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Wednesday, November 4, 2009
MHT All-Star Roger Tung: Life saver
By Jim Schakenbach, Special to Mass High Tech
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Education: Ph.D., medicinal chemistry, University of Wisconsin Madison
Who he is: CEO and president of Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc., where in 2009 he concluded a partnering deal with GlaxoSmithKline valued at over $1 billion.
His track record: As a co-founder of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. with Richard Aldrich, Tung co-invented two key HIV protease inhibitors, marketed as Agenerase and Lexiva, which he calls two of his most important achievements. “HIV was thought of as a deadly disease. It had a 100 percent fatality rate. These two inhibitors are one of the most remarkable stories in the fight against HIV. They had a dramatic affect on patients’ lives.”
After spending 16 years at Vertex, Tung took a couple of years off to be the primary caretaker of his two young children before co-founding Concert in 2006 and raising more than $110 million to focus on the next generation of HIV drug therapies.
In addition to HIV therapies, he has led development on other drug R&D projects over the years, including Telapravir, a Phase 3 Hepatitis C inhibitor, and the Phase 3 ion channel activator for cystic fibrosis, VX 770.
His mission: With more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery, he is committed to finding ways to reduce the time and expense it takes to develop drugs and bring them to market.
“The pharmaceutical industry is carrying out a lot of experiments on its business model. The industry model doesn’t work very well and we’re trying to find ways to fix it. We don’t know the answer yet, but it will look a lot different than it does now. Hopefully, we at Concert will be part of the process.”
What makes him tick: “Being in health care, you have the opportunity to make a living and have a tangible effect on a lot of people’s lives. That’s deeply satisfying.”
On Roger Tung, from Richard H. Aldrich:
Richard H. Aldrich, managing director of investment firm RA Capital Management LLC, co-founded Vertex with Tung
An example of his work ethic:
“At Vertex, we were running neck and neck with Merck and Warner-Lambert to develop an HIV protease inhibitor. Roger worked night and day, going full blast for a couple of years to come up with a breakthrough compound. He doesn’t stop.”
What sets him apart from other scientists?
“Roger Tung is the best ‘drug hunter’ I’ve worked with, and I’ve worked with a lot of scientists over the years. What really distinguishes Roger from everyone else is that he is all about finding a drug that can be really useful for patients. He’s not interested in impressing people with papers.”
Why did you invest in Concert Pharmaceuticals?
“Roger Tung’s all about coming up with the drug — no one does it better. When Roger came to me in 2006 with the idea for Concert, I knew I wanted to be involved.”
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