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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, November 4, 2009
How I See It
Success in a biotech launch starts with a great team
Funding drugs for rare diseases
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MHT's Marc Songini: Mass. bio firms prep for lifting of stem cell ban
As medical scientists and serial entrepreneurs, we are firm believers that the biotech industry has a duty to tackle the most challenging diseases, which will also be the most rewarding to cure. So it was intriguing when David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School first raised the possibility that sirtuins — a set of enzymes that appear to control the aging process — might hold the key to addressing aging and diseases of aging.
We recognized this as a real opportunity to provide something we all want: longer, healthier lives. We had an intuition that biotech research and development could create a new class of drugs to treat a number of diseases of aging, including cancer, inflammatory disorders and Type 2 diabetes, ultimately enabling patients to lead happier, healthier lives.
These initial discussions planted the seed for founding Sirtris Pharmaceuticals in 2004. We hope the lessons we learned and our approaches serve as a guide for others who want to build life sciences startups.
Based on previously founding, as CEO, the Boston biotechs Alnylam, Momenta and Acceleron, Christoph knew first-hand that translating novel, important science into medicine takes a talented team and support from investors. In an industry that requires tens of millions of dollars to support drug discovery, and hundreds of millions more to actually develop and commercialize drugs, raising the funding to support a compelling vision can be daunting. Based on the promise of Sirtris and aging research, and previous success for investors in other companies we had founded, we were able to find investors that were willing to take a chance on our startup by not only selling them on the science behind our vision, but also getting them excited about its potential. Being able to communicate science to a nonscientific audience was essential.
There was no doubt that we would choose the Boston area, the best place in the world to translate groundbreaking research into medicines, based on the unrivaled pool of scientists, talented employees, service providers and research institutions. We built a team of smart scientists and loyal colleagues, and our compelling vision of creating medicines to treat diseases of aging kept the team on track through many ups and downs.
Maintaining top-notch staff and rewarding innovation were central to our business plan. We continue to make sure Sirtris does everything in its power to attract and retain the best staff. After all, we expect a lot from our staff, so it makes sense that they expect a lot from us.
Our investors’ faith in Sirtris and the strides made by our dedicated staff have paid off. In 2007, we led one of the most successful IPOs of the past few years. A year later, we were acquired by GlaxoSmithKline plc at a significant premium, for $720 million. This alliance provided us with increased access to the resources needed to accelerate our goals while maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit and drive.
Perhaps most exciting is that, through our research and the media’s interest in our story, Sirtris has managed to make great strides toward convincing scientists and the public that a longer, healthier lifespan is indeed possible. This evolving recognition and excitement have encouraged us, along with a few colleagues, to recently start the Healthy Lifespan Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing healthy human lifespan and focused on rigorously proving and educating people about interventions that can lead to longer, healthier lives.
With each biotech we have founded our ultimate goal was creating important and differentiated medicines for patients. In order to achieve your goal, it’s essential to recruit the right team, including those inside the company and those supporting it on the outside. They’re the ones living your idea right beside you.
Christoph Westphal is CEO of Sirtris, a GSK company. He was named a Mass High Tech All-Star in 2007. Michelle Dipp is head of GSK’s U.S. Centre of excellence for external drug discovery.
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