David Ramsay

David Russ Ramsay co-founded Care Capital LLC in 2000 with Jan Leschly and John Parker. Care Capital was formed in Princeton, New Jersey as a life-sciences investment firm focused on pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with early capital reported at $100 million and a co-investment arrangement with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity and Rho Management.

Before Care Capital, Ramsay was a Managing Director at Rhône Group LLC from 1997 to 2000 and co-founded Rhône Capital, a private-equity investment fund. Earlier in his career, he worked at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and was described in a 2005 Care Capital announcement as a former member of the Investment Committee of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners.

Ramsay served on the board of Vanda Pharmaceuticals, beginning in 2004. Vanda was founded in partnership with Care Capital and Bio*One Capital and went on to develop medicines using genetics and genomics in clinical development. SEC filings for Vanda identify Ramsay as a Care Capital co-founder and partner and state that he holds an A.B. in Mathematics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Public profiles now describe Ramsay’s Care Capital role as historical, with MarketScreener listing him as a founder and former Care Capital partner through November 30, 2020. The same profile lists current or past board roles including Terphane, Primus International, Straightline Communications, Nation One Mortgage, Hamilton Services, Sentinella Pharmaceuticals, Somnus Therapeutics, Medpace Research, Metalmark Capital, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, and Vanda Pharmaceuticals.

• Care Capital focused on “later stage pharmaceutical and biotechnology enterprises,” according to the firm’s 2005 announcement about Richard Markham joining as partner.
• The firm’s stated focus was life sciences, especially drug-development opportunities in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies.
• Care Capital’s typical investment size was reported as $5 million to $15 million by Gaebler; MarketScreener separately describes Care Capital as providing growth and buyout capital with investment sizes of $5 million to $20 million.
• The firm backed companies where senior pharmaceutical operating experience could help. Ramsay told Princeton Info: “Companies look for us where Jan Leschly’s and Jerry Karabelas’ experience could be helpful.”
• Ramsay emphasized focusing portfolio companies on commercially relevant programs: Care Capital helped Epigenesis shift away from “blue sky” discovery and toward specific product development, proof of concept, and management fit.
• A founder pitch should show a clear development path, clinical or regulatory milestones, and commercial potential rather than a broad discovery platform without near-term proof points.