Three seasoned lifescience entrepreneurs joined together in a special panel presentation at Yale's Anlyan Center November 13 to discuss the unexpected challenges that inevitably develop for start-up life science companies. The presentation was part of the CURE/Yale BioHaven series of entrepreneurship seminars.

Moderated by Paul Pescatello, president and CEO of CURE, the panel included Michael D. Kishbauch, president and CEO of Achllion Pharmaceuticals, Ronald W. Lennox, founding partner of the venture capital firm CHL Medical Partners, and Tom Wood, partner in Elm Street Ventures and founding CEO of Applied Spine Technologies.

Presented by CURE and the Yale Office of Cooperative Research, the popular series is sponsored by Wiggin and Dana, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Elm Street Ventures, with additional support from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and the Yale Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Society.

Michael Kishbauch recalled his first day of work after he had made the decision to leave a large pharma company to become CEO of a start-up biotech. By lunchtime he learned that his new company's product had failed to win support from an FDA advisory panel and by the end of the day two class action lawsuits had been filed against the company. Fortunately, Kishbauch said, the company had other products in its pipeline on which it could and did rebuild.

Ronald Lennox agreed that, as an investor, he didn't like "single-product plays" as well as he likes technology platforms. He cautioned that biotechs are not inherently more efficient than pharmas. But the biotechs do present a different culture, one where you "lick your own stamps" and need to be prepared to manage change everyday.

Tom Wood said that the device business and the drug business faced similar issues. He stressed the importance of building bridges to regulatory authorities rather than adopting an adversarial attitude. "Put on an educational seminar for them and buy them pizza," he suggested.

Prior to leading Achillion through its initial public offering in 2006, Kishbauch founded OraPharma, Inc., an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on oral health. In less than seven years, he and his team completed clinical development and launched OraPharma's lead product, successfully took the Company public, and ultimately sold the Company to Johnson & Johnson in February 2003.

Lennox has served on the boards of seventeen companies. He was founding CEO of Protometrix, Inc. and of CGI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of OpGen, Inc. and on the boards of BIKAM Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and BioRelix, Inc.

Wood has spent nearly 30 years in the medical device business. Prior to founding Applied Spine he founded Insulet Corp. in 2000 to develop a disposable, programmable insulin delivery pump to treat diabetes. The Company completed a successful IPO in 2007. Tom started his medical device career with US Surgical Corp., holding a variety of senior positions from 1981 until 1998.