Who We Are

Cato BioVentures is the venture capital affiliate of Cato Research Ltd., a leading contract research and development organization (CRO). For nearly 20 years, Cato BioVentures and Cato Research have assisted entrepreneurs and established management teams in building successful life science companies.  We focus on early-stage investment opportunities in private companies and PIPE opportunities in undervalued public companies. Through strategic CRO service agreements with Cato Research, we invest our in-kind service capital (CRO Service Capital™) in innovative therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and platform tools and technologies for improved drug discovery and development. If strategic outsourcing to CROs for development support and regulatory advice is a core component of a company’s business plan, then our investment model can make a difference in the company’s overall success. 

Our CRO Service Capital™ offers promising life science companies immediate access to a broad range of essential CRO services on a noncash basis. Our strategic CRO services are often commenced in a “bridge mode” during the period between a company’s formation or initial angel financing and its first institutional financing. These critical-time CRO services enable management to achieve key value-added development and regulatory milestones with less reliance on venture capital and public equity markets.

Among our key critical-time CRO service deliverables for our early-stage portfolio companies is an Integrated Drug Development Plan (Cato IDD Plan™). In a manner similar to a company’s Business Plan, the Cato IDD Plan™ is a dynamic document that serves as an essentially flexible management tool for planning and executing all necessary components of the company’s successful drug, device or diagnostic development program. Importantly, the Cato IDD Plan™ assists management in its efforts to articulate its strategic development and regulatory “game plan” to the investment community, prospective corporate partners and the FDA.    

We focus on high value potential life science technology opportunities at all stages of development and across multiple therapeutic and technical areas, with emphasis on opportunities in late-stage preclinical, early-stage clinical development and late-stage clinical development. We are uniquely interested in product development opportunities in public companies that have gone off track or fallen out of favor with the investment community for various reasons. We often operate in a “product rescue mode” with respect to such opportunities, often significantly at risk. If our CRO know-how and expertise can make a meaningful difference in the successful restart or continued development of the product development program, then our investment model is a potential fit for a distressed company or its out-of-favor development program.  

Broadly stated, the core components of our successful investment track record are simple. We invest our CRO Service Capital™ in

(a) experienced people driven to improve the health of others through hard work and innovation and

 (b) opportunities to make a difference in drug development outcomes by making a difference in drug development programs.

Grounded firmly in our commitment to risk-sharing, teamwork, high level communication, and respect for our strategic partners, we offer emerging private companies and undervalued public companies unique and flexible access to the collective drug development and regulatory expertise of over 300 CRO employees worldwide and an experienced team of life science investors and corporate executives with a proven track record of success. We believe that  the key factor determining the success or failure of early-stage life science companies is the people; primarily people, not drug candidates or technology, make the difference. Our goal is to help management of our portfolio companies make a difference in healthcare.  

Although we explore investment opportunities across many therapeutic areas, we are particularly interested in novel therapeutics for central and peripheral nervous system disorders, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and cancer. We also consider selected medical device and diagnostic opportunities and platform tools and technologies for improved drug discovery/development and drug delivery, with special emphasis on next generation embryonic stem cell-based technologies and skin penetration enhancement delivery systems.