Flagship Ventures Tempts Former Merck CMO With 'Creative' Mentoring Role

When Merck & Co. Inc.'s former Chief Medical Officer Michael Rosenblatt retired earlier this year, he had no shortage of opportunities to go back to work, which is what he'll do in September as the CMO at Flagship Ventures – a newly created position in which Rosenblatt will mentor the venture capital firm's portfolio companies.

"Flagship proposed something creative and compelling," Rosenblatt said in an interview, noting that this may be the first time a VC firm has hired a CMO. But now that Flagship's investment portfolio includes about 40 therapeutics companies with more than 40 clinical trials under way, it makes sense to have an in-house mentor to guide biopharma entrepreneurs through the research and development process