"I believe that it's a great opportunity for Israel to pick up the gauntlet and create a good environment for personalized medicine. Israel has the potential to become a global leader in the field," Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) partner Sue Siegel told "Globes".
Personalized medicine, the buzzword among pharmaceutical entrepreneurs for years, is moving from theory to practice. It is considered medicine's future. Even if the vision has not yet been fully materialized, the first applications are slowly emerging.
Siegel is one of the key figures in the field of personalized medicine. She was president and director of Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX), a pioneer in genomics-based personalized medicine, and was president of Hoefer-Pharmacia Biotech Inc. She was also involved in commercializing key biomedical technologies at EI Du Pont de Nemours & Co (NYSE: DD), Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK), and Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: BIO).
Siegel said, "At Affymetrix, I was exposed to the world of personalized medicine and fell in love. Four years ago, I joined MDV in order to develop the field."
"Globes": Will MDV invest in Israeli companies?
Siegel: "MDV does not invest in companies outside the US, but I'm in contact with Israeli entrepreneurs and companies in the field in Israel. We're trying to understand how to do business in this field in Israel, because we see it as a developing market that can become friendly. We met quite a few scientists making good progress in their research, and there's definitely momentum. The question is how to get to the commercial stage and bridge the great physical divide."
Why does Israel have more potential in personalized medicine?
"Because of the great number of scientists, the ability to quickly bring products to market, and a slew of other factors, which if properly exploited, can benefit the country."
We're talking about a field that's still half science fiction.
"Yes and no. It's true that there are not yet personalized medicines in the pharmacy, but there are quite a few venture capital-backed companies that are developing interesting molecular-based diagnostic products.
"For example, one of our portfolio companies, CardioDX Inc., is offering a genome test for heart patients which enables doctors to distinguish, on the basis of a blood test, whether there is a need for surgery or not. We believe that the first drug to reach market will come from the field of molecular discovery."
What about exits?
"GE Healthcare has made an offer for CardioDX because GE, which develops imaging products, knows that the world is changing, and that in the future it will be possible to diagnose not only by devices that emit radiation, but by simple blood tests."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2010
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