Here is Zicams inventor talking about days at the DIPLOMA MILL
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Davidson’s knack for business goes back to his days at American University in Asturias, Spain where he examined the European way of doing business. “I wanted to understand how people in the rest of the world did business and how those cultures worked,” he said. “It was very informal and it made me realize I wanted to start my own business instead of working for somebody else.”
Growing up in a small family in New York, DAVIDSON felt he always had a knack for learning and science. With a police officer for a father and a mother involved in various businesses, DAVIDSON quickly learned the value of hard work and perseverance. “I knew that you always had to try harder to get where you wanted to go,” he said.
Business over medicine
Although he had originally set his eyes on a medical degree, DAVIDSON was fascinated by the intricacies and challenges of business and eventually earned a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate in biopharmaceutical studies.
“I really loved medicine, but I thought business was the best direction for me,” he said.
Soon DAVIDSON established biotech startup Biotem Cytotechnologies and later formed Gel Tech LLC which eventually became Zengen where he developed Zicam.
The following article was also published in the Orange County Register around the same time period.
San Fernando Valley Business Journal, June 23, 2003 v8 i13 p16(1)
His business acumen helps company in biotech world. (Best Companies in the Valley–A Special Report). (biotechnology company Zengen Inc.)(president R. Steven DAVIDSON)(Company Profile) Carlos Martinez.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 CBJ, L.P.
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His business acumen helps company in biotech world.
R. Steven “Rob” DAVIDSON always felt he was a problem solver. As president and CEO of Woodland Hills-based Zengen Inc., the 37-year-old DAVIDSON heads what is arguably one of the best financed startup biotechs in the Valley.
DAVIDSON, who is the business brains behind the company, is the architect of the firm’s plan that relies on developing over the counter drugs to help fund ongoing research into the company’s proprietary peptide technology.
Peptides are compounds derived from two or more amino acids combined. Amino acids are the chief components of proteins which are synthesized by living cells.
It was just two years ago that Zengen sold off its interest in Zicam, an over-the-counter cold remedy and nose spray it developed, for $17 million which went toward ongoing research into peptides.
“It’s a strategy that’s managed to work well for us,” said DAVIDSON, who helped engineer the deal.
DAVIDSON figured that since over-the-counter medicines have fewer regulatory issues than prescription-based pharmaceuticals, they could be developed and marketed quickly, giving the company needed revenue to fund research.
Today, DAVIDSON hopes to strike gold again with over-the-counter eyedrops that the company is developing to further fund research efforts.
Such funding strategy is unusual in an industry where research dollars are at a premium, said Brent Reinke, an attorney with Crosby Heafey Roach & May, who helps put together funding deals for biotechs.
“It’s not unheard of, but it’s a creative way of getting funding,” Reinke said.
Davidson’s knack for business goes back to his days at American University in Asturias, Spain where he examined the European way of doing business. “I wanted to understand how people in the rest of the world did business and how those cultures worked,” he said. “It was very informal and it made me realize I wanted to start my own business instead of working for somebody else.”
Growing up in a small family in New York, DAVIDSON felt he always had a knack for learning and science. With a police officer for a father and a mother involved in various businesses, DAVIDSON quickly learned the value of hard work and perseverance. “I knew that you always had to try harder to get where you wanted to go,” he said.
Business over medicine
Although he had originally set his eyes on a medical degree, DAVIDSON was fascinated by the intricacies and challenges of business and eventually earned a master’s degree in business administration and a doctorate in biopharmaceutical studies.
“I really loved medicine, but I thought business was the best direction for me,” he said.
Soon DAVIDSON established biotech startup Biotem Cytotechnologies and later formed Gel Tech LLC which eventually became Zengen where he developed Zicam.
By joining with Dr. James Lipton, the creator of the peptide technology, DAVIDSON sought to show the biotech and investment communities that the peptide molecules would work in different anti-bacterial and anti-microbial technologies.
“We could do all kinds of great things, but we couldn’t afford to go for the big one,” DAVIDSON said.
“We went for a soft target — so we went for the anti-microbial or a treatment for yeast infections.”
So far; the peptide molecules are showing promise in treating yeast and other infections, including serving as a therapy for organ rejection.
Davidson’s business strategy and appreciation for the technology isn’t lost on Lipton, who has been researching peptide molecules since 1966.
“He really has a remarkable business sense and dedication to the work,” Lipton said.
Today, the company has established its subsidiary, Zensano, which develops over-the-counter medicines, to help fund research and. development for biotech products.
With one unit developing over-the-counter products, a second developing products using peptide molecules, and a third unit developing drug delivery systems, DAVIDSON has created a self-sustaining biotech that is arguably the envy of other startups.
As for his future, DAVIDSON hopes to push forward with Zengen’s cutting edge technology.
“Big companies never attracted me,” he said.
“Here, we’re doing a lot of different things so we’re not just a one trick pony. That’s exciting.”
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