The journey from intriguing laboratory discovery at the University of Chicago to business plan, initial financing and raising biotechnology venture capital will be the topic of an upcoming workshop featuring John Alverdy, Vice Chairman, Department of Surgery, at the University of Chicago, and Rifat Pamukcu, president and CEO of Midway Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The event will take place from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11 at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business' Charles M. Harper Center, Suite 219, 5807 S. Woodlawn Ave. Advanced registration for the program is required.
The event is the second in a new series on innovation hosted by the University of Chicago's Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth and the Office of Technology and Intellectual Property (UChicagoTech) and sponsored by Arch Venture Partners.
Midway Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2005 with the support of UChicagoTech. The company develops non-antibiotic therapies for hospital-acquired infections and for a range of gastrointestinal conditions that include Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome. The therapies are based on a proprietary compound that Alverdy and colleagues at the University of Chicago discovered. Midway Pharmaceuticals is a past winner of the New Venture Challenge at Chicago Booth.
Pamukcu completed his gastroenterology fellowship in the laboratory of Gene Chang, a co-inventor and co-founder of Midway, at the University. Pamukcu was also a co-founder and former chief scientific officer of Cell Pathways, formed while he was a fellow at the University, and subsequently successfully sold to OSI Pharmaceuticals.
The ARCH Venture Partners Innovation Workshop Series features guest speakers with expertise and special knowledge in topics specific to commercializing innovation, including best practices, discovering applications and identifying market potential, building a team and network for advancing innovation, and determining funding option.
The first program in the series featured Steve Lazarus, co-founder and managing director of ARCH Venture Partners, who talked about how discovery matters. Maryellen Giger, Professor in Radiology and Committee on Medical Physics, also shared her personal involvement in the founding of R2 Technologies.
—Prof. Chuan He
