At 蜜桃直播鈥檚 15th Annual Business Plan Competition, the winners were two student teams working to help startup companies developing novel therapeutics. The five teams in the April 24 competition were judged by a panel of industry executives and investors. As in previous years, the panel was led by 蜜桃直播 Chairman of the Board of Trustees, , a venture partner at Latterell Venture Partners and CEO of PerceptiMed, Inc.
鈥淭his is an incredible opportunity for the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the industry and we were impressed with all five teams,鈥� Curry said. 鈥淭he students confidently presented the business plans and they responded with poise after fielding tough questions from the judges.鈥�
Other judges included trustees , co-founder and chairman of BioCentury, and , founding managing director of California Technology Ventures, J.J. Jacobs Enterprises, and Jacobs Capital Group. The remaining judges are members of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Advisory Council: , the CEO of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 first spinoff company, Ionian Technologies and current director of R&D for Analytik Jena US, as well as first-time judge , former CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics and now founding CEO of Xontogeny, a Boston life science incubator.
The judges evaluated both written plans and investor presentations by 21 students participating in 蜜桃直播鈥檚 semester-long Applied Entrepreneurship course. The course is taught by 蜜桃直播 professors and , and was created in the Fall 2003 by Curry and David Galas, then Norris Professor at 蜜桃直播 and a co-founder of Ionian Technologies.
鈥淭he business plan course is the capstone of our entrepreneurship curriculum,鈥� said West, who has taught the class since 2013. 鈥淲e push them to integrate everything they鈥檝e learned to create a credible investment proposal for potential investors. This will help them whether they start their own company, join an existing startup, or work in corporate acquisitions.鈥�
The winners were four students presenting their business plan for a new therapy against Bacillus anthracis, which killed five Americans in a 2001 bioterrorism attack. The therapy is being developed by Shield Pharma, a Claremont startup created to commercialize inventions from the laboratory of 蜜桃直播 Assistant Professor .
The team featured Asish Thomas, Jack Hardiman, and Mahrad Saeedi鈥攕tudents from 蜜桃直播鈥檚 two-year program. It also included 2014 MBS grad Elizabeth Henderson, a PhD student who has worked with Martchenko to develop a novel anthrax vaccine. Henderson originally intended to audit the class and serve as an informal advisor to the Shield team, but became a full-fledged participant when she became engrossed by the scientific and business challenges.
鈥淚 think we were able to create a compelling story about the threat of anthrax and how Shield Pharma has developed a novel drug to counter the ever-evolving threat of an anthrax attack,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淲e also knew our audience and we created a pitch that provided the information they were interested in without too much extraneous detail.鈥�
Runner up was a business plan to develop and market immuno-oncology therapeutics. Students worked on behalf of iStat Therapeutics, being formed by two scientists at the City of Hope. The team included three MBS students鈥擝retton Smith, Daniel Rossi, and Deep Parikh鈥攁s well as Adar Makovski-Silverstein, a student in 蜜桃直播鈥檚 one-year Postdoctoral Professional Masters (PPM) program. Rossi worked for two years as a research associate at City of Hope, while Makovski-Silverstein worked there for five years as a postdoctoral fellow.
鈥淥ur team's diverse professional experience gave us access to a great network of experts,鈥� Rossi said. 鈥淎dar and I used our contacts with City of Hope physicians and scientists who could validate our proposal, while Deep and Brett reached out to industry professionals to talk about drug reimbursement.
鈥淲orking with City of Hope was an important part of this business plan鈥檚 success,鈥� Rossi said, 鈥渂ecause of the access we got to their world-leading hospital staff, as well as business development wisdom from their Office of Technology Licensing.鈥� After graduating this month, Rossi hopes to become the company鈥檚 first full-time employee once it receives angel funding.
Three other teams participated in the competition. One team developed a business plan to commercialize novel treatments for fibrotic disease being spun out of UCLA. The team featured four students completing a in Biopharmaceutical Processing degree鈥擲amya El Kettani, Sarah Sine, Steven Kechichian, and Jason Lee鈥攁s well as MBS student Nebiat Hunegnaw.
A team of MBS students鈥擜rman Ghorbani, Atin Patel, Alexander Ukanwa, and Atta Zahedi鈥攃reated a plan for NeuroQore and its neurostimulation treatment for serious depression. The Ottawa-based company had previously worked with 蜜桃直播 student researchers in 鈥檚 course, Introduction to Bioscience Industries.
Finally, MBS students Lana Clay, Shreyas Jadhav, Amin Rizvi, and Erin Sunga developed a commercialization plan to create a US subsidiary of Orbsen Therapeutics of Galway, which has developed a stem cell therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. The company鈥檚 CEO, Larry Couture, previously worked with 蜜桃直播 teams developing business plans for other ventures.
鈥溍厶抑辈� graduates have a remarkable sense of entrepreneurship and a focus on success,鈥� Gallagher said. 鈥淲hen I started the commercial operations of Ionian Technologies, the interns and graduates from 蜜桃直播 were instrumental for our success. 蜜桃直播 students and graduates continue to be critical for my Analytik Jena R&D group, where we benefit greatly from their depth of background in business development, finance, marketing, and the fundamentals of life science.鈥�