Venture Partner
Zach Sweeney, Ph.D.
Background
Zach Sweeney is a Venture Partner at Versant and has broad experience growing and leading successful multifunctional drug discovery groups, including small molecule, biotherapeutic and genetic medicine discovery platforms.
Zach was formerly the CEO and co-founder of Interline Therapeutics, and prior to that was the Chief Scientific Officer at Denali Therapeutics, where he led the growth of the discovery portfolio and research group. Zach was also a leader in the drug discovery groups at Revolution Medicines, Novartis, Genentech and Roche.
More than a dozen molecules that Zach and his teams have developed at these companies have progressed into clinical studies, and these potential medicines have been the subject of licensing deals that cumulatively generated more than $1B in upfront payments.
History
Zach attended Stanford University, where he received a B.S. degree in Chemistry. He subsequently earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed a NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.