Canaan Partners Welcomes Dr. Andrew Firlik as Venture Associate; Dr. Firlik Brings Medical Expertise to Healthcare Investment Team

Business Wire, March 5, 2001

Business Editors/Health Writers

ROWAYTON, Conn.--(BW HealthWire)--March 5, 2001

Canaan Partners, a national venture capital investment firm, today announced that Andrew Firlik, MD, has joined as Venture Associate in the firm's Rowayton, Conn. offices. Dr. Firlik joins Canaan's healthcare investment team to assess and manage investments in the healthcare field.

Dr. Firlik is a physician specializing in neurological surgery. Prior to his involvement with Canaan, he served as a consultant to Mayfield Fund and several early stage healthcare companies. He is a co-founder and scientific advisory board member of Vertis Neuroscience, Inc., a medical device company in Seattle. He also co-founded LaunchCyte, LLC, a Pittsburgh-based healthcare seed-stage investor and business accelerator.

Well respected in his field, Dr. Firlik has published more than 30 scientific articles in leading medical journals, written several textbook chapters and essays, and is the co-editor of a forthcoming book about cerebrovascular surgery. His scientific work has been presented at more than 40 international meetings. He studied biology at Cornell University and Oxford University, received his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MD from Cornell University Medical College. He currently holds a clinical faculty appointment at the Yale University School of Medicine.

"Dr. Firlik's involvement with Canaan aids us immeasurably in our evaluation of potential healthcare investments and lends an expert point of view around the current state of the industry," said Harry Rein, founder and managing general partner of Canaan Partners. "His extensive experience in healthcare makes him an extremely valuable addition to the Canaan investment team."

Dr. Firlik joins the healthcare investment team at Canaan that includes Harry Rein, Seth Rudnick, MD, and Brent Ahrens. Canaan has remained strongly committed to the healthcare market since the firm was founded in 1987, with current market capitalization among its healthcare investments totaling approximately $3 billion.

About Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners (http://www.canaan.com) is a national venture capital investment firm formed in 1987. Canaan Partners specializes in early stage venture capital for health care as well as Internet and information technology companies. Canaan Partners was an early backer in Capstone Turbine (CPST), Centocor (CNTO), Esperion (ESPR), Genaissance (GNSC), Matrix Pharmaceutical Inc. (MATX), Orapharma (OPHM), Praecis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PRCS), CommerceOne (CMRC), E.piphany(EPNY)/Rightpoint, Concord Communications (CCRD), Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), ONI Systems (ONIS), IntraWare (ITRA), and Interact Commerce (IACT), along with dozens of other market-leading companies.