FOURSQUARE PARTNERS

four-square \-'skwa(ə)r\ adj. (14c): marked by boldness and conviction: FORTHRIGHT

Eric S. Sharps, Ph.D.

I have over 35 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. I was an analytical protein biochemist for 12 years at Monsanto, Hoffmann-La Roche and Scios (formerly California Biotechnology). This experience provides a technical/operational background coupled with an historical perspective that is unusual in the investment community. It is also rare to be skilled at evaluating both biotechnology and medical device companies (see below). Together, these features provide for practical, data-driven analyses. Critical evaluations are enhanced by my proprietary database - 23 years in the making - containing historical information for over 4,500 companies.

Beginning in 1992, I managed investments in venture capital and later, in public equity markets, exclusively in the health care arena. As a venture capitalist with Berkeley International Capital Corporation, my colleagues and I completed investments in sixteen, late-stage medical device companies between 1992 and 1995. All except one went public or were acquired. In May 1997, after 18 months as an independent analyst, a technology partner (EE, Harvard MBA) and I founded FourSquare Partners. In June 1999, I joined BayStar Capital as an equity partner and, again with another colleague, completed investments totaling almost $75 million in 16 public and four private life science companies during my 15-month tenure there. I have also evaluated several hundred biotech PIPE transactions over the years. Some of FourSquare’s previous clients are Rockhill Partners (Philadelphia), Cumberland Associates (New York), S.A.C. Capital (Connecticut) and Whitebox Advisors (Illinois).

In August 2012, I was the Senior Advisor to Duff & Phelps (Financial Advisor to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors) in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of KV Pharmaceutical Company. Heard by the Honorable Allan L. Gropper, United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) Bankruptcy Court, the case concluded in September 2013.

I hold a BS in Natural Sciences from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and earned my MS and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry from The Pennsylvania State University.