Wo! I just did a handle search. There's only one of me. No more getting in trouble with CNBC!! No more questions about obscure gold mines!!
Did SI force him to do that, or did he get tired of questions about obscure biotechs?
MZ.... I honestly don't remember. I assume that it was Drakeman. The interview was in a suite at the Berkeley Marina "now Radisson", and I remember waiting for another candidate to finish...... Road Trip!. The company was freshly derived from work in Fanger's lab, and Fanger and the science at Dartmouth were calling the shots. Short answer..... "someone with taste".
People really should study the GenPharm-CEGE battle (lawsuit filed by CEGE 2/1/94, the slime balls) and come to understand how cheap a desirable technology can become when biotech is out of favor. Drakeman et al. had the foresight to pick up the mouse at a time when nobody else (or few others, and nobody with deep pockets) wanted it, at a time when therapeutic MAbs were give up as dead in the investment community.
I was close to the entire story, as a couple of GenPharm scientists were friends of mine. Dr. D. Fishwild, who worked with me at Bayer and who I subsequently recruited to another position in hell, was Director of Hybridoma Production. She remained as one of very few employees that could be retained as the court battle unfolded. When GenPharm won, they seemingly had no choice but to fold tents and sell for a song. One need wonder, now, what would have happened if they'd have merely done a "Cadus", if they'd have rolled up in a shell and waited. Sigh.
The bad old days? Sort of. There are good technologies available right now for a song too.
And, talk about the lean days of biotech.... the IPO was 2.25M stock/warrants at $7 or so in '91. Underwritten by Rosenkrantz. Even after the huge sector rally in '95, they refilled at $5 for 2.2M shares. Few will remember that Medarex was selling reagents in '92 to keep the doors open. How times have changed.
And, as Monday will illustrate, we haven't seen anything yet.
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