Alan Crane

Biography

Alan Crane joined Polaris Partners in 2002 as an Entrepreneur Partner. In this role, he focuses on building and investing in healthcare companies. He has served as founder and/or has played a significant role as chairman and CEO in building seven Polaris companies including: Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA), Cerulean Pharma (acquired by Dare Bioscience, NASDAQ:DARE), Visterra, Navitor Pharmaceuticals, XTuit Pharmaceuticals, Arsia Therapeutics (acquired by Eagle Pharmaceuticals), and Pandion Therapeutics. In addition, he currently serves on the board of KSQ Therapeutics, Seventh Sense Biosystems and has previously represented Polaris on the boards of T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ: TTOO), Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ: OCUL), Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SIRT, acquired by Glaxo SmithKline) and Adnexus Therapeutics (Bristol Myers Squibb). From 2002 to 2006, Alan was President and CEO of Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA). He joined Momenta as the fifth employee and built it into a public company, creating an advanced and diversified pipeline, entering into two strategic collaborations with Novartis and raising $275 million. The first product from Momenta’s pipeline achieved over $1B during its first year of sales. Prior to Polaris, Alan was Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for leading Millennium’s strategic partnering, mergers and acquisitions, and licensing activities, generating over $2B in partner funding and acquiring 19 development stage products. Among these products was Velcade® which became the main basis of the company’s $9B acquisition by Takeda. Before joining Millennium, Alan was a marketing executive at DuPont-Merck and a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and Arthur D. Little. Alan received the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award for New England and is an Always-On Venture Capital 100 recipient. His current and former non-profit positions include: Selection Committee for the Harvard Life Lab, Expert-in-Residence at the Harvard School of Engineering, Board Member of the Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, Founder and Vice Chair of the Autism Consortium, and President of the Board of Gann Academy. Alan earned a BA in Biology, summa cum laude, from Harvard College, an MA in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and an MBA, with honors, from Harvard Business School. He also spent two years studying towards an MD at Harvard Medical School. Alan enjoys spending his free time traveling with his wife and three sons and working with non-profits in education and healthcare.

Research Interest

 Pharmaceutical Science