Joseph Baron

Joseph Baron is an experienced business development executive and transactional strategist, with 20 years of experience in life sciences business strategy, corporate development and fundraising. Joseph has closed over 10 major deals and supported transactions for numerous life science companies in CNS, ophthalmology and inflammation, and in drug delivery and discovery technologies. Recently serving as SVP of Corporate Development for Extera’s biopharma business development client, BioAssets Development Corporation (BDC), Joseph led the partnering process resulting in an option to merge transaction with Cephalon for $30M upfront and $100M in success-based milestone payments. Cephalon exercised option to acquire BDC within 1 year. Previously, as a co-founder of Adesso Systems, a remote data capture software platform, Joseph raised over $18 million, which garnered $3 million in revenues in its first year of operations. Serving as VP of Business Development, Joseph acquired customers including Novartis, GE Medical, and Abbott Laboratories, and closed transactions with HP, Lycos, and Intuit. As a senior member of Millennium Pharmaceuticals’ M&A team, Joseph evaluated multiple acquisition opportunities for Millennium, resulting in the $450 million acquisition of LeukoSite among other smaller transactions. Joseph also supported two discovery partnerships with Abbott Laboratories ($250 million) and Sanofi Aventis ($450 million). Joseph started his career at Booz Allen and Hamilton, developing market entry strategies for new life science companies and evaluating the effects of novel and disruptive technologies in the energy and chemicals markets. Joseph received a BS in Chemistry & Biochemistry with highest honors from WPI, an MS in Engineering with high honors from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. As part of his MBA, he worked at the Novartis Functional Genomics Center, evaluating market opportunities for plant-based vaccines.