated in two Phase 1/2 clinical trials; and SRA141, an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of cell division cycle 7 kinase. The company was formerly known as ProNAi Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Sierra Oncology, Inc. in January 2017. Sierra Oncology, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Bjond

Series A in 2014
Bjond Inc. operates in the technology sector. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Columbus, Ohio. Bjönd is automated workflow, real-time decision support and behavior change software that consumers and businesses use to change outcomes and lives in any industry . . . in any situation. Bjönd is designed to enable anyone - even those with little or no technical skills - to build interactive content and automated, expert workflows for any subject.

Tolera Therapeutics

Series B in 2012
Tolera Therapeutics Inc., founded under the scientific and medical direction of Maria Siemionow, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., is a spin-off of the Cleveland Clinic focused on bringing more specific, and safer therapies to market with competitive speed. The company’s technology stems from immune modulation and transplant research done at the Cleveland Clinic under the leadership of Dr. Siemionow, an internationally recognized leader in the fields of microsurgery and transplantation. In addition to her surgical skills, she has focused her research efforts on the development of therapies to promote life-long acceptance of organ and tissue transplants, while reducing or eliminating the need for chronic immunosuppression therapies and their dangerous side effects. In addition, Dr. Siemionow’s efforts have led to new discoveries in immune system modulation. She has authored and contributed to over 180 peer reviewed articles on transplantation, immune suppression and organ tolerance.

Trapelo Health

Series B in 2011
Trapelo Health is an Information Technology company focused on precision oncology. Trapelo is an innovative decision support platform that aligns the interests of providers, labs, and payors in the appropriate, scalable use of precision medicine - in real-time.
Metabolic Solutions Development Company, LLC, a drug discovery and development company, investigates novel molecular targets and develops new therapeutics to treat metabolic diseases of aging. It provides MSDC-0160 and MSDC-0602, a therapeutic agents that treats patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, polycystic kidney disease, and neurodegenerative diseases that include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases; and MSDC-new chemical entities that are non-thiazolidinediones oral mitochondrial membrane modulator insulin sensitizers for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Nymirum

Grant in 2010
Nymirum, Inc., a drug discovery company, develops drug discovery platforms that target RNA with small molecules. It offers a platform that provides new molecules and scaffolds for newly validated RNA targets, which are fed into the traditional med chem and biology pipeline. The company’s drug discovery platform is an approach that identifies specific atomic-level RNA conformers which co-exist in a dynamic ensemble. Nymirum, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Metabolic Solutions Development Company, LLC, a drug discovery and development company, investigates novel molecular targets and develops new therapeutics to treat metabolic diseases of aging. It provides MSDC-0160 and MSDC-0602, a therapeutic agents that treats patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, polycystic kidney disease, and neurodegenerative diseases that include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases; and MSDC-new chemical entities that are non-thiazolidinediones oral mitochondrial membrane modulator insulin sensitizers for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.