Pappas Ventures was one of the initial institutional investors in LEAD, a small-molecule drug discovery company that validated drug targets with rapid, exceptionally efficient lead-optimization strategies, utilizing chemists based in Shanghai. The company’s pipeline in oncology included a PARP inhibitor program that is now among the most promising programs of its type. BioMarin plans to begin Phase 3 trials of the PARP inhibitor in 2013.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical acquired LEAD in 2010.