Looking at the Board of Directors, it's really obvious that a team was assembled with all the right moves.
Gabriele Neumann is a player- formely from Wyeth- met her in 2005 at a genetics symposium- very tied into venture capital groups.
Kawaoka has ties to 2 Japanese pharmas whose work I know and in whose labs I've been.
Terrence Kelly is a big player in the VC/ Biotech world, and is a partner with another VC guy in San Diego who fnded a company I worked with (focus
of research was using viruses to enter cancer cells, carrying different nucleic acid "payloads" that their own, to attempt to induce apotosis of the
cancer cells. Very familiar with viral sequencing and strain synthesis.
Devon McGlenn was with NeoClone, and if my research is correct, formerly with Promega (a Madison-based molecular bio company that started out of UW/M.
Will follow up on that- I need proof and have to find the old corporate list. The building, itself, is actually about 5 miles from Promega HQ, and
about 10-15 miles from Lucigen, another VC/biotech startup working with RNAi, synthesis of novel delivery mechanisms and phage arrays:
www.lucigen.com...
Patrick Burke, at Lucigen, also comes out of the UW/M system:
Patrick BurkeTechnical Product Manager at Lucigen Corp.
Current Technical Product Manager at Lucigen Corp.
Education University of Wisconsin-Madison
Technical Services Manager at Promega
Some Promega folks:
www.linkedin.com...
Joan Connelly, AVP, ImClone, fomer top positions at Bristol Meyers Squibb:
www.linkedin.com...
Crowly- SVP at ImClone- formerly at Britol-Meyers Squibb and Monsanto:
www.allbusiness.com...
Going to go hunting with my UW fiend this week- back with more.
Needless to say, this is a group with unlimited power and cash to do whatever the **** they want.
PS- Sorry this is so scattered- wanted to post as much info as I had to get started, and will re-post with some more info that supports your OP-
thanks and be well
[edit on 22-7-2009 by CultureD]
One more edit- ImClone is now a subsidiary of Lilly- very active in the UK, and are setting their sights there, no doubt, as the infection rate is
high. GSK is also very active in the UK- going to try to connect these dots.
[edit on 22-7-2009 by CultureD]