Formation Bio Announces First Class of Entrepreneurs in Residence to Drive Pipeline Growth and Strategic Partnerships
NEW YORK, June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Formation Bio, an AI-driven pharmaceutical company focused on accelerating drug development, today announced the appointment of its first class of Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs): Kia Motesharei, Ph.D., Minji Kim Ph.D, MBA, John Taylor, M.S., and Anthony S. Walsh, D.Phil, These seasoned dealmakers will work closely with Chief Business Officer David Steinberg to expand the company's business development capabilities and further its mission to bring high-potential treatments to patients faster.
Formation Bio acquires and in-licenses promising drug assets, advancing them through critical development milestones (Phase II and beyond), and then out-licensing for further advancement. The company's AI platform supports this lifecycle end-to-end—from asset identification and development strategy to execution of clinical trials aimed at greater speed and higher probability of success.
Each of the four newly appointed EIRs brings extensive experience in sourcing and executing high-value biopharma transactions. Their addition reflects Formation Bio's continued investment in growing its pipeline through asset acquisitions, licensing deals, and strategic partnerships.
"Biotech is at a rare inflection point—breakthrough science and high-potential assets abound, but funding and development resources are scarce. Too many promising programs are stuck—not for lack of merit, but for lack of the right partner. Formation Bio can fill that gap, with the capital, drug development capabilities, model, and platform to accelerate development and unlock value. That's why we're thrilled to welcome our Entrepreneurs in Residence: a unique opportunity for seasoned dealmakers to go deep on science they believe in, deploy capital, and advance transformative medicines through an innovative model."
—David Steinberg, Chief Business Officer, Formation Bio
Combining proprietary technology with deep domain expertise, Formation Bio's teams uncover overlooked or underdeveloped promising programs to transact on and develop. The EIRs will be instrumental in this work, bringing decades of dealmaking experience, deep industry connectivity, and the ability to move quickly on high-conviction opportunities across a broad range of therapeutic areas.
The group's diverse focus areas strengthen Formation Bio's ability to identify and unlock high-value opportunities across a wide range of modalities and markets.
- Kia Motesharei – NASH/MASH
- Minji Kim– Korea/APAC
- John Taylor– Rare Diseases
- Anthony S. Walsh – Immunology & Inflammation (I&I), including bispecifics
Their arrival also reflects the company's growing presence in key industry hubs like Boston and North Carolina, where they are deepening ties with leading talent, companies, and partners across the biotech and pharma ecosystem.
About Kia Motesharei, Ph.D.
Kia is a seasoned business development executive with a global network and a proven deal track record. He has led corporate development, licensing, and investor relations at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Akcea Therapeutics, Merck KGaA, Dyax, and Genfit, completing over 100 transactions across licensing, M&A, financing, and strategic partnerships. Before joining Formation Bio, he led BD and IR at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, where he raised over $1B in financing, supported the FDA approval of Rezdiffra®—the first approved treatment for NASH/MASH—and helped drive a market cap increase from $800M to over $7B. Earlier in his career, he partnered with the management teams at Genfit and Dyax to reposition Genfit's lead program from atherosclerosis to NASH, contributing to a market cap increase from $110M to over $1.2B, and helped drive the development of Takhzyro®, Dyax's next-generation HAE therapy, leading to its $6.5B acquisition by Shire, up from an initial market cap of $120M. He also advises biopharma companies on BD, licensing, and strategy through his firm, BTeK Consulting
Kia holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from UCLA and a B.A. in Chemistry from Colorado College, and completed his NIH postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute. His experience spans cardiometabolic, immunology, neurology, oncology, cardiovascular, rare diseases, and more.
About Minji Kim, Ph.D., MBA
Minji is a biotech executive and dealmaker with more than 20 years of experience across corporate and business development, strategy, operations, and cross-border company building. She has held leadership roles at Curis, Jounce Therapeutics, Mineralys Therapeutics, and AffaMed Therapeutics—where she led high-impact transactions and built global operations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Her transaction experience spans over a few billion dollars in total value across licensing, equity investment, M&A, joint venture and clinical collaborations. Highlights include securing a $170M upfront cash package through partnerships with Gilead and Celgene at Jounce, transforming Curis and tripling the company value through a multi-asset strategic collaboration with Aurigene, and rapidly building AffaMed's pipeline and global footprint through five major transactions in under a year.
Minji brings deep experience in oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, CNS, cardiovascular, and digital therapeutics, and has led both in- and out-licensing from early discovery to late-stage clinical assets. She is the Founder of Cross Border Partners and currently serves on the Board of SK Biopharmaceuticals. Minji holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from Seoul National University and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Yale School of Management. Prior to starting her industry career at Roche, she was an instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
About John Taylor, M.S.
John is a biotech entrepreneur and operator with a track record of building and leading clinical-stage companies across rare diseases and specialty pharma. He has served as Co-Founder and CEO of Spyryx Biosciences and Aceragen, led corporate and business development at Synageva Biopharma and Javelin Pharmaceuticals and helped launch the Entrepreneur in Residence program at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Over his career, John has executed more than $1 billion in transactions—including regional partnerships at Javelin Pharmaceuticals, strategic development agreements with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma for Synageva Biopharma, the $225M acquisition of ACG-801 from Enzyvant, multiple agreements with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a $45M clinical development contract with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and a public listing via reverse merger at Aceragen. He has raised nearly $150 million in venture, private equity, and strategic funding, and brings hands-on expertise in dealmaking, portfolio strategy, and clinical development across biologics, peptides, small molecules, and drug delivery platforms.
John holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Clemson University and an M.S. in Technology Management from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business.
About Anthony S. Walsh, D.Phil
Anthony is a biotech investor and operator who has spent over a decade at well known biotech investment firms including RA Capital, Mission BioCapital, and Lyfe Capital. He led or co-led investments in Tidal Therapeutics (acquired by Sanofi for $160M upfront + $310M in milestones) and Vedere Bio (acquired by Novartis for $150M upfront + $130M in milestones), and backed companies such as QurAlis, ShapeTx, Mediar Therapeutics, Dren Bio, and Tune Therapeutics—advancing programs in neurodegeneration, RNA editing, and oncology.
Anthony holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin and a D.Phil in Biophysics from Oxford University, where his research focused on the biological applications of DNA cages for targeted macromolecule delivery.
Contact Info
Business Development Inquiries: bd@formation.bio
Press Inquires: press@formation.bio
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/formation-bio-announces-first-class-of-entrepreneurs-in-residence-to-drive-pipeline-growth-and-strategic-partnerships-302476651.html
SOURCE Formation Bio