Bill Taranto, president of MSD Global Health Innovation, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Bill Taranto has led MSD Global Health Innovation (GHI) since 2010, playing a strong role in the US company’s transition a decade ago from general consumer pharmaceuticals to a focus on biopharmaceuticals and oncology.
With 45 portfolio companies and about 80% having commercial agreements with MSD, Taranto’s approach of always seeking to understand and solve the parent company’s core challenges has proven successful.
Last year, the fund expanded beyond the US, launching two accelerator programmes, one in Berlin covering central Europe and one in Singapore covering 10 Asian countries. “This allows us to be closer to local markets and invest outside the US where we had not before,” says Taranto. The accelerators will also invest at an earlier stage than the growth stage-focused core GHI fund has typically done.
Both in the US and abroad, GHI is focused on four key areas of pharma services: drug discovery, clinical development, supply chain and patient access.
“We are on the very precipice of something being validated.”
In drug discovery, Taranto is particularly excited about AI and machine learning allowing drugs to be identified faster. The fund has invested in about 12 companies applying AI to biology, chemistry and vaccines in the past two years, with a belief that these technologies are on the cusp of a breakthrough. “We are on the very precipice of something being validated,” says Taranto.
Clinical development is another critical focus, especially in patient diversity and trial management. “We invested in a company called N-Power Medicine that helps us find diverse patients, instead of being all white males, age 50 or older,” he says. The unit is also exploring supply chain innovations, with systems tracking raw materials coming in and finished goods going out, much like a “control tower at an airport”.
A veteran of the venture capital sector, Taranto says corporate venture capital is becoming increasingly sophisticated. “They are hiring the right people, creating the right types of units, having well-refined investment thesis and strategies.” He believes corporate venture capital has now established itself as “part of the ecosystem of investing” and offers unique value that traditional investors cannot.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
