Kurt von Emster

Managing Partner

Menlo Park, California, United States

About

Head of Life Sciences and Managing Partner at Abingworth, a leading life science investment firm with offices in London, Menlo Park CA, and Boston. We focus on therapeutic investment opportunities, from preclinical to commercial. We are investing out of our 14th venture fund, Abingworth Bioventures 9. I am based in the California but work on global sourcing and execution of deals.

Experience

  • Managing Partner, Head of Life Sciences at Abingworth
    Jan 2015 - Present · 11 yrs 6 mos

    Abingworth invests in private and public life sciences companies. We are currently investing ~$1.5b in funds.

  • Board Member at Iambic Therapeutics
    Oct 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

    Iambic Therapeutics combines physics and AI to create a differentiated drug discovery platform to quickly and efficiently create potentially best-in-class molecules.

  • Board Member at Tizona Therapeutics, Inc.
    Nov 2020 - Present · 5 yrs 8 mos

  • Board Member at Orbus Therapeutics
    Jul 2020 - Present · 6 yrs

    Orbus is a phase 3 oncology company. Eflornithine is a novel cytostatic agent that inhibits tumor growth by preventing cell division and proliferation which Orbus Therapeutics is developing for the treatment of patients with anaplastic astrocytoma (AA), or Grade 3 glioma, a rare and deadly form of brain cancer. Eflornithine irreversibly blocks ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), a key enzyme associated with various types of cancer.

  • Board Member at SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
    Apr 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 3 mos

    SFJ Pharmaceuticals® is a global specialty pharmaceutical company with an innovative pharmaceutical co-development model that provides an advantageous alternative to traditional pharma partnerships. SFJ Pharmaceuticals®’s unique partnering approach provides experienced clinical and medical professionals, clinical development resources and operational oversight and execution to accelerate late-phase drug development candidates across multiple indications and therapeutic areas. The result is pipeline acceleration for our partners.