Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D.

Scientists and academic researchers often seem out-of-touch with the real world, isolated in their labs, focused on theory as opposed to practical implementation. And the image of the wiry-haired scientist who is more comfortable around test tubes than people may sometimes even be accurate. But, this is not the case with Dr. Joseph Schlessinger.

 
Dr. Schlessinger is of course, first and foremost, a brilliant researcher and scientist, and he commands his lab at Yale University’s Department of Pharmacology with the dedication of a man on a mission. His research however, goes far beyond the traditional prize of the academic, consisting of recognition by peers and publication in obscure scientific journals. Dr. Schlessinger’s intense focus is instead on delivering real, practical results that have a measurable impact on all of humanity. His work is evidence that basic research can and does lead to new therapies that deliver a real benefit to the greater world outside of the lab.

 
His pioneering work in cancer research gives new hope to mankind. It has also delivered tremendous commercial success to numerous biotech firms. Schlessinger’s own intensity and drive towards accomplishing his scientific goals means that he will never be satisfied with research that stays in the lab, and that means making the bold transition from pure research to the world of business, venture capital and entrepreneurship. A strange world indeed for a scientist, but one that must co-exist with science for research to have any meaning. Schlessinger understands the necessity of this marriage between science and industry.

 
In making the transition from research to reality, he has created no less than three successful biotech companies: Sugen, Inc., Plexxikon, Inc., and Kolltan, Inc., and it is the powerful one-two punch of laboratory research, and commercial implementation that has truly made a difference in the world.

 
His earliest venture into the commercial realm came in the form of a biotech firm called Sugen, now owned by pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer. In those early days, Sugen was one of the hottest biotechs of the ‘90s, creating leading drugs for two separate types of cancers that had been notoriously difficult to treat; renal cell carcinoma, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). In creating Sugen and in later establishing key partnerships with larger biotech and pharmaceutical companies, Schlessinger demonstrated that he has as much business savvy as he does scientific knowledge.

 
Smaller biotechs, like any smaller scientific company, possess a great advantage that the larger firms don’t have, and that’s a single-minded dedication to a goal, and the ability to make important decisions when they’re needed. But the big pharmaceutical companies have the money to make it all happen. Combining the two is almost always inevitable. He first took Sugen to Pharmacia & Upjohn in 1999, he launched the critical path to scientific success. Pharmacia was later acquired by Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant that had substantial resources and a huge lab. By launching Sugen on this path, Schlessinger’s larger and more humanitarian goal—that of taking cancer treatments out of the lab and into the doctor’s office where they can actually help people—was realized. Today, the early dedicated research of Schlessinger and his team at Sugen has led to the creation of a drug called Sutent (SU11248), which is now used effectively to improve the survival of patients with renal cell carcinoma and GIST.

 
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But like any serial entrepreneur who starts company after company, Schlessinger continues to see a need for new research, and new commercial operations to bring them to fruition. In 2001, he helped found Plexxikon, a leading biotech firm in the discovery and development of small molecule pharmaceuticals. Using a proprietary discovery platform, the company has been enormously successful in developing a portfolio of clinical and pre-clinical stage programs in several therapeutic areas, including cardio-renal disease, CNS, inflammation, metabolic disease, and oncology.

 
And the potential for commercial success has not been lost to investors and the venture capital community. VCs may not have Dr. Schlessinger’s scientific knowledge (and few people do, whether inside or outside of the academic world), but they do recognize potential when they see it. In January of 2009, Schlessinger’s third venture, Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, announced that it raised of $35 million in preferred stock financing to bring more of his groundbreaking scientific discoveries in the lab to reality. Kolltan represents enormous potential, not just for commercial success, but for important oncology therapy treatments. The science behind the company revolves around important discoveries made in Schlessinger’s lab that will lead to a new generation of monoclonal antibody oncology therapeutics. The discovery involves novel molecular mechanisms that underly the activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK), which govern how cells work.

 
In plain language, it’s important research that provides more insight into how cancer grows—and how it might be slowed down or stopped. When kinases don’t work like they’re supposed to, the messages that are transmitted from outside a cell to inside of the cell can get garbled, and the result can lead to the growth of a cancerous tumor. Think of it as a garbled phone call. You get a call from your boss and the line is fuzzy. You think the boss told you to tell a big client to drop dead, but he really said to get him tickets to Club Med. The result of course, is disastrous. The same thing happens inside of cells when they get a garbled message. Schlessinger’s research is meant to clear up the phone lines over which cells communicate.

 
First-generation drugs in RTK-related disease have made some progress, but have limitations as well—and the goal of Kolltan is to build on that first generation of drugs to create a more effective treatment.

 
True science is never science in isolation, and important medical discoveries will always be driven by innovation, entrepreneurship, and vital partnerships with industry. Through this approach, scientists like Dr. Schlessinger will be able to see their research become reality—and more people will be helped in the process.