Extera Partners Adds Steven Berntiz as a General Partner

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Addition of Prominent Biotech Dealmaker Solidifies Extera’s Licensing and Transaction Advisory Capabilities

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Extera Partners, a global life science strategic and transaction advisory firm, announced today that Steven Bernitz has joined the firm as a General Partner. This addition solidifies Extera’s position as Boston’s most experienced licensing and transaction advisory firm.

Steve brings to Extera an unparalleled track record of business development success and has negotiated and managed some of the largest licensing transactions in recent memory, including the Concert/GSK and Coley/Pfizer deals,” said Jonathan Reis, Managing General Partner and Co-Founder. “Extera already has a strong record of facilitating deals for biotech companies, as was shown with our recent work on BioAssets Development’s option-to-acquisition transaction with Cephalon (CEPH). Steve adds another layer to our biopharmaceutical team, and secures Extera’s position as the leading sell-side advisory firm.”

“I’m glad to be joining the seasoned team of strategic advisors at Extera,” said Bernitz. “Extera offers companies a unique team approach to advisory services — from Chief Business Officer to Manager-level support, as well as a global network that can provide access to the right industry decision makers and resources at the right time, which is essential to closing high value transactions.”

Prior to joining Extera, Bernitz was the Chief Business Officer at Concert Pharmaceuticals where he led partnering efforts resulting in a billion dollar alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for three preclinical programs. Bernitz also held the position of Senior Vice President, Business and Commercial Development at Coley Pharmaceutical Group, where he led the $600 million licensing deal with Pfizer (PFE) — at the time one of the largest single-program Phase II deals in the industry. Additionally, Bernitz has held senior executive positions in business development, alliance management and product development with Organogenesis, Dyax Corp. (DYAX) and Merck (MRK) Vaccines, closing numerous transactions across a wide array of deal structures, development stages, indications, and modalities. Prior to his life sciences career, Bernitz worked in private equity and was a consultant at McKinsey & Co., Inc. and Monitor Company.