If BiologicsMD's drug builds bones as sturdy as its management team, osteoporosis sufferers will be grateful. Misty Stevens, COO, says she and Robyn Goforth, chief scientific officer, searched hard to find the best fellow students to round out their group, which includes a West Point graduate as president and a CMO who's a national account manager at Colgate-Palmolive by day.
Last fall Goforth, a Ph.D. chemist who's earning a graduate certificate in entrepreneurship, came across information about an invention the University of Arkansas sought to commercialize: a drug that would bind to the bones of osteoporosis sufferers, stimulating the growth of new, high-quality bone. "I said to myself, `Holy crap!' " says Goforth.
After she shared it with Stevens, a biology Ph.D. earning her MBA, they visited one of the inventors. Their goal: to raise $5.3 million for Phase I trials, then sell or sublicense it to Big Pharma. "This is a complex product, and it takes a complex team," says Stevens.
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