Quick viewing(Text Mode)

Who's Who in Biotech

Who's Who in Biotech

FEATURE

Who’s who in biotech

K S Jayaraman, Sabine Louët, Kendall Powell, John Ransom, Cormac Sheridan, Brian Vastag & Emily Waltz

Nature ’s readers select some of biotech’s most remarkable and influential personalities from the past 10 years.

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, , Canada and Europe. Nevertheless Biotechnology has gathered here a gal- personalities appear on the list from territories, lery of portraits of the most notable personali- such as Japan, Israel, India, Australia and China. ties in biotech in the past 10 years. Rather than Curiously, the winner of the ‘Biobusiness in the focusing on personalities that have commonly rest of the world’’ category, Biocon’s CEO Kiran featured in the mainstream press, our intention Mazumdar-Shaw, seems to be more popular on

http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology was to identify thought leaders and technology the global scene than she actually is at home. pioneers known within the industry to have Below, we profile those individuals voted by made significant contributions to the our readers the most influential in a particular and business of biotech. To accomplish this biotech category; we also highlight those indi- task, we turned to those who know best: our viduals who came close (in some cases very readers. close) to winning a particular category. At the During the month of January, Nature end of the article, we present a list of individuals Biotechnology’s e-mail registrant list and website nominated for their contribution to shape the visitors were asked to vote for the people they world of biotech as we know it today (Box 1).

viewed as most influential in eight categories Productions/NewsCom Burke/Triolo The diversity of personalities listed reflects of biotech. These categories were: society and what is unique about this industry: the mix of ethics; policy and regulations; biopharmaceuti- because it bears a certain level of subjectivity, individuals across a wide range of expertise, and cals; agricultural, environmental and industrial the final list should not be scrutinized with the the importance of the interface between busi- Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© biotech; technology; US biobusiness; European rigorous mind that our readers apply to peer- ness and science. Indeed, biotech is a sector biobusiness; and biobusiness in the rest of the reviewed papers. Instead, it should be consid- where it is not unusual for venture capitalist to world. The poll, posted online from January ered more like a very informal who’s who of discuss business models with a Nobel laureate 12 to 31, 2006, included 291 nominees, short- biotech. over coffee. listed by the editors of Nature Biotechnology Hence this list bears several caveats. Clearly, Finally, you may feel that we omitted some (Box 1). In some cases, multiple individuals the shortlist was not definitive and the number people from the initial shortlist. Our read- were grouped for a particular scientific contri- of people suggested for each category is far from ers already made some interesting sugges- bution or business activity. Readers also had the complete. Second, the shortlist highlights only tions for other nominees. Among them were opportunity to suggest additional nominees for those individuals considered by the editors to Garth Cooper, discoverer of the recently inclusion in the poll. have made a ‘positive’ contribution to progress commercialized synthetic analog of human Including people in the nominee’s list was in the field (prominent opponents of biotech amylin (pramlintide acetate) and a leading a question of definition and judgment. And were not included, although their contribution industry figure in New Zealand. Hiroshi to the debate about the use and uptake of new Masumoto from Nagoya University in Japan K S Jayaraman is Nature’s India correspondent technology is a given). Many of the personalities was also nominated for his work on human and is based in Hyderabad. Sabine Louët is were selected because they had been highlighted artificial chromosomes. In the category ‘US the news editor at Nature Biotechnology and in Nature Biotechnology’s pages over the past biobusiness,’ we received several votes for Una is based in Dublin, Ireland. Kendall Powell 10 years. What’s more, because we considered Ryan, who is the longtime CEO of AVANT is a regular contributor to Nature based in only personalities who have made a contribu- Immunotherapeutics and a central figure in Broomfield, Colorado. John Ransom is a tion to the industry in the past 10 years, many biotech circles. freelance writer based in Lone Tree, Colorado. of the founders—(e.g., Herb Boyer, Stanley Nature Biotechnology would welcome further Cormac Sheridan is a regular contributor to Cohen, Concepcion Campa Huergo, Arthur suggestions for additions to the list. We hope Nature Biotechnology based in Dublin, Ireland. Kornberg or Kary Mullis) of the field are not that in the next 10 years, the individuals high- Brian Vastag is a freelance writer based in included. Lastly, the poll results themselves lighted here will inspire many of our readers to Washington, D.C. Emily Waltz is an intern were influenced by the geographic location of follow in their footsteps. within Nature Biotechnology’s news section. our readers—the majority being located in the Sabine Louët, News Editor

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 291 FEATURE

Society and ethics measures of society,” Melinda told Time maga- Policy and regulations zine in November 2005. Individuals nominated for their contributions Individuals nominated for their contributions The couple used their knowledge and com- to biotech’s public image or to the to legislation promoting biotech innovation/ passion to endow their foundation with $29 advancement of ethical debates about industry growth or to the debate about the billion. The Gateses specifically intended that biotech applications regulation of biotech products the types of drug developed by the founda- Winner: tion would not be the typical blockbuster Winner: Bill and Melinda Gates. Through their produced by the . Rita Colwell. Former president of the foundation, they promote biotech by funding Large disease markets like obesity and heart University of Maryland Biotechnology research on neglected diseases and diseases disease don’t particularly interest them. “The Institute and former director of the US affecting poorer countries. world is failing billions of people,” Bill said National Science Foundation, who has long Honorable mentions: in a speech to the World Health Assembly in campaigned for the benefits of biotech, Christopher Reeve. The now-deceased Geneva in 2005. “Rich governments are not especially in environmental applications. actor who turned patient advocate and fighting some of the world’s most deadly Honorable mentions: proselytizer for the use of stem research diseases because rich countries don’t have Janet Woodcock. The US Food and Drug in biomedicine. them.” Administration’s deputy commissioner for Michael Fernandez. Executive director of the For this reason, their money targets operations, and the brains behind the FDA’s Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, neglected diseases such as malaria, HIV and ‘Critical Path’ initiative to modernize tools which has sought to stimulate and showcase tuberculosis. In fact, the Gateses will only and methods for evaluating biotech drugs. diverse viewpoints on the application of sponsor research for diseases that meet three Mark McClellan. FDA commissioner for a agbiotech. criteria: widespread, neglected and represen- short stint between 2002 and 2004, who tative of the public health disparities between introduced an efficient risk-management Bill and Melinda Gates developed and developing countries. Over the approach to reduce delays and costs of product approvals. http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology past decade, their Seattle-based foundation has given more than $6 billion in public health Robert Klein. Instrumental in the grants. So far, research programs for new vac- introduction of Proposition 71 by which cines, clinical drug studies and programs that was able to use its own taxes try to prevent the spread of infectious diseases to finance research that is not have benefited from the Gates’ monies. allowed at the federal level. The couple often delves into the science behind projects and they personally approve Rita Colwell every grant over a million dollars. Bill also taught himself some basic by talking with researchers and devouring books on sci-

Jim Ruymen ence. Some of his light reading includes AIDS in the Twenty-First Century by Tony Barnett, Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© is the kind of person who, when and of the Gene by James attending the World Economic Forum, will Watson. pass up a dinner with foreign dignitaries to Although Bill and Melinda are trying to sit down with a bunch of scientists. Although tackle some of the world’s most intractable he sometimes contends that science research public health issues, they take a business is only a hobby, the founder of Microsoft approach to their philanthropy. They know

(Seattle, WA) is fascinated with biotech. And that third-world afflictions aren’t the most University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute he has decided to spend some of the wealth he attractive arenas for biotech. They also know accumulated through his company to finance that companies aren’t exactly eager to roll out As the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) research for neglected diseases—an initiative medicines for people who can’t afford to buy first director with a life sciences background—as that has inspired biotech companies to latch them. So their idea is to use funding dollars well as its first female head—Rita Colwell imme- on to some of those development projects. to create leverage. Their money helps mitigate diately set to work integrating far-flung fields. Since the creation of their eponymous foun- risk so that governments or biotech and phar- During her stint at the NSF in Washington, dation in 1995, Bill and his wife, Melinda, have maceutical companies will take over develop- DC from 1998 to 2004, she wanted to strived to cure the maladies plaguing develop- ment of drugs at later stages (Nat. Biotechnol. work with computer scientists, engineers with ing countries. But they realized their calling at 21, 1254, 2003). ecologists, and mathematicians with psycholo- different moments. For Melinda, it was during “[The Gates Foundation] has energized gists. Early in her tenure, she used the term ‘bio- a vacation to Zaire, where she was struck by the research into global health, made that work complexity’ to push scientists to break out of extreme poverty of the women she met. For a credible career choice and attracted politi- their boxes and view the world more holistically. Bill, it was reading that millions of children die cians to the cause,” wrote former president “The intersection of all of these fields is what every year from preventable diseases. Jimmy Carter in a profile of Bill Gates in the I found most exciting,” says Colwell. “I would “When we started to look at where the larg- Smithsonian. “Perhaps most important, the go so far as to call it bio-nano-info-cogno-geo- est inequities are, global health really stood out, confidence Bill has brought to the field has technology.” because by every measure, if you can improve stimulated much more funding.” A mouthful, to be sure, but Colwell people’s lives through health, you improve all Emily Waltz backed it with action honed by experience

292 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE

as a founder of the University of Maryland Before that landmark publication, research- Biotechnology Institute in 1991. On her ers for years had tried, and failed, to implant Individuals nominated for their contribution to watch, the NSF’s budget grew nearly 70%, to islet cells in diabetes patients, filling a data- research and development $5.3 billion per year. base with data from nearly 500 rejected or She championed international collabora- Winner: otherwise useless transplants. “I told myself tion, doubled the math budget, established James Shapiro and Ray Rajotte. Pioneers in I was going to give it one last try,” Shapiro infotechnology, cyber infrastructure, and islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes. said in 2000, after the NEJM paper appeared. social and psychological science programs, Honorable mentions: “At first, the researchers were quite resistant, and placed renewed emphasis on science Alain Fischer and Maria Cavazzana- and I managed to convince everybody to education, where the US had been slipping Calvo. Pioneers in gene therapy for give it one more chance. That moment for for decades. immunodeficiency disease. me stands out.” Further initiatives, such as an NSF bioen- and George Daley. Pioneered Several innovations led to success. Instead of gineering program she launched, aim to turn the concept of therapeutic . using steroids to try to ward off graft rejection, into industrial recycling the team used the antibiotics Prograf (tacro- machines, generating fertilizer from toxic waste James Shapiro and Ray Rajotte limus) and Rapamune (sirolimus), and the or hydrogen from sewage—a tantalizing solu- monoclonal Zenapax (daclizumab), tion for powering the next generation of clean a combination never tried before. They har- vehicles. vested and infused more islet cells than had Other high-profile projects advocated by been done in previous attempts. And they Colwell sample DNA directly from seawater infused the cells as quickly as possible, instead and other environments, skipping time and of incubating them for several days. labor-intensive laboratory culturing to quickly Rajotte, who had been working on islet- produce a complete picture of the of an cell transplantation since 1972, said that the

http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology entire ecosystem. This new field, which Colwell response from the diabetes community was calls , has led to discoveries of overwhelming—calls jammed the university whole new classes of genes. switchboard for days. At least 75 hospitals Colwell is also behind programs aimed at University of Alberta have adopted the Edmonton Protocol and a providing a clearer picture of how the health long-term clinical trial is underway. of the planet affects the health of its people. In 1921, Canadian researcher Frederick But the technique is arduous, taking four “This is a whole new area, the integration of Banting and colleagues discovered insulin, technicians up to eight hours to extract and environmental data, such as circulation providing the first treatment for people with prepare the cells. Each patient requires cells and seasonal patterns, with data on ecosystems type I diabetes—a discovery that earned extracted from two cadaveric organs, which and human health,” she says. “You could call it him a . It’s only fitting, then, that makes the acute donor shortage even more cosmobiology.” nearly 80 years later the next leap forward in severe. Thus, only a tiny percentage of type One project in this realm, which Colwell works diabetes treatment also originated in Canada; I diabetes patients have undergone the pro- on now, as a distinguished professor of micro- transplanting pancreatic islet cells has given cedure; patients usually only need a day Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© biology and biotechnology at the University of the field of adult cell therapy one of its first trip to hospital. And the latest report on the Maryland, tracks outbreaks of cholera—a dis- tantalizing successes. In fact, much of the technique, a follow-up of the first 65 patients ease she has been studying for 40 years. “We’re work was conducted in the same University of treated at Edmonton (Diabetes, 54, 2060– using satellites to correlate sea height and sea Alberta basement laboratory where Banting’s 2069, 2005) proved somewhat disappointing. temperature with cholera epidemics. It’s proven colleagues pioneered insulin therapy. Forty-four of the patients achieved insulin to be uncannily effective because outbreaks are The latest Canadian advance is also trans- independence—but not permanently. associated with plankton blooms. forming the field of diabetes treatment. However, the Edmonton Protocol proved “What we need to do now is model other Called the Edmonton Protocol, the technique the viability of cell therapy for diabetes and infectious diseases and incorporate biological infuses purified donor pancreatic islet cells has spurred a large effort to improve and data into climate models,” Colwell says. To that into the liver portal vein. There, the cells graft expand the protocol. Several teams are work- end, she recently secured computer time on the and function as a mini-pancreas, responding ing on transforming embryonic stem (ES) Japanese Earth Simulator, a project whose stated moment to moment to the patient’s insulin cells into islet cells—a step that, if achieved, goals neatly parallel Colwell’s, namely “to build needs. could render moot the organ shortage. And a harmonious relationship between the Earth Two Alberta clinical scientists, Ray Rajotte, in industry, Menlo Park, California-based and human beings.” professor of surgery and medicine and direc- Geron Corporation, among others, is cur- Despite all of her high-tech successes, Colwell tor of the Islet Transplantation Group, and rently developing methods to differentiate is proudest of perhaps her simplest idea: using James Shapiro, director of the Clinical Islet islet cells from human ES cells for transplant folded sari cloth to filter cholera from drinking Transplantation Program, developed much purposes. Other approaches under study water. She proposed the method 10 years ago, of the protocol, which they published in the include living donor and xenotransplants. and a field trial published in 2003 proved the New England Journal of Medicine (NEMJ) in Although Shapiro has written that injected method effective, reducing the incidence of the 2000 (343: 230–238). The article detailed the insulin will be the ‘mainstay therapy’ for years disease 48% across 65 villages in Bangladesh. first seven Edmonton Protocol patients, who to come, if any of the alternative islet cell Colwell says, “That’s the work that I feel best all became insulin independent after each sources pan out, expect a whole new biotech about, because it saves lives.” receiving roughly 800,000 islet cells previ- sector to spring up. Brian Vastag ously isolated from cadavers. Brian Vastag

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 293 FEATURE

Agricultural, environmental and young children in poor areas of Asia with rice- are in laboratory pipelines all over the world. In industrial biotechnology based diets. 2005, Beyer headed up a consortium funded by In 1999, the duo finished the first proof-of- $11.2 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Individuals nominated for their contributions concept Golden Rice strain (Science 287, 301– Foundation to develop rice that, in addition to agricultural, environmental or industrial 305, 2000). The spotlight on Golden Rice as a to high beta-carotene, also includes vitamin E, biotech research and development cure for VAD made it both the champion genet- zinc and iron. These products will take the ded- Winners: ically modified (GM) product and the chief tar- ication and ingenuity of researchers like Beyer Ingo Potrykus, Golden Rice Humanitarian get of anti-GM critics. The media attention and and Potrykus. But, the duo points out, these Board, and Peter Beyer, University of the nearly universal adoption of precautionary products will also need changes in the regula- Freiburg, . Coinventors of Golden European agricultural biotech regulations made tion of GM organisms to become realities. Rice and founders of the Golden Rice the trip from bench to field much tougher than “All technology needs development,” says Humanitarian Project. either Potrykus or Beyer anticipated. Beyer. “The first airplane didn’t go very far. All Honorable mentions: The invention also signaled a move into a we are asking is for the same right to develop Asis Datta. Pioneered the technique for product development phase—a phase not sup- the technology.” nutritional enhancement of cereal crops ported by traditional public research funding. Kendall Powell using genes isolated from amaranth “We would have quickly run into a dead end (Amaranthus hypochondriacus). His work led road if we had not been able to create an alli- to India’s first field trial of a GM crop potato. ance with the private sector,” notes Potrykus. Technology The team brokered a unique agreement with . For application of directed Individuals nominated for their contributions (now Basel-based Syngenta) in 2000. to proteins for use in industry. to the development of key The company would shepherd the develop- ment of a second generation Golden Rice con- Winner: Ingro Potrykus and Peter Beyer taining higher levels of beta-carotene as well Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell. Pioneers of nuclear transfer, creators of http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology as provide know-how on advancing through regulatory hurdles. in 1997. Wilmut is a founder of PPL The key to the agreement, Potrykus says, was Therapeutics. drawing the line between the company’s com- Honorable mentions: mercial interests and the humanitarian efforts— . Long-time inventor of farmers with an annual income of $10,000 or automated sequencing but lately a pioneer less would be given the seed for free. of systems approaches in biology; cofounded With Syngenta’s help, a new strain, dubbed the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle Golden Rice 2, was created that could provide in 2000. Founder of numerous biotechs. the daily recommended allowance of vitamin A Andrew Fire, Craig Mello and Tom Tuschl. with a 70-gram portion of rice (Nat. Biotechnol. For invention and application of RNAi in

Golden Rice 23, 482–487, 2005). Potrykus and Beyer also mammalian cells. oversaw the first field trial in Louisiana in 2004 Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer met on a trans- to show that Golden Rice grows like conven- Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell Atlantic flight as they both headed to New tional rice. York in the early 1990s for a rice biotech Although that was a major milestone, Beyer brainstorming meeting of the Rockefeller and Potrykus both express frustration that Foundation. The meeting would discuss the Golden Rice seeds are not already in farmers’ possibility of genetically engineering rice to hands. Both say current regulation is unrea- include beta-carotene, or pro-vitamin A, to sonably cautious and not scientifically based. target malnutrition in developing countries. Potrykus’ view goes even further and he notes A doctoral student working with Potrykus that even if the deregulation process goes on rice genetics introduced them after he had smoothly, Golden Rice won’t the fields sought out Beyer as an advisor on the beta- until 2010, representing a six-year delay of the carotene biosynthetic pathway. Beyer’s and technology. University of Edinborough Potrykus’ matching expertise turned into a “By an extremely conservative calculation, Roslin Institute, UK decade-long collaboration—resulting in the this delay is responsible for 67,500 deaths. If creation of Golden Rice in 1999 and the first our society does not change GM [organism] The birth of Dolly, the cloned from the genetically engineered product created spe- regulation, then our society is responsible for DNA of an adult cell, triggered an extraordi- cifically for humanitarian purposes. crimes against humanity,” Potrykus argues. nary worldwide reaction. This global frenzy “If, as a basic scientist, you find out that But Potrykus remains both optimistic and overshadowed the fact that this work was you could make a contribution to the real obstinate—two qualities he says carried him part of a continuum of experiments in ani- world, that you have some tools in hand that through the past 16 years of the project. mal reproduction that had stretched back to might make a change, you go for it,” Beyer In five years, Potrykus expects the first the beginning of the 1990s. In the rush to recalls thinking after the meeting. Vitamin Golden bananas, Golden sorghum and speculate about where the pioneering work A deficiency (VAD) results in about 6,000 Golden cassava to be produced. Genetically of Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell would go deaths per day worldwide and 500,000 cases engineered crop varieties to address drought, next, the media circus largely ignored where of blindness per year. It predominantly affects poor soil, pests and other nutritional deficits it had come from.

294 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Far from being a singular event, their to express the human blood clotting protein report from the Roslin Institute in February Factor IX in their milk (Science 278, 2130– 1997 of the birth of a viable cloned lamb, 2133, 1997). whose genetic material was obtained from Wilmut’s and Campbell’s success in the a mature, differentiated somatic cell derived laboratory has not, however, been repli- as described in Nature (385, 810–813, 1997), cated in the commercial marketplace. PPL had followed several significant studies. Therapeutics, an Edinburgh-based bio- The previous year, Wilmut and Campbell tech company that had rights to the Roslin had reported on the birth of two other Institute’s intellectual property (IP) burned cloned lambs, Megan and Morag, baptized through around £85 ($148) million of inves- with Celtic names in honor of their Scottish tors’ cash before it closed business. The deci- birthplace. Both lambs were derived from sion was made after a move by its strategic DNA obtained from cultured lines of qui- partner Bayer, of Leverkusen, Germany, not to escent, embryo-derived proceed with develop- cells that had already ment of its lead product differentiated into epi- Wilmut’s and Campbell’s candidate recombinant thelial cells (Nature 380, α-1-antitrypsin. 64–66, 1996). This work success in the laboratory Its assets were put was noteworthy as pre- has not been replicated up for sale at the end vious nuclear transfer of 2003, the same year procedures could only in the commercial in which Dolly was put employ either early marketplace down; she had devel- embryos or embryo- oped ovine pulmo-

http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology derived cells as donors. nary adenocarcinoma. Campbell and Wilmut Longstanding Dutch were able to demonstrate successful nuclear rival of Leiden, the Netherlands, transfer of genetic material obtained from which had itself narrowly avoided collapse cells that had been in culture for up to 13 a couple of years previously, picked up the passages. last of the Roslin Institute’s IP portfolio in This held out the prospect of genetically August 2004. engineering the DNA contained in those cells, Neither Wilmut nor Campbell is now before transferring it to an enucleated imma- based at the Roslin Institute, but each con- ture egg or oocyte. Previously, engineering tinues to make important contributions to transgenic animals relied on random inser- academic research. As head of the Center for tion of DNA into the pronuclei of fertilized Regenerative Medicine at the University of eggs (at a stage before the parents’ genetic Edinburgh, Wilmut is back in the headlines, Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© material has fused)—a haphazard procedure, following his receipt in February 2005 of rife with failures and inconsistencies. the second-ever license to undertake human The nascent technique that Wilmut and therapeutic cloning experiments in the Campbell developed offered the prospect of United Kingdom. Wilmut and colleagues aim far greater precision and predictability, with to study the mechanisms underlying motor immediate application in the production neuron disease by examining the differentia- of biopharmaceutical proteins and in the tion into neurons of embryonic stem cells engineering of farm animals with improved derived from disease patients. Meanwhile, traits. This work also supported a key insight Keith Campbell, now based at the University of Campbell’s: that cellular differentiation of Nottingham, remains focused on teasing did not involve irreversible genetic modifica- out the key steps in embryonic development tion. The birth of Dolly on July 5, 1996, con- and improving nuclear transfer techniques. firmed this hypothesis. She had been cloned A decade on from Dolly, the whole field of from DNA isolated from a cell taken from the cloning research has been clouded by recent udder of a six-year-old ewe. revelations of scientific fraud and ethical In the following year, the arrival of the misconduct on the part of Woo-Suk Hwang, transgenic clones Polly and Molly during the the Korean scientist who falsely claimed to lambing season demonstrated that the tech- have developed a technique for generating niques of somatic cell nuclear transfer and patient-specific stem cells. Perhaps, this epi- genetic engineering could be combined, con- sode highlights even more the scrupulous firming the feasibility of the scheme Wilmut attention that the Roslin Institute duo paid and Campbell had outlined just two years to the ethical dimensions of their work. previously. The two lambs were engineered Cormac Sheridan

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 295 FEATURE

US biobusiness His background in science has given European biobusiness Levinson an often unique insight into bio- Individuals who have distinguished Individuals who have distinguished tech research. Hence, his bet on the theory of themselves in business activities related to themselves in business activities related to angiogenesis in controlling tumors, and his biotech in the United States biotech in Europe commitment to building a company that pro- Winner: duces long-term results, make is Winner: Arthur Levinson. CEO Genentech. different from competitors. Those companies Dan Vassella. CEO , a company which Honorable mentions: often have small product pipelines and hope has been very proactive in partnering with Stanley Crooke. Founder, chairman and CEO that success with one product will produce a biotech companies over the last decade and of antisense company Isis Pharmaceuticals, buy-out by a large pharmaceutical company. made big plays in gene therapy. which shepherded the first antisense Thus, since its creation in 1976, Genentech Honorable mentions: product, Vitravene to FDA approval. has stood out among scores of rival compa- José María Fernández Sousa-Faro. Chairman Alejandro Zaffaroni. Serial entrepreneur and nies that have been shuttered on account of of PharmaMar, the first large Spanish biotech founder of , DNAX, Affymax, who was failed research, poor financing and flawed company focusing on active compounds still going strong in the nineties founding business models. extracted from the sea. Affymetrix, Symyx, Maxygen, SurroMed and We believe that strong basic research is the Ernesto Bertarelli. CEO of Europe’s largest Alexza. key for identifying breakthrough drug candi- biotech, Serono, succeeding his father and dates for development in the clinic,” Levinson grandfather Fabio and Pietro. Arthur Levinson points out. As fruit of this vision, Genentech now mar- Dan Vassella kets several products with revenues of over $6.5 billion that treat a variety of medical con- ditions, such as heart attack, allergic ,

http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology psoriasis, stroke, growth hormone deficiency and cystic fibrosis. These products represent a pipeline that was created, in part, under Levinson when he took over as research chief for the South San Francisco-based company in 1990. Levinson has since made quite a mark on

Genentech the company. Consider this: when he joined

in 1980, fresh from a postdoctoral fellowship Novartis Genentech CEO, Arthur Levinson, has not with the University of California’s microbi- cured cancer. Yet. But under the leadership of ology department, Genentech offered $35 Novartis chairman and CEO Dan Vasella is the research-driven CEO, Genentech has fun- million in stock to the public and had 166 unusual among his big pharma peers in hav- damentally changed the treatment of some employees. Today, the company has net ing spent several years as a practicing physician Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© types of cancer through the use of targeted annual income of $1.4 billion and 9,500 before entering the business world. Still only drugs that offer to better control tumors; with employees. 52, Vasella seems like a fixture atop Europe’s the hope that these drugs will also change some In 1995, when Levinson took over as CEO drug industry. He is now credited for his active cancers from a sometimes death sentence to a from Kirk Raab, the company produced rev- deal making with the biotech industry, after a manageable chronic disease. enues of around a billion dollars with a stock decade at the helm of Novartis, the Basel-based Although Levinson thinks of himself as a price of about $6.00 on a split-adjusted basis. company formed in 1996 via a $41-billion stock scientist first and foremost, his rare ability to On January 10, 2006, the company released merger between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. make a success of scientist-as-chief-executive, results for the full year of 2005 with $6.63 bil- His progress from the bedside to the board- and balance the roles appropriately, makes lion in operating revenue, a 44% increase over room was swift. He quit medicine in 1988 and the Genentech story compelling. Levinson 2004, whereas its stock traded at over $85 per moved to New Jersey, where he initially took up hopes that balance serves as a roadmap for share. In a mature biotech industry where the a trainee post in the US headquarters of Sandoz, biotech success well into the future. “Our ‘D’ in R&D can often stand for ‘dollars,’ num- before becoming product manager for a newly goal at Genentech is to discover and develop bers like these garner respect from scientists approved pancreatic cancer drug, a somatosta- drugs that dramatically improve the treatment and financial analysts alike. tin analog called Sandostatin (octreotide). options for patients with life-threatening and To date, Levinson and his company have By 1993, Vasella was back in , as serious diseases,” says Levinson, adding, “We received quite a bit of positive attention. head of corporate marketing at Sandoz, and, are not looking for an incremental change in Disparate publications, such as Fortune, less than a decade after entering the pharma- existing therapies. We aim to develop genuine Science Magazine and The Scientist, recently ceutical industry, he presided over one of the breakthroughs.” named Genentech the top company to work biggest mergers in that sector’s history. It took Levinson’s accomplishments as a scientist for in the United States. The company has also several years for the company to prosper under often obscure the fact that he’s a charismatic received recent awards from Working Mother its new identity, but under Vasella’s leadership CEO that sits astride a $92-billion biotech for making it into its top 100 companies. Wired Novartis has succeeded in breaking away from powerhouse—a phrase once considered oxy- voted the company number 7 for innovation, the rigid, conservative ethos that had pre- moronic—who started as a research scientist technology and strategic vision. vailed at both Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. Instead, for the company back in 1980. John Ransom Vasella introduced a more aggressive and less

296 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE

risk-averse culture with performance-based, Biobusiness in the rest of “I was just lucky to have arrived American-style remuneration packages and the world at the biotech scene at the bonus schemes. For Vasella, the company’s biggest achieve- Individuals who have distinguished right time,” Mazumdar-Shaw ment over the past decade has been the suc- themselves in business activities related to explains cessful transformation of Novartis’ culture. “We biotech in the rest of the world have succeeded in creating a climate where it Winner: was possible to be successful in the sense of dis- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. CEO of covering and developing new compounds and biopharmaceutical company Biocon, the business. Although titles like ‘biotech queen’ marketing new compounds,” he says. first Indian biotech to go public. and ‘India’s richest woman’ make her feel Novartis established its credentials for inno- Honorable mentions: uncomfortable she cherishes the civilian vation—and for speed—by its rapid, in-house Philip Yeo. Chair of Singapore’s Agency ‘Padmabhushan’ award bestowed on her by development of the breakthrough chronic for Science, Technology and Research India’s president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2005. myeloid leukemia drug (CML) Gleevec (ima- (A*STAR) and one of the key players in She has also been inducted into the Prime tinib mesylate). The compound clocked up the development of Singapore into a hub Minister’s business advisory council—a vast almost $2.2 billion in sales during 2005. for biomedical and biotech research that difference from the initial Biocon days when Vasella has also transformed the company’s includes Biopolis. banks would not give her a loan because of research infrastructure into a global network of Eli Hurvitz. Chairman of Israeli generics her gender. institutes led from Cambridge, Massachusetts, company Teva since 2002. Previously, he The honors and wealth have only made in the United States, rather than from the com- was Teva’s President and CEO for over 25 Mazumdar-Shaw more humble. “I was just pany’s headquarter in Basel. years. lucky to have arrived at the biotech scene at Under the leadership of Vasella, Novartis the right time,” she explains. But even her partnered with 200 biotech companies last Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw rivals admit that her unique vision and abil-

http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology year, thus spreading its wings across many ity to seize opportunities had steered Biocon’s therapeutic areas. These include the rapidly transition from an enzymes company to an growing vaccines market, following the acqui- integrated biotech enterprise specializing in sition of Chiron, of Emeryville, California. And biopharmaceuticals, custom research and although its extensive investments in clinical research focused on health care. and gene therapy, like those of many other big Biocon and its two subsidiaries—Syngene pharma companies, have so far failed to bear International Pvt and Clinigene International fruit, Novartis has over the past year entered Pvt—had $160 million in revenues in the major alliances in emerging areas, such as RNAi year ending March 2005, a big jump from and toll-like receptors. $13 million in 1997. The challenges for the Alone among its top 10 big pharma peers, Biocon chief are not over, however. With

Novartis is also building a large presence in Biocon about two-thirds of its revenue coming from the generics market by an aggressive acquisi- exports, Biocon is facing tough competition, Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing

© tion strategy. And its generics unit Sandoz is on Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, India’s icon of especially from anticholesterol statins made track to gain approval for the first ever biosimi- woman , entered biotech- in China. lar drug to be approved in Europe—a version of nology quite by accident. When she could Her latest venture is in the diabetes seg- human growth hormone called Omnitrope— not break into the male-dominated brewing ment. She is hoping that the first blockbuster already launched in Australia. “I don’t think the industry—in spite of an Australian degree in drug—an oral insulin pill—will come from financial advantage for one industry player is malting and brewing—she decided to launch her company. In October 2004, she partnered what matters,” Vasella says. The fact that biotech her own company on “an impulse.” with Nobex, a North Carolina company, to cannot have a “lifelong monopoly” on certain Like in all good biotech stories, she started develop such a pill. Confirming her opti- products is more significant. her company by renting a garage in Bangalore. mism, the product is about to start human As president of the International Federation And with just $10,000 in hand and a staff of two trials in India, despite a recent bankruptcy of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and she started using her knowledge of fermenta- filling by Nobex. And she is multiplying col- Associations (IFPMA), a Geneva-based global tion to produce enzymes for the food and bev- laborations to diversify her pipeline. In June lobby, Vasella is now a senior—if not an elder— erage industry. It was 1978 and she was 25. 2004, she established a joint venture with statesman within the pharmaceutical industry. Today, the company of which she is chair- Cimab, a Cuban biotech research institute Although admitting that the industry has long man and managing director, Biocon, is one that develops monoclonal and been “reactive” in dealing with criticisms of its of India’s premier biotech companies with vaccines against certain cancers. poor record in making medicines available to 2,000 employees. In 2004, Mazumdar-Shaw Mazumdar-Shaw is also excited about the patients in less developed countries, he claims became India’s richest self-made business future of the biotech industry in India as a that industry has improved its performance, woman when Biocon went public—the first whole. “The stage is certainly set for expo- while political corruption and poor governance Indian biotech company to do so. She owns nential growth in the biotech sector,” she within developing countries remain real obsta- 39% of the stock and her Scottish husband writes. “India already ranks among the top cles to progress. “The primary responsibility lies John Shaw has 26%. Overall, she is worth 10 biotech hubs in the world. The aim is to with governments, and the primary failing par- about $440 million. be amongst the top five by 2010 and the top ties are local governments.” And last year she made it to Fortune’s list of three by 2015.” Cormac Sheridan the 50 most powerful women in international K.S. Jayaraman

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 297 FEATURE

Box 1 The Nature Biotechnology shortlist of nominees

We present below the 291 nominees, shortlisted by the editors of Nature Biotechnology, as personalities who have made the most significant contribution to biotech in the past 10 years.

Society and ethics George W. Bush. His Aug 2001 decision to deny federal Marc Feldmann and Ravinder Maini. Pioneer in the funds to research on new lines put development of anti-TNF therapy Remicade (). Andrew Baker. Chairman and CEO of Huntingdon Life moral and ethical debates center stage and spurred Napoleone Ferrara. Developer of humanized anti- Sciences, the British contract research organization, international competition. VEGF antibody Avastin (bevacizumab), which received who has led the company forward despite personal Rita Colwell. Former president of the University of FDA approval in February 2004 for treatment, joined attacks from animal-rights activists. Maryland Biotechnology Institute and former director Genentech in 1988. Ronald Bailey. Science correspondent for Reason maga- of the US National Science Foundation, who has long Alain Fischer and Maria Cavazzana-Calvo. Pioneers in zine, and a keen proponent of the integration of new argued for the benefits of biotech, especially in environ- gene therapy for immunodeficiency disease. biotechnologies. mental applications. Mark I. Greene. University of Pennsylvania, described Karen Bernstein and David Flores. Founders of the bio- Dan Glickman. Former US Department of Agriculture the first monoclonal antibodies against the Her2/Neu tech industry’s foremost newsletter BioCentury. secretary who oversaw the implementation of a regula- oncogene that was to become Herceptin (trastuzumab) Arthur Caplan. Perhaps one of the most visible and tory framework for genetically modified crops that approved in 1998. accessible bioethicists in debates about biotech includes voluntary labeling. Geoff Hale and Herman Waldmann. University of applications. Willy de Greef. Consultant, former Head of Regulatory Oxford, discoverer and developer of Campath, a mono- Greg Conko. A commentator on public health and con- and Governmental Affairs at Novartis Seeds, who has clonal antibody for the treatment of B-cell chronic sumer safety issues in biotech. sought to fight the implementation of nonscientific lymphocytic leukemia. regulation in Europe. Gordon Conway. As president of the Rockefeller Peter Hudson and Phillip Holliger. Pioneered the devel- Foundation, Conway has been a proponent of public- John Doll. Director of Technology Center 1600 of opment of antibody fragments. private partnerships to resolve some of the barriers to the US Patent and Trademark Office, responsible for Rudolf Jaenisch and George Daley. Pioneers for the con- developing world farmers gaining access to new tech- examining biotech patents, who updated examination cept of therapeutic cloning. nologies. procedures and criteria to keep up with the onslaught of biotech patents. Doug Lauffenburger. Professor at MIT, pioneer in ratio- Carl Feldbaum. Former BIO chairman, who sought to nal cytokine design via protein engineering. unify and improve the public face of the biotech industry. Carl Feldbaum. Former BIO chairman. Contributed to the recognition of biotech among policy makers. Lars Peterson. Pioneer in autologous chondrocyte trans- Michael Fernandez. Executive Director of the PEW plants, leading to Genzyme’s Carticel, the first FDA- initiative which has sought to stimulate and showcase David Kessler. FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997, approved cell therapy. diverse viewpoints on the application of agbiotech. who oversaw the introduction of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). William Rastetter, Dennis Slamon and Greg Winter. http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology Bill and Melinda Gates. Promote biotech by providing Pioneers in the development of antibodies as biophar- funding for research on neglected diseases and diseases Robert Klein. Instrumental in the introduction of maceuticals. affecting poorer countries through their foundation. Proposition 71 by which the State of California was able to use its own taxes to finance stem cell research that is James Robl. CSO and director of Hematech, pioneer in Richard Jefferson. Leader of the open-source biology not allowed at the federal level. the production of human polyclonal antibodies in large movement that attempts to circumvent problems with animals. traditional patenting. Marc Cantley. Adviser in the Directorate for Life Sciences in the EU’s Directorate-General for Science, James Shapiro and Ray Rajotte. Pioneers in islet trans- Eduardo Kac. Perhaps the most well-known proponent has long raged against proliferation of nonscientific plantation for type 1 diabetes. of the bioart movement, which attempts to use art to biotech regulations. Peter Senter. Pioneer in the development of conjugated challenge our perceptions of biotech applications. Mark McClellan. FDA commissioner between 2002 antibodies. Evelyn Fox Keller. A science historian and MacArthur and 2004, who introduced an efficient risk-manage- Fellow who has authored several books, including the ment approach to reduce delays and costs of product Century of the Gene, that challenge common assump- Agricultural, environmental and approvals. tions about genetics and genetic engineering and argue for scientific and political realism. Fernand Sauer. First EMEA executive director, who industrial biotechnology oversaw the development of European regulations for Robert Klein. As chairman of the ‘YES on Californian biotech medicines. Frances Arnold. For application of directed evolution to stem cell research initiative, Proposition 71,’ spurred proteins for use in industrial applications. embryonic stem cell research in 2004. Janet Woodcock. The US FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Operations, the brains behind the FDA’s ‘Critical Charles Arntzen. Pioneer of transgenic plant vaccines. Cardinal Renato Martino. A religious leader who has Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing Path’ initiative to modernize tools and methods for Roger Beachy. Pioneer in creating new virus-resistant crop supported the use of agbiotech for hunger and health. varieties; now as president of the Donald Danforth Plant

© evaluating biotech drugs. Henry Miller. Former founding director of the FDA’s Erik Tambuyzer. Founding board member and treasurer Science Center, a vocal critic of patent/license stacking. Office of Biotechnology who in his position at the Hoover of EuropaBio, the European Bioindustry Organization, Peter Beyer and Ingo Potrykus. Coinventors of Golden rice; Institute is a vocal proponent of the free market and which is active in helping to shape European policy. first showcase GM plant for ‘saving’ the world and heavily opponent of biotech critics and regulatory proliferation. Peter Heinrich. President of industry group Emerging used by the industry for publicity; also, founders of the Miyata Mitsuru. General manager of the Tokyo-based Biopharmaceutical Enterprises, part of the European phar- Golden Rice Humanitarian Project. financial publisher Nikkei Business Publications. maceutical federation EFPIA, which helps shape European Nam-Hai Chua. Responsible for characterization of cauli- Thomas Murray. A bioethicist, president of the Hastings policy. He is also a cofounder of the German company flower mosaic virus 35S promoter, which has been used in Center. MediGene, focused on cancer and cardiac drugs. the vast majority of transgenic plant lines; more recently Dorothy Nelkin. The now-deceased sociologist and the developer of alternative selection strategies to antibi- professor at NYU School of Law whose eloquence and otic resistance markers. insights highlighted how biotech is perceived—and, Biopharmaceuticals Asis Datta. Pioneered the technique for nutritional often, misperceived—by the public. enhancement of cereal crops using genes he isolated from . An anthropologist, author and popular- Abe Abuchowski. CEO of Prolong Pharmaceuticals, who Amaranth plant (Amaranthus hypochondriacus). His work izer of the personalities behind biotech innovations that developed the concept of pegylation of biopharmaceuticals. led to India’s first field trial of a GM crop potato. Now the have had a profound impact on society. Julian Adams. Discoverer of Velcade (bortezomib), a director of the National Center for Plant Research, Christopher Reeve. The now-deceased actor who turned first-in-class drug targeting the proteosome. in New Delhi. patient advocate and proselytizer for the use of stem Frank Bennett, Stan Crooke and Arthur Levin. Luis Herrera Estrella. Head of the National Laboratory of cell research in biomedicine. Developers of the first antisense drug Vitravene (fomi- Genomics for Biodiversity of the Center for Research and Cynthia Robbins Roth. Founder of BioPeople and virsen) approved in 1998. Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, BioWorld. Expert commentator on the biotech industry. Paul Carter, Leonard Presta and Mark Sliwkowksi. Irapuato, Mexico, who has worked on plants better adapted to growth in acidic or suboptimal soils. Florence Wambugu. CEO of the A Harvest Biotech Contributors to antibody humanization and the develop- Foundation International (AHBFI), who campaigns for ment Herceptin (trastuzumab). Neal First. Pioneered research in the reproductive biology the use of biotech in developing countries. Robin Coombs, Herman Waldmann, Alun Munro, Mike and cloning of livestock. Mike Ward. Expert commentator on European biotech, Clark and Timothy Springer. Pioneers in the develop- Richard Flavell. Instrumental in creating agbiotech who is on the staff of BioCentury. ment of Campath (alemtuzumab). research center John Innes Institute in Norwich, UK; later Tse-Wen Chang and Nancy Chang. Discoverers and to become CSO of Ceres, a California-based plant genom- developers of anti-IgE antibody Xolair (). ics company. Policy and regulations Mac Cheever and Patricia Stewart. Key developers of Jikun Huang. Director of the Center for Chinese the anti-lymphoma drug Bexxar (tositumomab) which Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he Alexander Berghout. Head of clinical development and was approved by the FDA in June of 2003. is developing genetically modified rice in Chin. regulatory affairs at Swiss generics company Sandoz, Brian Druker, Nick Lydon, Alex Matter and Juerg Derek Lovely. Pioneer in microbial energy fuel cells and he was the first to file for approval of the first follow-on Zimmermann. The codevelopers of Gleevec (imatinib) environmental biotech. biologics of human growth hormone in Europe, the US who started in the early 1990 at Ciba-Geigy (now and Australia. Pal Maliga and Henry Daniell. Developed the technology for Novartis). plastid transformation in higher plants.

298 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Box 1 The Nature Biotechnology shortlist of nominees (continued)

Melvin Oliver. USDA scientist who was inventor of so-called Sam Hanash. Chair Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) US biobusiness ‘Terminator’ technology making crops sterile to ensure and a pioneer in cancer . containment and the need to buy new transgenic seeds Leroy Hood. Long-time inventor of automated sequenc- Moshe Alafi. Founder of Alafi Capital Company and an each season. ing but lately a pioneer of systems approaches in biology; investor for over 25 years in biotech. He was a seed C.S. Prakash. Director of Center for Plant Biotechnology cofounded the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle in investor in Cetus, , and Research at Tuskegee University; through AgBioForum has 2000. Founder of numerous biotechs. . unified international agbiotech community. , Carl Pabo and Jeremy Berg. Pioneers of zinc Frank Baldino. Founder and CEO of . Roger Salquist. As CEO of Calgene of Davis, California, finger technology, which has recently gained momentum Gordon Binder. Former president, CEO and chairman of until 1996, oversaw the development of Flavr Savr, the first with chimeric endonuclease technology. Amgen. transgenic tomato product to reach the supermarket with Ashok Kolaskar. University of Pune, laid the foundation for Joshua Boger. President and CEO of Vertex longer shelf life. much of bioinformatics work going on in India. Pharmaceuticals. David Salt and Richard Meagher. Pioneers in the develop- Fred Kramer and Sanjay Tyagi. Developer of molecular Brook Byers. Investor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, ment of phytoremediation strategies. beacons. venture capital investor since 1972; formed the first Life Jay Short. Cofounder, former president and CEO of Diversa, . MIT & Whitehead Institute; named first author Sciences practice group in the venture capital profession a company exploiting living organisms for industrial appli- when the draft of the was published in in 1984. cations. 2001. One of the cofounders of Millennium. Steven Burrill. CEO, Burrill & Co., a life science invest- Greg Stephanopoulos. Pioneered work on in silico modeling Robert Langer. MIT; pioneer in the fields of drug delivery ment company, which produces a annual snapshot of the and metabolic engineering of industrial strains of bacteria. systems and . His research laboratory industry. Bob Wall. USDA scientist who has pioneered large animal is the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world, John Clarke. Managing General Partner, Cardinal Partners; transgenic research; created animals expressing proteins maintaining about $6 million in annual grants and over founder of and , founder in the bladder and antimicrobial proteins in the mammary 100 researchers. and chairman of Alnylam. gland. . Pioneer in human somatic cell nuclear Lisa Conte. CEO of PS Pharmaceuticals and founder and transfer. CEO of now-defunct Shaman Pharmaceuticals, a natural Technology Paul Lizardi and David Ward. Inventor of isothermal rolling product pharmaceutical company. circle amplification 1999. Stanley Crooke. Founder, chairman and CEO of Isis Rüdi Aebersold. Inventor of the mass spectrometry method Matthias Mann. Contributor to the creation of the first algo- Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on antisense oligo- of isotope-coded affinity tags (ICAT). rithm for peptide identification in sequence databases and nucleotides, which has built a formidable patent portfolio. Victor Ambros. Of Dartmouth College, considered the dis- invention of the mass spectrometry method ‘stable isotope Julian Davies. Former head of Biogen now at the University coverer of microRNAs (lin-4 described in 1993 Cell article; labeling of amino acids in cell culture’ (SILAC). of Vancouver. Has formed company around metagenomics. the term microRNA was coined in 2001). Chad Mirkin. Pioneer in nanotechnology applications. Jean Deleage. Founder of venture capital firm Alta http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology Rudi Balling. German Research Center for Biotechnology Eugene Myers. Contributor of algorithms used in computa- Partners. in Braunschweig, pioneer of large-scale ethylnitrosourea tional biology who was involved in decoding of the shotgun Juergen Drews. Former president for global research a (ENU)-mutagenesis as a tool for functional genome human genome sequence. Former vice president of infor- Hoffman-LaRoche, now at investment firm Bear Stearns analysis and a coordinator of the German Human Genome matics research at Celera Genomics. Health Innoventures Management. A high-profile propo- Project. Shuming Nie and . Developers of biological nent of genomic medicine and the need for pharma to , Srinivasan Chandrasegaran and Matthew application of quantum dots. adopt genomics-based drug discovery to address shortfall Porteus. Coinventors of zinc finger chimeric endonuclease Peter Nielsen. Pioneer in the development of peptide in products. technology for gene repair. nucleic acids. Stephen Evans-Freke. Former investment banker at Eugene Bell. Pioneer in tissue engineering, MIT emeritus Maynard Olson. Inventor of yeast artificial chromosomes, PaineWebber and former CEO of Sugen, a company that professor and founder of Organogenesis. or YACs, expression vectors for large proteins. Currently at pioneered the pursuit of kinase inhibitors, now on the Charles Cantor. In the 1990s refined mass spectrometry Washington University Genome Center. board of Cambridge in America, the development arm of Cambridge University. methods for large-scale genotyping. He is currently CSO, Bernhard Palsson. Pioneer of novel approaches for in silico Sequenom. model building and metabolic engineering; cofounder of Stephen Fodor. As chairman and CEO of Affymetrix, George Church. For contributions to novel high-throughput several biotech companies in the nineties. oversaw the growth of technology platform company in the 1990s, also cofounder, in 2001, of Perlegen. sequencing approaches and integration of ’omic data. Yves Poirier. Pioneer in developing and refining the produc- Calvin Chow, Michael Knapp and Wallace Parce. tion of biodegradable plastics in bacteria. Steven Gillis. Venture partner at Arch Venture partners in Seattle, founder and former CEO of Corixa and also a Cofounders of Caliper (now Caliper Life Sciences), special- Stephen Quake and Michael Ramsey. Pioneers in the min- founder and director of Immunex from 1981 until 1994. ist of advanced liquid handling and lab-chip technology. iaturization of fundamental biochemical experiments and Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing Daniel Cohen. Of the Center for the Study of Human microfluidics. William Haseltine. Ex-chairman and CEO of Human © Genome Sciences, the biotech that clinched the first deal Polymorphisms in , produced a rough map of all 23 Nadrian Seeman. Contributor to nanobiotech development. with a pharma company, validating genomics. pairs of human chromosomes and became CSO at Genset, ‘Pim’ Willem Stemmer. Inventor of gene shuffling; cur- Kevin Hrusovsky. President and CEO of Caliper Life later acquired by Serono. rently with Maxygen and Avidia. Sciences, previous CEO of Zymark. Philip Cohen. A leading figure in research on protein James Thomson and John Gearhart. Inventors of methods Michael Hunkapiller. Former president of Applied kinases, which have become preeminent drug targets, par- used for isolation and culture of human embryonic stem Biosystems and a founder of its sister company Celera ticularly in biotech oncology research. and germ cells. Genomics. . Director of the National Human Genome Joseph Vacanti. Massachusetts General Hospital, tissue Mark Levin. Founder of Millennium Pharmaceuticals whose Research Institute at the US National Institutes of Health engineer who grafted a human ear onto the back of mouse. and head of the public Human . business acumen is widely regarded as the secret of the Ham Smith and J. . Pioneered shotgun company’s success. Daniel Erlanson, James Wells and Andrew Braisted. sequencing approach at the Institute for Genomic Arthur Levinson. CEO Genentech. Inventors of tethering: fragment-based drug discovery. Research (TIGR). Venter, currently the president of the J. Stan Fields and Roger Brent. Developed the yeast two- Craig Venter Institute and former president and founder of James Mullen. President and CEO of Biogen Idec. hybrid system, which over the past 10 years has become a Celera Genomics, also devised the express sequence tag Thomas Okarma. President, CEO of Geron. bench standard method for proteomics. method. Stelios Papadopoulos. Vice chairman of investment bank Andrew Fire, Craig Mello and Tom Tuschl. For invention and Ken Kinzler. Inventors of serial analysis SG Cowen Securities Corporation focusing on the biotech and application of RNAi in mammalian cells. of gene expression (SAGE). and pharmaceutical sectors. Stephen Fodor/David Lockhart and Pat Brown/Ron Davis. Teru Wakayama. Pioneer in mouse cloning who worked with Alan Patricof. Cofounder of Apax Partners in the United Codevelopers of photolithographically synthesized oli- nuclear transfer embryonic stem cells. States. gonucleotide chips and cDNA microarrays, respectively. Irving Weissman. Stem cell pioneer actively involved in the Ed Penhoet. Founder and CEO of Chiron until 1998. Together with genome sequencing launched a new era of founding of cell therapy biotechs in 1990s. Now president of the environmental conservation funding ’omics-based research. James Wells. Coinventor of the ‘tethering’ approach, a organization Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in San Árpád Furka. Inventor of the principles of combinatorial screening method to identify small organic compounds Francisco. , which blossomed in the mid-1990s, including that inhibit protein-protein interactions used to identify Tom Perkins. Investor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers both synthesis and the iteration screening strategy. small molecules that bind interleukin 2. Also a cofounder and venture capitalist since 1972. Founding chairman of Tilman Gerngross. Developer of strains of yeast capable of of the San Francisco–based biotech company Sunesis Genentech. human-type glycosylation. Pharmaceuticals. George Poste. As former president, R&D and chief science David Haussler. University of California at Santa Cruz, Ian Wilmut and Kevin Campbell. Pioneers of somatic cell and technology officer at SmithKline Beecham, first to take introduced hidden Markov models (HMMs) for protein nuclear transfer, creators of Dolly in 1997. Wilmut is a the leap into genomics. Now CEO of Health Technology sequence analysis, developed a kernel function from founder of PPL Therapeutics. Networks, a healthcare consulting group and on several the profiles to be used in support vector machine Greg Winter and Hennie Hoogenboom. Developers of biotech boards. training, and produced the first public, large-scale phage display technology for isolation and engineering of Dennis Purcell. Senior Managing Director, Perseus-Soros rough draft assemblies of the entire human genome antibodies. BioPharmaceutical Fund who was managing director Life sequence. Sciences Investment Banking at Hambrecht & Quist.

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 299 FEATURE

Box 1 The Nature Biotechnology shortlist of nominees (continued)

William Rastetter. Recently retired executive chairman of Alan Goodman. Cofounder of biopharmaceutical compa- Harry Stratford. Executive chairman of Prostrakan and the Biogen IDEC and former CEO of IDEC. nies Medeva, and Peptide Therapeutics, founder and former CEO of Shire Pharmaceuticals. George Rathmann. Former president, CEO, chairman of now known as vaccine company Acambis, and of venture Carl-Johan Sundberg. Investment Director, Karolinska Amgen. Also a founder of Corporation. capital firm Avlar BioVentures. Investment Fund in Sweden. William Rutter. Cofounder of Chiron. Michel Gréco. Deputy CEO and member of the Board of Jean-Noël Treilles. CEO Biopartners, a Swiss company Ivor Royston. Founder of IDEC, now a partner with the ven- Aventis Pasteur until 2003. He is a board member of sev- developing follow-on biologics in partnership with ture capital firm Forward Ventures. eral public and private biotech companies. Korean company LG Life Science. George Scangos. President and CEO Exelixis. Franck Grimaud. Founder and CEO vaccine platform com- Gerard van Beynum. Chairman of Dutch biotech think pany Vivalis, France. Hubert Shoemaker. Cofounder Centocor (now part of tank Biopartner also a former vice president for strategy Johnson & Johnson). Joern Aldag. CEO of German company Evotec, focused on and communication at transgenic animal company the central nervous system, since 2001. Pharming. Richard Seldon. Founder of Transkaryotic Therapies (now part of Shire), which invented gene-activated erythropoi- Ian Harvey. Former CEO of technology transfer company Dan Vassella. CEO Novartis, a company which has been etin, a competitor to Amgen’s erythropoietin. BTG in the UK. very proactive in partnering with biotech companies over the last decade and made big plays in gene therapy. Dale Stringfellow. Former CEO and president of Berlex Paul Haycock. Former CEO of vaccine company Cantab, Biosciences, a research, development and manufactur- former director of venture capital firm Apax Partners, now Friedrich von Bohlen. Former CEO of bioinformatics ing organization. Founder , Cognetix and a board member of investment boutique Ferghana group company LION Bioscience, located in Germany. Acacia Biosciences. in the UK. Alexander von Gabain. CEO Austrian vaccine company Henry Termeer. Chairman, president and CEO Genzyme, Alan Kingsman. Cofounder and CEO Oxford BioMedica Intercell. has been with the company since 1983. in the UK. Lyle Turner. Founder, chairman and CEO Invitrogen Denis Lucquin. Managing partner at venture capital firm Biobusiness in the rest of the world Corporation until 2002. Sofinnova Partners in Paris. Roy Whitfield. Cofounder and former CEO Incyte Keith McCullagh. Founder, British Biotech in the UK who Katsuhiko Asano. President of Kirin’s Pharmaceutical Pharmaceuticals. led the fight to make the LSE change its rules for listing Division and also served as chairman of the Board of young companies, allowing biotech companies to grow Kirin-Amgen from 1996 to 2001. Axel Ullrich and Joseph Schlessinger. Cofounders of kinase through capital markets and venture capitalist to consider Greg Collier. CEO of Geelong, Victoria, Australia- inhibitor company Sugen. them as lower risk investments. Alejandro Zaffaroni. Serial entrepreneur and founder of based genomics drug discovery company ChemGenex Simon Moroney. CEO of German antibody company Pharmaceuticals. ALZA, DNAX, Affymax, who was still going strong in the Morphosys. nineties founding Affymetrix, Symyx, Maxygen, SurroMed Krishna Ella. Chairman and managing director of Bharat and Alexza. Jean-Yves Nothias. Managing director of Société Générale Biotech International. A pioneer who, upon his return Asset Management Alternative Investments, where he Vincent Zurawski. Cofounder Centocor (now part of from the US in 1995, chose to build a vaccine plant http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology leads the Biotechnology Team. SGAM is one of the largest in a barren area 40-km from Hyderabad in India, that Johnson & Johnson) as well as numerous other companies investor in the life science in France. including DNA vaccine company Apollon and oncology play eventually became the genome valley of today. Auburn Pharmaceuticals. David Oxlade. Former CEO of biopharmaceutical Martin Godbout. President & CEO, genomic fund company Xenova Group, now part of Celtic Pharma Genome Canada since 2000. Development UK. Fang Hu. President of Sunway Biotech, Chinese biotech European biobusiness Raj Parekh. Founder and former CSO Oxford company developing second generation gene therapy GlycoSciences, proteomics platform-based drug discovery for cancer. Goran Ando. Former CEO Group in the UK. company, which was acquired by Celltech in the UK. Eli Hurvitz. Chairman of Israeli generics company Teva Lucas Benatti. Founder and CEO Newron Frederik Paulsen. CEO Ferring of Sweden, one of the first since 2002. Previously, he was Teva’s President and Pharmaceuticals, an Italian company focusing on the cen- European companies developing and selling pharmaceu- CEO for over 25 years. tral nervous system. tical products based upon natural, pituitary-produced Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. CEO of biopharmaceutical com- peptide hormones. Ernesto Bertarelli. CEO of Europe’s largest biotech Serono, pany Biocon, one of India’s most dynamic biotechs. succeeding his father and grandfather Fabio and Pietro. Jos Peeters. Cofounder of the Easdaq stock exchange in Brian McNamee. CEO of the largest listed Australian Brussels, which was Europe’s answer to Nasdaq. Joel Besse. Senior partner Atlas Venture, a founding inves- biotech CSL, based in the state of Victoria. tor in Swiss biotech Actelion. Philippe Pouletty. Founder, Clonatec, SangStat, Eli Mintz. A cofounder of Israeli drug discovery platform Conjuchem, DrugAbuse Sciences. Chair of the French Simon Best. Founder and Chairman of UK-based Ardana company Compugen. Bioscience, specializing in human reproductive biology bioindustry association France Biotech. K.K. Narayanan. Managing director of METAHELIX Life now head of EuropaBIO. William Powlett-Smith. Partner & UK Health Sciences Nature Publishing Group Group 200 6 Nature Publishing Science Private, Bangalore, homegrown company devel- leader at consultancy Ernst & Young in Cambridge, UK. Stephen Bunting. Partner at UK-based venture capital firm oping products in the agbiotech sector. © Abingworth. Claudio Quarta. Cofounder and CEO Biosearch Italia, who Seung-Kwon Noh. CEO Korean company Eugene became COO of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals when Biosearch David Chiswell. Founder Cambridge Antibody Technology. Science that developed a cholesterol-lowering food was acquired in 2003; now owns the company. Jean-Paul Clozel. CEO and Founder of Actelion, in additive sold through the US market through a deal with Switzerland. Jürgen Rüttgers. Former German Minister of Science, who food giant ADM. launched the BioRegio funding scheme in 1996. Ronald Cohen. Cofounded venture capital firm Apax Hyunseok Park. CEO Macrogen, first Korean company to Partners, formerly known as MMG. Steen Riisgaard. President & CEO, Novozymes, a spe- list on the Seoul stock exchange. cialist in enzymes and microorganisms production in Jeremy Curnock-Cook. Investor, chairman of Bioscience Zhaohu Peng. CEO Shenzhen SiBiono GenTech, China Denmark. Managers, formerly at Rothschild Asset Management The CEO of the company who brought the first approved where he created and led the Rothschild Bioscience Unit Spiro Rombotis. CEO of oncology company in gene therapy to the word. the UK. in the UK. Cyrus Poonawala. Chairman of Serum Institute of India, Host Domdey. Managing Director of BioM, a technology Christopher Samler. CEO of drug delivery company Weston Pune. Medical, former CEO of xenotransplantation company transfer and seed-capital company based in Munich. Varaprasada Reddy. Chairman and managing director Imutran, now part of Novartis. Chris Evans. Founder UK venture capital firm Merlin of Shantha Biotechnics, Hyderabad, which made, in Bioscience. Helmut Schühsler. Managing partner of German venture 1997, India’s first recombinant healthcare product, an Lisa Drakeman. CEO of antibody company Genmab located capital firm TVM in Munich. hepatitis-B vaccine. in Copenhagen. Bernd Seizinger. CEO of German oncology company GPC M.K. Sharma. CEO of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (MMB) Paul Drayson. Founder and former CEO drug delivery com- Biotech since 1998. in Jalna marketing of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton pany PowderJect. Francisco Sinigaglia. Founder and CEO of Italian biotech hybrid seeds (Bollgard) developed by Mahyco since Glyn Edwards. CEO UK oncology company Antisoma, BioXell, spin off from Roche, focused on urological disor- 2002. known partner of Roche. ders and inflamatory diseases. Shinichi Tamura. Cofounder, president, CEO of Sosei, a Chris Evans. Founder UK venture capital firm Merlin Lars Rebien Sørensen. President and CEO Novo Nordisk company identifying new uses for established drugs. Bioscience. since 2000, a company specialized in enzyme and hor- Ei Yamada. President and CEO Japanese gene therapy mone production based in Denmark. Peter Fellner. Executive chairman of Vernalis, former chair- company AnGes. man and CEO of Celltech Group in the UK. Gerard Soula. Founder Flamel Technology, a French com- Philip Yeo. Chair of Singapore’s Agency for Science, panies listed on Nasdaq. José María Fernández Sousa-Faro. Chairman of Technology and Research (A*STAR) and one of the key PharmaMar, the first large Spanish biotech company focus- Silvano Spinelli. Cofounder of Novuspharma and CEO players in the development of Singapore into a hub for ing on active compounds extracted from the sea. between 1999 to 2003 until it was acquired by US com- biomedical and biotechnological research that includes pany Cell Therapeutics, now its executive vice-president. Bernard Gilly. Former president and CEO of , Biopolis. previously a gene therapy company, now a therapeutic vac- Kari Steffanson. Founder and CEO of population genomics Weidong Yin. Founder and CEO of Sinovac Biotech, a cines and immunotherapy products company. company deCODE Genetics. Chinese biotech company developing a SARS vaccine.

300 VOLUME 24 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2006 NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY

Top View