Lindsay Rosenwald

Since founding the Paramount Group of Companies with the launch of Paramount BioCapital in 1991, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald has become known to be among the most prolific contributors and entrepreneurs in biotechnology and medical research.  There are many companies he has either started or been involved with that have made vast contributions to advancements within these fields over the years.  One such venture is Paramount Corporate Development, a company that assists in the facilitation and coordination of drug and corporate development strategies and activities for Paramount's group of portfolio companies.  Paramount BioSciences is a multinational pharmaceutical research and healthcare investment firm focusing on the conception and support of new biotechnology companies.  Also serving in the support of Paramount and Paramount's portfolio companies is Paramount BioCapital, which is a registered broker-dealer with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.  This company raises funding and support for Paramount's portfolio companies and has generated approximately $950,000,000.
Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald graduated from Abington High School in Pennsylvania in 1973.  Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald then attended Pennsylvania State University with a major in Finance, graduating Beta Gamma Sigma (a business school honor society) in 1977.  He then went on to attend Temple University's School of Medicine.  After graduation from Temple in 1983, Dr. Rosenwald interned at Abington Medical Hospital while establishing and maintaining a  private medical practice.  In 1986, Dr. Rosenwald went to Wall Street to utilize his specializations in both medicine and as a financial analyst.  This is a highly specialized combination of disciplines which not very many could claim at the time. 

After forming Paramount BioCapital in 1991, Dr. Rosenwald progressed over the 19 years since to revolutionize the fields of bioresearch and biotechnology.  His accomplishments have been innumerable.  For example, a portfolio company of Paramount holds a unique record for the drug Arsenic Trioxide.  This compound moved more rapidly from the research stages to FDA approval than any other drug.  Indevus Pharmaceuticals, a company founded by Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald which received approval from the Food & Drug Administration for Sanctura (a drug used in the treatment of overactive bladder syndrome) was sold to Endo Pharmaceuticals for a total of approximately $600 million.  Dr. Rosenwald also founded Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, which recently announced they had discovered a statistically significant survival benefit in individuals with metasticized colon cancer.  Polarx developed a drug called Trisinox for treatment in cases of acute leukemia, and was bought by Cell Therapeutics.  Cougar Biotechnology, another firm started by Dr. Rosenwald, was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2009.  This acquisition was based solely on abiraterone acetate, which at the time was not yet in phase III clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer.  This compound held such promise that Johnson & Johnson purchased the firm in a "short-term merger" for about $1 billion.  Two other notable acquisitions are Enzymed Corp., which was purchased by Albany Molecular, and Javelin Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Myriad Pharmaceuticals for $100 million. Not one to stop at activities which provide support, capital, and funding for just his own direct interests, Dr. Rosenwald has also founded the nonprofit Rosenwald Foundation.  The Rosenwald Foundation has donated millions in the support of various active scientific communities and medical education institutions.  These donations are helping to forge advancement in medical research by enabling groundbreaking researchers to have access to the resources they need.

With a nearly 2-decade-long running record of innovations and contributions to the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, biomedicine, and finance, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald is at the frontier of leading-edge development and research.  The  combination of disciplines he studied - medicine and finance - has enabled him to be in the rare and unique perspective to identify opportunities and challenges to broaden the scope of high-tech medicine.  The finance background has given him the knowledge he needs to effectively finance and support the endeavors of researchers that work on the borders of current scientific knowledge.  With his varied and deep background  within a remarkably specialized field, Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald's prolific achievements are matched by none in the industry.

Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald presented himself as a corporate finance managing director for D.H. Blair & Company, in the year of 1988. This was a privately owned investment based firm. There, he operated as the supervisor of a group of three doctor-financiers that looked through the health community for any new and viable developments that could benefit from private investment. They were able to discover various medical schools, universities, hospitals, drug companies, research groups, and scientific firms. Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald then was able to create Paramount BioCapital in 1991. Here, he operated with the biotechnology and bioresearch domains. He was established as a NASD-member dealer in 1992 and founded the investment and commercial bank named Paramount Capital Investments LLC, in 1995. Owned by Dr. Lindsay A. Rosenwald, the Paramount Capital Asset Management business has directed investments from several funds since 1994 that have a concentration in the biotechnology and other technological sectors. Dr. Rosenwald serves on the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Sciences Advisory Counsel and in the 2002 article edition of Genetic Engineering News he was considered number one in the list of 100 Molecular Millionaires with a worth of $617,721,671. Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald functiond on the Keryx Biopharmaceutical, Inc board of directors from 2002 to 2006. He quit in order to give more time operating in the biotechnology area. Cougar Biotechnology, purchased by Johnson & Johnson in 2009, is another establishment that was first started by Dr. Rosenwald and was founded solely on abiraterone acetate. Abiraterone Acetate, even though it had not yet arrived at phase III in clinical testing trials, was exhibiting so much potential in the therapy and curing for prostate cancer that Johnson & Johnson permitted a short-term joining bid and acquirement for the Cougar Biotechnology company for $1 billion. Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, apart from the various ventures which have presented funding and assets to portfolio companies, has also established the Rosenwald Foundation. This is a nonprofit organization that has been successful in affording millions of dollars in assistance of numerous medical and scientific instruction institutions.

The results of Phase 3 research demonstrate significant survival in men suffering from advanced metastatic prostate cancer (also known as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer), who had their chemotherapy and the disease still progressed. These men received abiraterone acetate, a novel drug candidate by Johnson & Johnson.

At the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), which took place in Milan, Johann de Bono, MD, from the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London revealed the trial data that showed that patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer, who took abiraterone acetate plus the steroid prednisone, lived median 4 months longer than those who received a placebo.

Dr. de Bono believes that these results may lead to better standard of prostate cancer treatment, especially in those patients, whose disease progressed despite the docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Lindsay Rosenwald, MD, from BioSciences and leading investment bank that funds novel technologies and developments in the biotechnology sector, shares this point of view and says that abiraterone acetate is a new step in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer, especially in those men, who have a poor prognosis. When diagnosed with this serious disease, only 1 in 3 survives more than five years and abiraterone is a hope for many such patients.

Due to the fact, that testosterone, the male hormone, is the main nutrition for tumor cells, the reduction of this hormone in the body is a crucial factor in reducing the speed of tumor development. However, many cases show that prostate cancer becomes resistant to docetaxel-based treatment and start growing again.

Abirateroneis developed to address these serious problems and prevent tumor growth. The drug works by inhibiting the reproduction of male hormones in the testes and prostate tumors.

The Phase 3 clinical research included 1,195 patients with advanced castrate-resistant prostate cancer, who were previously treated with at least one chemotherapy regime.

Median survival rate in those patients, who received a placebo and prednisone, was about 10 months, while the group receiving abiraterone and the corticosteroid prednisone, lived median 14.8 months.  Such promising results can be seen not only in the survival rate, but also in the progression of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as well as the PSA response rate and free of progression radiographic survival.

The early stages of the study were funded by Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, before Cougar Biotechnology was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. The early analysis showed promising results and this lead to even more investments by Lindsay Rosenwald and his bank, and the further acquisition of the drug by J&J in April 2009.

The abiraterone’s advantages were noticed during an interim analysis of the Phase 3 trial. These advantages prompted the Independent Data Monitoring Committee to recommend revealing the data and allowing those in the placebo group to be treated with abiraterone.

Dr. de Bono said at the Congress that when they got to know that abiraterone was beneficial in life extension for so many patients, it would have been ethical to reveal the data to all patients taking part in the study.

There are still some unclear points about abiraterone acetate, but it is obvious that it extends life and is very beneficial for patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, who have very poor prognosis and treatment outcomes.

Prof. CarstenBokemeyer, from the University Cancer Center at Hamburg, Germany, and Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald believe that abiraterone acetate is a novel and very promising aid in the treatment of prostate cancer.

By showing low toxicity profile, abiraterone can be the only option for many patients, who already had docexatel-based chemotherapy. The fact is that a proper timing in the treatment is a crucial aspect in the ongoing management of advanced metastatic prostate cancer. Therefore, the sooner the treatment starts, the better.