New Rhein Opens US Headquarters in Philadelphia and Expands Investment Team

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — New Rhein Healthcare Investors, an international private equity firm has announced moving its global headquarters from Chicago to Philadelphia, complementing its other offices in Brussels and London.

New Rhein is focused on healthcare therapeutics and medical devices. The firm invests in businesses that utilize proven products in new applications; specifically clinically de-risked assets and existing molecules with newly discovered uses and purposes. In an era of increasing costs, New Rhein believes that “innovation drives greater risk-adjusted value than invention” and that major unmet medical needs can be addressed by existing solutions, improving health economic outcomes while doing so.

New Rhein uniquely combines significant deal-making expertise with deep operating experience that allows the firm to tailor the right deal for the right situation and then work with portfolio companies to unlock value. Prior investments have included medicines for Alzheimer’s disease, ophthalmic disorders, respiratory disease, and oncology molecular diagnostics.

The opening of the Philadelphia office coincides with the addition of two new investment professionals. Dr. Ivan Gergel joins the firm as Chief Medical Officer and Mr. Nishant Rastogi joins the firm as a Senior Associate.

Dr. Gergel will lead New Rhein’s clinical, scientific, and regulatory diligence processes, as well as assisting portfolio companies with clinical research, clinical operations, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, and drug safety and surveillance. He brings over 25 years of pharmaceutical leadership and drug development experience to New Rhein. Previously Dr. Gergel served as: Head of Development and Chief Medical Officer at Nektar Therapeutics; EVP of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Endo Pharmaceuticals; and SVP of Research & Development at Forest Laboratories.

Dr. Gergel has overseen the successful development and approval of 14 new medicines across many therapeutic classes, including several multi-billion dollar drugs. He received his MD from The Royal Free Medical School of The University of London and an MBA from the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Rastogi’s responsibilities will include identification and screening of new opportunities, due-diligence, modeling, deal negotiation, portfolio company support, and business development. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Rastogi was an investor at Broadview Ventures. He received his MBA from Northwestern University, and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

The firm’s selection of Philadelphia is based on the area’s growing importance as a center for life science innovation, and proximity to the historic NJ based US pharmaceutical industry, the Maryland based FDA, and the NYC financial hub.

New Rhein has additionally created an advisory board of industry veterans. Inaugural members are Dr. Jeremy Levin, CEO of Ovid Pharma and former CEO of Teva and Head of Corporate Development at BMS, and Mr. Jack Khattar, CEO of Supernus Pharma.

These moves are in line with and strengthen New Rhein’s strategy of identifying assets that not only meet an unmet medical need, but also bring strong health economic value, and which require operational know-how and investment for the right clinical, regulatory, and commercial strategy.