Prognosis

Google's Venture Firm Taps Biotech Veteran in Life-Sciences Push

  • GV brings in David Schenkein, who had led drug upstart Agios
  • Schenkein has long resume as health executive, drug developer

Photographer: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

GV, the venture-capital arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc., has hired biotechnology industry veteran David Schenkein to co-lead its investments in life sciences, a signal of its increasing ambitions in health care.

Schenkein was previously chief executive officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., which he grew from a small closely held startup to a $3.1 billion biotechnology company. Under his stewardship, the firm developed two U.S.-approved cancer drugs in 10 years, one of the fastest timelines in the industry’s history. He remains chairman of Agios.