Locust Walk paves way for life sciences concerns - Triangle Business Journal:

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His idea was to create a food-deliveru company that would take lunch orders and bring the mealzs to workers in business parksa that hadfew close-byy places to eat. “It was going to be called Meyerson said. “I had clients liner up and restaurantslined up.” In the end, he deciderd not to launch the venture because he was not “10p0 percent committed” to the “I learned a very valuable lesson that you must put yourselft in a position where failure is not an Meyerson said. “I don’t view it as a I look at it as a launchintg point formy career.
” Last December, he co-foundee with Jay Mohr, his former boss at Zelos Therapeuticzs in West Conshohocken. “I have no choice but to succeedd since I have nobackul plan,” he said. Meyerson said the firm is neither a managementgconsulting firm, nor an investmentt banking firm. Instead, Locust Walk provides advisory service s to life sciences companies in areas such asproducg licensing, financing and pipeline Meyerson said his team can augmenr a biopharmaceutical companies’ existing “in-house and provide a lower-cost alternative to adding full-time staff. The firm charges a smalpl retainer and bills additional chargezs basedon performance.
“It’s but it’s this economy that has providerd us with the opportunity todo this,” Meyerson Since its launch, the company has grown to seven employees and just signed up its fifth client. Before starting Locusty Walk, Meyerson worked for both venturew capital andbiotechnology companies. His firsrt job out of college waswith UBS’ global health-care investment banking group, where he was involvesd in closing 12 funding deals involving biotech and pharmaceutical He came to Philadelphia five years ago in pursuiy of a master’s degree from the .
“Iff I was going to stay in the biotech I needed to understandtheir language,” Meyerson While pursuing that degree and an MBA in health-care managemeny from Penn’s Wharton School, Meyersonh worked part time at assisting with licensing and ventured capital activities — and becoming well-acquainter with Amtrak and train Meyerson’s next part-time job was at SR One, the venture capital arm of , wherr he was involved in closin g seven transactions in the United Statew and Europe. After graduating from Wharton, Meyerson had an option of joininvg SR Onefull time, but instead he wanted to strengthebn his industry experience.
So, he took a job with Zelos as director of business development where he worked under Mohr another Penn alumnus and his Locust Walk At Zelos, Meyerson negotiated a drug-delivery collaboration with Aegid Therapeutics and a licensing deal with a Japanesre pharmaceutical company. In his spare in the summer of 2006, Meyerson teamed up with Patricl Lee at in Philadelphia to createrPhilly BioBreak, a social networkin g organization that brings together people who operate and invest in life science companies. The meetings are typically attendesd by about 100 people and food and beverag expenses are coveredby sponsors. “Wd just get together for a drinkm and to get to know he said.
“We don’t have panek discussions or anythinglike that.” In March, they expand the conceprt into New Jersey with their first event in New Brunswick. “W e hope to take BioBreak nationwide,” Meyerson “We are looking to take the concepty toother markets, perhaps Boston, San Francisck and New York.”