Biotechnology, diagnostics, and genomics are increasingly changing the field of healthcare. In this panel discussion, company executives discuss how they became entrepreneurs in science and medicine, which new products they are developing, and what challenges and opportunities there are in these arenas. They also look at barriers to adoption and future trends that will affect this space over the next five to ten years. The discussion was part of the 2011 Healthcare Summit, held at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Donald Joseph, is CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH). BIO is the Biotechnology Industry Assocation. He previously served as COO for BVGH. Before joining BVGH, he served in senior executive positions in both legal and business roles at private and publicly held biopharmaceutical companies including Renovis and Abgenix, where he played a key role in its acquisition by Amgen. He has consulted for a number of biopharmaceutical companies and previously served as COO of the Institute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company devoted to developing new and affordable medicines for neglected diseases.
David Levison is founder, CEO, and director of CardioDX. Prior to launching CardioDx, he was a venture partner at Texas Pacific Group Ventures and was also the interim CEO of Expression Diagnostics (XDx), Inc., a molecular diagnostic company focused on the immune system. Previously, he was the founder, president, and CEO of iScribe, a healthcare technology company acquired by AdvancePCS (now Caremark) in December 2001. Prior to iScribe, Levison was President of Oncology Therapeutics Network (OTN), which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1996. He also served as Chief Financial Officer of OTN’s parent company, Axion, from 1990 to 1993. Prior to Axion, Levison was with Cole Gilburne Fund, an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm.
Bala Manian is a serial entrepreneur and Silicon Valley scientist who has started a string of medical technology companies such as ReaMetrix, Digital Optics, and Quantum Dot Corporation. Some of the resulting technologies have also had applications in the film industry, earning Manian an Academy Award certificate for technical achievement.
James Sabry is vice president of Genentech Partnering. Prior to this, he was president and CEO of Arete Therapeutics as well as chairman and former CEO of Cytokinetics, a company he co-founded in August 1997. He currently sits on Cytokinetics’ scientific advisory board. Prior to Cytokinetics, he held faculty positions at the University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard Medical School. He serves on the board of HopeLab, a not-for-profit organization developing innovative technologies for the management of cancer, obesity, and other diseases. He received an M.D. from Queen’s University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco.
Robert Chess is chairman of Nektar Therapeutics, OPX Biotechnologies, and Germitec SAS. From March 2006 until January 2007, Chess served as acting president and CEO of Nektar, and from April 1999 to January 2007, served as executive chairman. He has also served as co-CEO, president, and CEO. He was previously the co-founder and president of Penederm, Inc., a publicly-traded dermatological pharmaceutical company that was sold to Mylan Laboratories. He has held management positions at Intel Corporation and Metaphor Computer Systems (now part of IBM), and was a member of the first President Bush’s White House staff as a White House Fellow and associate director of the White House Office of Economic and Domestic Policy.