Part I: Venture Capital Firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is Paid to Kill Women

Part I: Venture Capital Firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is Paid to Kill Women

 

UPDATED July 3, 2019

Senator Elizabeth Warren, and presidential hopeful in 2020, is going after one of the biggest VC #BoardWhores who fund startup #GodsOfFrauds NEA’s Scott Gottlieb, former FDA chief & current Pfizer board member.

As @US_FDA Commissioner, @ScottGottliebMD & I worked together on a number of public health priorities. That’s why I found his new position on the Board of drug giant @Pfizer to be such a tough pill to swallow. https://t.co/TXXYGyy3s4

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 2, 2019

UPDATED February 18, 2016, Did FDA Screw Up Its Reporting of Essure Deaths? (below original)

UPDATED November 24, 2015 (middle)

November 2, 2015

Part I: Venture Capital Firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is Paid to Kill Women 

New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is the largest venture capital firm in the world according to Fortune (2011) who also refers to the company as The VC World’s Best-Kept Secret.  I’d have to disagree on that last part.  Anyone who worked for an incubated medical device startup funded by a venture capital firm knows of NEA.  Or in my case worked for an NEA funded startup.

However, there’s likely reason NEA prefers secrecy regarding the rest of the world because, NEA in part, funded two incubated startups, Conceptus & Gynecare who are currently part of the largest medical device war on women in U.S. history.  Frequent readers of this site may recognize those companies under their current names: Conceptus was sold to Essure’s Bayer in 2013 for $1.1 billion & Gynecare was sold to transvaginal mesh giants Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon in 1997 for $79 million.

 

Injured NEA funded Conceptus turned Bayer Permanent Birth Control Essure patient victims, known as Essure Problems, recently petitioned the FDA to remove from the permanent birth control product from the market.   Nickel-titanium coils are inserted through the vagina and into the fallopian tubes for permanent birth control which have migrated out of the fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity, abdominal wall and in some cases back through the vaginal wall. Not only are the women experiencing nerve damage, extreme fatigue, and isolated pain at the migration site, there is serious concern over the body’s reaction to nickel, similar to what the metal on metal (MoM) hip victims are experiencing.

NEA-funded Gynecare turned Johnson & Johnson Ethicon’s Gynecare TVT mesh products (made from polypropylene) used to treat stress urinary incontinence (SUI) or in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is thought to have damaged women due to the incompatibility with human tissue which has caused migration, nerve damage, autoimmune disorders, and death. There are currently 26,000 cases against Johnson & Johnson alone in federal court under the Honorable Judge Goodwin, where there’s 83,000 against all transvaginal mesh device manufacturers.

These women, lucky enough to have not died from their procedures,  will all endure countless painful surgeries, where many are no longer able to work, or are wheelchair bound, with their families breaking apart due to the stress all while the once ventured back startups turned worldwide known conglomerates of Bayer and Johnson & Johnson continue placing blame on their victims without taking accountability.

When people ask, “How and why is this allowed to happen?”  The answer is simple:  Venture capital firms like NEA*, because they are free of accountability, are encouraged to replicate this pathological pattern of abuse where they’ve been rewarded billions of dollars while funding the medical device war on women. 

UPDATED: 

 

 

 

 

FDA Acting Commissioner Frank Torti‘s leaked email to agency employees regarding the agency’s confidentiality policies has landed the commish in hot water with Sen. Charles Grassley, Dow Jones reports. Torti’s March 13 email tells employees to keep propriety information to themselves.

FDA Acting Commissioner Frank Torti (2009), has a son,  Frank Torti Jr. who is an NEA Venture Partner.

@US_FDA Frank Torti Sr suppresses whistleblowers @NEAVC Frank Torti Jr funds medical device fraud #GodsOfFrauds https://t.co/h32kotBj52

— Melayna Lokosky (@MelaynaLokosky) November 25, 2015

back to original:

Unlike pharmaceuticals,  which are usually produced in-house by large companies like Pfizer, medical devices are created by an incubator (idea for the product) that requires funding (venture capital) before becoming a startup.  Once a startup is funded, the clock starts ticking on getting the venture capital investors their ROI (return on investment).  

The problems the women are experiencing now  with Bayer’s Essure and Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon’s Gynecare mesh products likely were known and during the NEA funded startup phase; and, possibly under-reported or not reported because that information could hurt the sale price (lower) or even negate the sale if enough negative data was known.  Or worse, and more likely, the damaging information was known at the startup level, venture capital level (VC’s usually hold board seats to protect their investment) and the Bayer & Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon level and the companies knowingly & willingly gambled with women’s bodies for their profit.

 

NEA, also boasts they are the world’s largest venture capital firm with $17 billion in committed capital across 15 funds.  And one of those funds, no doubt includes Dr. Josh Makower, NEA Venture Partner and Founder Incubator ExploraMed in Mountain View, CA.

Again, I know this cycle well because I worked for startup Acclarent incubated by Josh Makower Founder of ExploraMed and NEA Venture Partner, where NEA had 44.5% stake of the $1oo million raised* to start Acclarent.  Acclarent sold to Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon** for $785 million in 2010.

*NEA was the principle venture capital firm along with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation JJDC (Johnson & Johnson’s venture capital division)**, Delphi Ventures, and Meritech Capital Partners 

Acclarent CEO William (Bill) Facteau and VP of Sales & Training Patrick (Pat) Fabian put unethical and illegal pressure & demands on sales reps to generate unattainable goals, not based on facts, but rather using a formula that created the appearance of sales where the only goal was to obtain a high ROI for investors, including Acclarent Founder, ExploraMed Founder & NEA Venture Partner Josh Makower.

False Projections = Hypergrowth = Hyperinflated  Fraudulent Company Sale Price

This is, in part why the 2008 IPO failed, the company stated they decided to withdrawal the IPO due to market conditions, which is less true than the real reason.  Venture Capital investors would have lost money because sales were based on fraudulent hypergrowth & providing documents with false information to the SEC for an IPO could have landed quite a few someone’s in jail. 

Regardless of market conditions Acclarent’s only option was to increase sales through false sales projections to hyperinflate the company’s valuation.  The valuation of a company is done any number of ways, which is why fraud is so rampant in startups. Acclarent based the valuation on total sales from 2009 (roughly $90 million reported) with the desired goal of getting 8-10 times that amount back for investors.

$90 million x 10 = $900 million

Acclarent sold  for $785 million

 NEA-funded Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon’s Acclarent CEO William (Bill) Facteau & VP of Sales Patrick (Pat) Fabian (former) were arrested & federally indicted, April 10, 2015, on 18 counts of securities fraud and crimes related to the sales and distribution of medical devices and currently awaiting trail while out on $5 million & $500,000 bail.

Venture Capital firm NEA with 44.5% of Acclarent and  NEA Venture Partner Josh Makower along with the Bayer & the other Johnson & Johnson acquisition lets the good ole boys brag $1,964,000,000 billion times over at the continued expense of an estimated 50,000 NEA-funded medical device injured women.

UPDATED February 18, 2016, Did FDA Screw Up Its Reporting of Essure Deaths? Qmed

 

Part II Venture Capital firm NEA Funds Medical Device Fraud