Healthcare billionaire Timothy Springer, PhD, a founding investor in Moderna and a professor of biochemistry at Boston-based Harvard Medical School, is about to see nine-digit growth of his net worth thanks to a new acquisition from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
At the beginning of the year, Dr. Springer had a net worth of $2.1 billion due to his early investment in Moderna.
In 2014, he founded biotech firm Morphic Holding, the lead program of which is an oral treatment for inflammatory bowel disease patients, according to a July 8 report from Forbes.
On July 8, Eli Lilly announced plans to acquire Morphic for $3.2 billion. Dr. Springer still owns about 16% of Morphic's stock and stands to make $435 million when the deal closes.
The acquisition announcement led to a surge in Morphic’s share price, which rose by 75% to $55.79 on Monday afternoon. The sale price also marks a 280% gain for Dr. Springer since the firm went public at $15 a share in July 2019.
Dr. Springer has also founded or been an early investor in at least three other publicly traded biotech firms.
He first backed Moderna in 2010 with a $5 million investment and currently owns about 3% of the firm.