# Ken Drazan

> Ken Drazan is the Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Arsenal Biosciences (ArsenalBio), a South San Francisco clinical-stage company building computationally designed, programmable T-cell therapies to attack solid tumors. A board-certified liver transplant surgeon turned operator and investor, he previously was President and Chief Business Officer of GRAIL (acquired by Illumina), founded the robotic surgery company Verb Surgical (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), and co-founded the private equity firm Bertram Capital. At ArsenalBio he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and forged collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb and Genentech, betting that gene-edited 'integrated circuit' T cells - and an AI foundation model of the T cell - can turn cell therapy into something curative for cancers that have resisted it.

- **Role:** Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder at Arsenal Biosciences (ArsenalBio)
- **Organizations:** Arsenal Biosciences (ArsenalBio), GRAIL, Verb Surgical, Bertram Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Arginox, EnGen Bio, USC Schaeffer Center
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in Economics, Yale College, M.D., Cum Laude, State University of New York (SUNY), Residency & postdoctoral fellowship (surgery, microbiology), UCLA Medical Center
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads ArsenalBio, raising roughly $850M total including a $325M round in 2024, Founded Verb Surgical, a digital surgery joint venture acquired by Johnson & Johnson, Served as President and Chief Business Officer of GRAIL, acquired by Illumina

## Career timeline

- **1990s-2000s** — Trains as a liver transplant surgeon; faculty appointments at Stanford and UCLA
- **2006** — Co-founds private equity firm Bertram Capital
- **2016** — Leads the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California; founds Verb Surgical (later acquired by J&J)
- **2017-2018** — Serves as President and Chief Business Officer of GRAIL (later acquired by Illumina)
- **2019** — Becomes CEO and co-founder of Arsenal Biosciences
- **2022** — ArsenalBio announces discovery collaboration with Genentech
- **2024-09** — ArsenalBio announces $325M financing to advance programmable cell therapies into the clinic
- **2025-01** — ArsenalBio and Bristol Myers Squibb achieve milestone on AB-4000 series collaboration
- **2025-06** — Discusses clinical-stage renal cell program and next-generation T-cell engineering

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads ArsenalBio, raising roughly $850M total including a $325M round in 2024
- Founded Verb Surgical, a digital surgery joint venture acquired by Johnson & Johnson
- Served as President and Chief Business Officer of GRAIL, acquired by Illumina
- Co-founded Bertram Capital, a private equity firm with ~$1.9B AUM
- Established pharma collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb and Genentech
- Board-certified liver transplant surgeon with faculty appointments at Stanford and UCLA

## Latest updates

- **2025-06** — Discussed ArsenalBio's clinical-stage renal cell carcinoma program and multi-feature T-cell engineering in a BiotechTV interview.
- **2025-01** — ArsenalBio and Bristol Myers Squibb hit a milestone on the AB-4000 series collaboration.
- **2024-09** — ArsenalBio announced a $325M financing (Series C) to push programmable cell therapy programs through clinical development.

## Links

- Website: https://arsenalbio.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-drazan-0529924/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kdrazan

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ken-drazan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-11