Cheston Larson serves as Chair of the office’s Emerging Companies Practice and as Co-Chair of the firm’s Life Sciences Industry Group. His practice covers a broad range of general corporate matters, including counseling public and privately held companies as well as representing venture capital and investment banking firms in private and public financing transactions.
Mr. Larson advises clients on the formation of new businesses and their capital raising transactions, spanning the spectrum from angel and venture financings to IPOs, follow-on offerings, PIPEs, and debt financing. He also regularly represents clients in mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. Mr. Larson’s expertise also includes SEC disclosure and reporting requirements, Nasdaq and NYSE compliance, and executive compensation and equity incentive matters.
Mr. Larson routinely counsels clients in the life sciences, software, telecommunications, cleantech, and other technology industries.
In law school, Mr. Larson was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and worked for the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division as part of Harvard's Clinical Practice Program.
Representative Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, “Going Public,” PwC - Planning a Successful IPO: Going and Being Public, November 2016
- Speaker at Biocom's CFO Breakfast: Capital Markets Update, June, 2016
- Moderator, “A CEO’s View of Managing/Interacting with Your Board of Directors and Audit Committee,” Association of Bioscience Financial Officers (ABFO) National Conference, May 2016
- Moderator, “Recent Trends in Mergers & Acquisitions,” Association of Bioscience Financial Officers (ABFO) National Conference, May 2016
- Panelist, “Being Public – The Advisors,” PwC – Planning a Successful IPO: Going and Being Public, November 2015
- Moderator, “From Readiness to Roadshow: The Path to a Successful IPO,” Biocom's Global Life Sciences Partnering Conference, February 2015
- Panelist, “From the Trenches: Are You Ready to IPO?” Janssen Labs, November 2014
Mr. Larson’s experience includes over 150 venture financings, including the representation of:
- Neurana in its US$60 million Series A financing with Sofinnova Ventures, Leaf Venture Partners, and Longitude Capital
- Crinetics, focused on endocrine disorders, in its US$40 million Series A financing and $US65 million Series B financing with 5AM Ventures, Versant Ventures, Vivo Capital, Perceptive, and RA Capital
- eFFECTOR Therapeutics in its US$45 million Series A financing and US$45 million Series B financing with U.S. Venture Partners, Abingworth, Novartis Venture Funds, SR One, Altitude Ventures, Astellas Venture Management, and AbbVie Ventures
- Zavante, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, in its US$45 million Series A financing with Frazier Healthcare Partners, Longitude Capital, and Aisling Capital
- Bonti in its US$12 million Series B financing with RBV Capital, City Hill Ventures, JMCR Partners and HighLight Capital
- Patara Pharma, focused on allergic and inflammatory diseases and conditions, in its US$27 million Series A financing
- Alastin SkinCare in its financings from angel investors
- Oncternal Therapeutics, focused on oncology, in its Series A and Series B financings raising over US$20 million
- Conatus Pharmaceuticals, developing therapies for liver disease and cancer, backed by Aberdare Ventures, Advent, Bay City Capital, Gilde Healthcare, and MPM Capital
- MeLLmo, a software company developing mobile apps, backed by Sequoia Capital
Mr. Larson’s selected IPO, public offering and PIPE experience includes transactions for:
- On behalf of Issuers: Ignyta, Ellipse Technologies, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits, Exagen Diagnostics, Evoke Pharma, Conatus Pharmaceuticals, Orexigen, Zogenix, Cadence, Somaxon, Santarus, CancerVax (MicroMet), EcoSoil
- On behalf of investment banks: Acadia Pharmaceuitcals, Arena Pharmaceuticals, AltheaDx, Auspex, Ambit, Celladon, Clovis Oncology, Tocagen, Heron Therapeutics, La Jolla Pharmaceuticals, Retrophin, Sophiris, Optimer, ARIAD, TherapeuticsMD, Biocryst, Ardea, MannKind, Mirati, ImmunoGen, Insys, Neurocrine, Tracon Pharma, Trius, Seattle Genetics, Genoptix, HTG Molecular, Heron Therapeutics
Mr. Larson’s merger, acquisition, divestiture or other exit experience includes representing:
- Ignyta’s US$1.7 billion sale to Roche
- Cadence Pharmaceuticals’ US$1.4 billion sale to Mallinckrodt plc
- Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits’ US$1.0 billion sale to Constellation Brands
- Ellipse Technologies in its sale to NuVasive for proceeds of up to US$410 million
- Elevation Pharmaceuticals in its sale to Sunovion for proceeds of up to US$430 million
- SkinMedica in its sale to Allergan for proceeds of up to US$350 million and related spinout of Colorescience
- Agility Clinical’s sale to Precision Medicine Group for proceeds of up to US$46 million
- Ignyta’s acquisition of oncology research and development programs from Cephalon/Teva
- Prometheus Laboratories in its sale to Nestle Health Sciences and earlier acquisition of Lotronex® from GlaxoSmithKline and cancer diagnostics from Rosetta Genomics
- Provide Commerce (proflowers.com) in its acquisitions of RedEnvelope.com and Shari’s Berries, and earlier US$477 million sale to Liberty Media Corp
- Advantar Laboratories’ sale to
Eurofins Scientific
- Management of Bumble Bee Seafoods in a leveraged buyout from ConAgra Foods
- Conatus Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition of a subsidiary from Pfizer
- Proprius Pharmaceuticals’ sale to Cypress Biosciences
- Cadence Pharmaceuticals’ option to acquire Incline Therapeutics
- Vivendi Universal, in several M&A transactions involving internet music businesses, including MP3.com and EMusic
- Hitachi Home Electronics, in a variety of asset divestitures