Three Finalists Announced for the 2020 Bloom Burton Award

Award Recognizes the Year’s Most Significant Contributor to Canada’s Innovative Healthcare Industry

See original press release here

TORONTO, April 30, 2020 – Bloom Burton & Co. is pleased to announce the three finalists for the 2020 Bloom Burton Award. Bestowed annually and nominated by the public at large, the Bloom Burton Award honours an individual who made the greatest contribution to Canada’s innovative healthcare industry in the previous year.

The three finalists are, in alphabetical order:

• Gordon Keller, Scientific Co-founder, BlueRock Therapeutics;
• Arun Menawat, CEO of Profound Medical; and
• Simon Pimstone, CEO of Xenon Pharmaceuticals.

All three finalists will be invited to and celebrated at the Bloom Burton Award Gala on September 24, 2020 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

The Bloom Burton Award finalists and winner are chosen by an independent panel of esteemed judges, all of whom are respected international leaders in healthcare investment, entrepreneurship and journalism. The panel includes:

• Michael Altman, Managing Director, Perceptive Advisors
• Christopher Arendt, Head of Oncology Therapeutic Area Unit, Takeda
• Karen Bernstein, Co-Founder and Chairman, BioCentury Inc.
• Carl Gordon, Partner and Co-Head of Global Private Equity, OrbiMed Advisors
• Dennis Purcell, Founder and Senior Advisor, Aisling Capital
• Melinda Richter, Global Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS
• Camille Samuels, Partner, Venrock

Brian Bloom, Chairman and CEO of Bloom Burton & Co. commented, “Our judges have chosen three deserving finalists for the 2020 Bloom Burton Award.

Gordon Keller’s pioneering academic work in the stem cell therapy field led to the founding of BlueRock Therapeutics in 2016. He is being nominated for BlueRock’s exit to Bayer for $1 billion in 2019, and for the build-out of a major laboratory in Toronto, where more than 100 world-class scientists have been recruited.

As one of Canada’s most successful medical device leaders, Arun Menawat is being nominated for his banner year at Profound Medical. Last year, the company’s TULSA-PRO® prostate cancer ablation system met all efficacy and key safety endpoints in its pivotal trial, and it subsequently received FDA 510(k) clearance and Health Canada approval.

Under Simon Pimstone’s steadfast leadership, Xenon Pharmaceuticals has created one of the world’s most exciting epilepsy drug pipelines, and several of its programs are poised to enter mid-to-late stage clinical trials or generate important data this year. In December 2019, Xenon announced a significant collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences that included a $50 million upfront payment and up to $1.7 billion in potential milestone payments.”

Mr. Bloom continued, “We look forward to celebrating Gordon Keller, Arun Menawat and Simon Pimstone at the 2020 Bloom Burton Award Gala!”

A limited number of table sponsorships and tickets are available. Please visit www.bloomburton.com, or contact:

Brian Bloom
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
(416) 640-7580
bbloom@bloomburton.com

Eleanor Ndaiga
Manager, Communications & Events
(416) 640-7573
endaiga@bloomburton.com