TALES FROM SERENEX:
UNIVERSITY SPIN-OFF TO PFIZER
ACQUISITION
Anil K. Goyal, Ph.D., CLP
Carolina Innovations Seminar
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Story Outline
1
• Preface:
2
• Chapters: Years 2001 - 2008
3
• Epilogue: Essential Ps of Serenex
Beginning and Conclusion
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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DISCLAIMERS
1) “ALL PERSONS, INCIDENTS AND SITUATIONS
PORTRAYED IN THIS PRESENTATION ARE
FICTIONAL. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL
PERSONS, INCIDENTS, AND SITUATIONS IS
COINCIDENTAL AND ACCIDENTAL.”
2) “INDIVIDUAL RESULTS MAY VARY”
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
3
The Beginning and the Culmination
June 2001
April 2008
• Spin-Off from Univ. of Virginia
(Prof. Tim Haystead)
• Proteomics Company
(Tools/technology)
• 2 Employees (Prof. Haystead
and George Young)
• Personal loan from George
Young
• Company with 2 clinical
programs and a drug
discovery pipeline
• ~32 Employees
• ~$80M invested
• Acquired by Pfizer
• Multi-hundred Million $$
exit for investors
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
4
2001-2002
Co Location:
Incubator to Downtown
Durham
incubator in RTP
2003 – 2008
Downtown Durham
“Clark and Sorrell”
(Garage & Auto
Repair Shop)
Durham Historic
Landmark
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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Clark & Sorrell 1910 & 2001
1910
2001
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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Year 2000-2001: The Beginning
• Founding Management Team:
– Professor Tim Haystead, at Univ. of Virginia (UVa)
– George Young, SVP of Ops, ex-VP Sales, Dyax (living in MA/NC)
– Robert Dishman, CEO, ex-Director, Dyax (living in MA)
– Susan Dana Jones, SVP of Corp. Development (living in MA)
– Lanny Bynum, SVP Finance & Administration
• Patents:
Technology patents on ATP-Sepharose resin
• Market Areas: Proteomics (Protein separation and
identification), target discovery and toxicity profiling
• Prof. Haystead moves to Duke University
• Serenex (“Out of Serendipity”) established in Durham
• Series A: Metaphase Venture Partners, $2 million
• Pfizer and Pharmacia Evaluate Proteome Mining Technology
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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Serenex’s Proteome Mining Technology
Proteome
Extract (e.g.
Pig tissues)
Compound Conc.
Compound
Eluted
Proteins
Proprietary Resin
Specific proteome
fraction is captured
Resin with bound
Purine Binding
proteins
Competitive displacement
of proteins off resin
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
Protein separation, MS analysis of
peptides to identify proteins
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2002: Series B Funding & New Leadership
• Apr
Steve Hall joins as VP of R&D
Ex- Lilly/Sphinx, Squibb; 20+ yrs. @ pharma
Business Model Shift:
Tools Drug Discovery Platform/ Services
& Internal Discovery
• Aug
Series B Financing: $15 Million
• Sept
• Oct
• Nov
Chiron Proteome Mining Deal
JnJ Proteome Mining Deal
Richard Kent, joins as President and CEO
Intersouth Partners
Lilly Ventures
Seaflower Ventures &
Metaphase Venture Partners
Ex-GSK Chief Medical Officer, 20+yrs @pharma
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2003: Deals, Internal Discovery & Grow Mgmt Team
• May
• July
GSK discovery services deal
New Mgmt Team Members:
– Ian Howes as CFO
– Anil Goyal as VP of BD
• Initiated Internal Drug Discovery Effort:
– Developed strategy
– Designed & assembled a focused custom compd library
– Screened compound library with Proteome Mining
Technology (“Chemoproteomics” screen)
• Nov
• Nov
Roche discovery services deal
Internal screening resulted in >9
target programs
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2004: Progress on all fronts…but
• Signed Several Discovery Services deals
– Lilly, Novartis, Aventis, BMS.... (generated minuscule $s)
• Internal Discovery Effort
– Generates hits for >6 target programs
• Raised $8 million in Series B extension (August)
– Intersouth Partners
– Takeda Research Investment (TRI) &
– Western Technology + other Series B funders
• Market Forces:
– VCs funding only clinical stage companies
(or NRDOs..”No Research Development Only” company)
– Pharma/Biotech not doing platform deals that give
significant upfront $s
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2005: Major Shift in Business Plan
• Focused internal effort on one target
Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) Inhibitor
• Small downsizing
• In-Licensed Clinical Stage Compound: OC-1012 for Oral
mucositis (chemotherapy side effect) treatment
– Outcome of extensive search (initiated back in mid-2004) for a
Phase 1/2 oncology &/or inflammation drug
• Raised $30 million in Series C
– Richie Capital (a Hedge Fund) + all Series B funders
• Business Development: Initiated marketing for Hsp90
program
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2006: Execute the Plan & Partnering Decision Making
• Management Team Expanded
– Sol Lucas, VP clinical development (ex-GSK),
– Lex Smith, VP technical development (Fulcrum, ex-GSK)
• SNX-1012: Initiated Phase 2 Clinical Trial
• SNX-2112/5422 (Hsp90 Program):
– Continued Aggressive Business Development Effort
– Biogen Idec acquires Conforma (May 2006)
$150M upfront + $100M Milestone
– Infinity & MedImmune alliance (Aug 2006)
$70M upfront + $430M Milestones + Royalties
– Deals benchmark value of Hsp90 area
– Received two term sheets to partner the program
• Raising Series D funding….
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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Nov/Dec 2006 Issue
CONFIDENTIAL
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April 2007: SNX-5422 IND Filing with FDA
July 2007: Start First Clinical Trial
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2007: Grow Hsp90 Program, Partnering & Series D
• Industrial Espionage Case. Filed Law Suit against
Yunsheng Huang (ex-contract chemist) who stole and
funneled IP to a Chinese company
• Raised $31M ($26M Series D & $5M debt facility)
+ Cornell Capital Partners, Pearl Street Ventures
+ MC Life Science Ventures, Pac-Link Bio Venture Capital,
+ All previous investors
• Phase 2 trial of SNX-1012 Moving but Slowly
• Management Team Addition
– Judy Bryson, VP clinical development (ex-GSK)
• Hsp90 Program: Data beyond oncology, in inflammation
and CNS diseases builds “Product Pipeline in a Program”
• BizDev: Negotiating >5 strategic alliance term sheets &
an acquisition offer
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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2008: Close an M&A Deal
• Due Diligences Visits: Intensive preparation and filling
of the “e-Room” with all corporate/financial documents
• Dual Track Negotiations
– Strategic Partnership for oncology with several large pharmas
– Acquisition offer(s) (with spin-off of SNX-1012)
• Mar: Acquisition deal by Pfizer signed
$Multi-hundred Million cash deal (Upfront $ & milestones)
• Apr: Spun-off SNX-1012 into Coserics, LLC
• Sept: Programs transitioned to Pfizer sites
All employees moved on with severance
package + stock sale
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
Deal of Year Award
GROWTH Company
Of YEAR Award
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Business Model Evolution
Management Team Evolution
Internal
Drug
Discovery Discovery
Services
Product
In-Licensed Pipeline
Clinical
(2 Products
Product
in Clinic)
Tools/
Technology
Platform
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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Essential Ps
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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QUESTIONS?
© 2010 by A.Goyal All rights reserved.
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