Monday, October 29, 2007

All-Stars

Medical devices: Plans for med-tech success have 'gelled'

By Ryan McBride

A true sign that a businessman has become successful is when he spends a lot of time and money doing what is known as "giving back." Because of a string of wins in the medical devices game, Amar Sawhney has been spending most of his recent time advising newer entrepreneurs and looking to protect wildlife sanctuaries in his native India.

Sawhney has become a role model in medical technology circles most recently for his big exit last summer with Confluent Surgical Inc., the Waltham-based maker of surgical sealants that he co-founded, ran as chief executive, and then helped sell to medical products maker Tyco Healthcare (now called Covidien Ltd., of Mansfield) for $245 million.

Wasting no time after the sale of Confluent, Sawhney and his partners formed a new company in late 2006 called I-Therapeutix Inc. The new company has developed a sealant -- similar in concept to Confluent's gel to seal wounds after brain and spinal surgeries -- to apply to the eye after operations, as well as to deliver drugs.

"I feel pretty good about (my accomplishments), because we have pretty much pioneered this field of doing chemistry on live tissues within the body," said Sawhney, 42. "It has helped patients and created value for shareholders."

A linchpin of Sawhney's success has been his hydrogel invention, which has served as the technological backbone for Confluent and I-Therapeutix. He and business partner Fred Khosravi control the patents for hydrogel in a holding company they own called Incept LLC.

With technology from Incept, Sawhney has played a role in the launch I-Therapeutix, Confluent, as well as Campbell, Calif.-based Embolic Protection Inc. (acquired by Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp. for more than $75 million in 2001), and Bay Area startups Access Closure Inc. and Nellix Inc. Sawhney also serves on the board of directors of Access Closure -- a maker of hydrogels to seal vascular wounds -- and a number of other medical technology firms.

Sawhney is also the scientific founder of a company called Focal Inc., a developer of liquid polymers for surgeries, which Cambridge-based biotechnology giant Genzyme Corp. bought in 2001.

Sawhney's journey began in India, where he grew up and attended the ultra-selective Indian Institute of Technology. After he graduated from the New Delhi school with a degree in chemical engineering in 1984, he made the first overseas trip of his life to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed both a master's degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering by 1992.

On top of his duties as an executive and director of several companies, Sawhney dedicates his time to volunteer work, such as his role as a mentor to new medical devices entrepreneurs through a program with the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, or MassMEDIC, as well as philanthropic endeavors.

In fact, Sawhney -- who fondly remembers riding elephants and spotting rhinoceroses as a boy in India -- last year launched a family foundation with more than $1 million of his own money to protect animal habitats in his native country.

Along with his desire to give back, Sawhney also remains committed to his business endeavors.