Biotech's 'found­ing fa­ther' and in­flu­en­tial deal bro­ker Fred Frank dies at 89

Fred­er­ick “Fred” Frank, leg­endary in­vest­ment banker and biotech gi­ant who re­shaped the struc­ture of the bio­phar­ma in­dus­try by bro­ker­ing such in­flu­en­tial deals as Roche’s ini­tial pur­chase of Genen­tech stock in 1990, passed away over the week­end.

PureTech CEO Daphne Zo­har first shared the news of Frank’s death on Twit­ter. He was 89.

Over close to six decades steeped in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and life sci­ences, Frank had as­sem­bled an un­ri­valed Rolodex and in­dus­try lore — and is him­self the sub­ject of many fond sto­ries. A tough ne­go­tia­tor with a warm per­son­al­i­ty and a play­ful side, he got to know lead­ers of the top drug­mak­ers as he played a cru­cial, if of­ten hid­den, role in the M&A.

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