Private equity firm GTCR is once again joining forces with pharmaceutical industry veteran Ed Fiorentino, this time to focus on acquisitions of specialty companies and products in the industry. This is the third partnership for GTCR and Fiorentino.

The new venture, TerSera Therapeutics, will initially target acquisitions of products that are already approved, marketed and late-state development assets. The investment will be financed through the $3.85 billion GTCR Fund XI. Fiorentino, who spent 22 years at Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), will serve as chairman and CEO of TerSera.

Previous joint company efforts between the PE firm and Fiorentino include the March 2014 formation of Maravai Life Sciences Inc., which focuses on acquiring companies and products in the diagnostics and life sciences industry and the development of Crealta Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was acquired by Horizon Pharma (Nasdaq: HZNP) in January. GTCR and Fiorentino also formed the Actient Pharmaceuticals platform in March 2009, later selling the firm to Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AUXL) for $585 million.

GTCR was named Private Equity Firm of the Year for 2013 by Mergers & Acquisitions. The firm stood out for investments made under the Leaders Strategy, a program focused on "finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth." Actient, Crealta and Maravai Life were all formed under the Leaders Strategy.