Lucas de Breed, BrightEdge. “Trends in Oncology Investing”
Oncology remains a major sector for early-stage investment, on the basis of increasingly deeper insight into disease complexity as well as growing disparities in outcomes. The American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Fund brings a patient-centric lens to breakthrough innovation, ensuring that new solutions match their deep understanding of patient unmet need. (BrightEdge is the sponsor of our currently open Golden Ticket program.)
For BrightEdge the top areas of interest are:
- Novel therapies for cancer types that have been disproportionally underserved (pediatric, pancreatic, brain, etc.).
- Approaches that improve response to existing therapies.
- Technologies that support prevention and early detection or that can help reduce patient burden.
But given their double bottom line (patient-level impact and financial return), several factors are important, including strong proof of concept data, clear directionality for clinical development, and at least line of sight on reimbursement. Lucas de Breed is Director of Investments at BrightEdge. Join us on March 20 to learn what his investing priorities are and why.
About the Speaker
Lucas de Breed is Director, Investments at BrightEdge — the ACS’s mission-driven venture capital fund.
Dr. de Breed has over 15 years of experience in Oncology, as a scientist, strategy consultant, VC and entrepreneur.
Previously, as a Manager at Deallus, a global strategy consulting firm for large biopharma clients, he led the Oncology business unit and founded the firm’s East Coast office. As an Investment Director at INKEF Capital, a leading European VC firm, Lucas led the allocation of $120 million in US and European therapeutics start-ups, served on the respective Boards, and realized a number of exits. At INKEF, he was instrumental in setting the investment strategy, building out the investment team and in expanding assets under management to $600 million. He is also the Founder of August Care, developing outcomes-based financial solutions for high-cost precision medicine.
Dr. de Breed holds a PhD in Molecular Oncology from University College London and an MBA from Stanford University. He has also co-authored several scientific papers. He is a Director at Quantum Leap Healthcare, a 501c(3)charitable organization integrating high-impact clinical research with patient care to improve and save lives; a member of the Scientific Advisory Board or Promontory Therapeutics, a clinical stage oncology company; and a member of the Advisory Board of FIRST, an early stage investment fund for cardiovascular and regenerative medicine.
