Thursday, November 21, 2013 2:17:20 PM
Therefore the QB /3 invites Amaranthus into their fold so as to keep an eye on progress without a Financial commitment but duly prepared to get the first jump!
Dr. Regis B. Kelly is the Director of one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, created by the California Legislature to strengthen the academic foundation of its technology-based industries. QB3 is the only one of the four devoted exclusively to biology and to the life science industries. It is an innovation center made up of over 200 quantitative biologists at three northern California campuses (UCB, UCSC & UCSF) working at the interface of the physical and biological sciences and a team of professionals converting its discoveries into practical benefits for society.
http://profiles.ucsf.edu/regis.kelly
STEVE USDIN: Reg Kelly directs the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences. QB3 was created to knit together work being conducted at over 200 University of California labs in Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. It's focused on commercializing academic research, creating a business incubator, and launching a venture capital fund.
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STEVE USDIN: Reg, I wanted to ask you about the venture capital firm that QB3 has started. What's its purpose? Most people think of a venture capital firm is to try to invest in something and get outsized returns for their investors. Is that what you're venture capital firm's aiming at?
REGIS KELLY: No, we started this-- there are plenty of venture firms out in Sand Hill Road in San Francisco. They don't need another venture firm. What we wanted to do is to come in down in the weeds-- to go in to invest in very small amounts, early seed funding, in companies that were so small that big venture companies were not interested in. So we were coming at this very market, so we invest at about the half million level.
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REGIS KELLY: Yes, we have co-investors. I'd say several of the big pharma companies want to co-invest in us, because they are trying to get in very early into the markets. And we've done due diligence and derisked the companies, so they co-invest.
STEVE USDIN: So that's interesting. So you're kind of-- in a way, you're proving the concept or you're getting kind of a stamp of authenticity for these companies by investing in them.
REGIS KELLY: Exactly.
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REGIS KELLY: Well, let me just say why am I involved in doing this. I came out of retirement to do this. I really believe that if we want to take advantage of all this government investment, this is really the constriction point. This is actually what's slowing down the development of drugs.
And let me give you a personal story on this. My wife has Alzheimer's. She was a brilliant scientist. Also, she worked for Stanford Research Institute. She got Alzheimer's five years ago.
Because I'm connected to the pharmaceutical industry, I'm able to go around and see where is there some really great new drugs that are going to cure Alzheimer's. I can say there's nothing that's very impressive in the pipeline.
So what is going to happen here? People are saying there's problems in the pharmaceutical industry. Oh, what a problem that is. But for those of us who are watching people with Alzheimer's fall apart every day, this isn't about the money. This is about we've got to make the system work better. And it's not working well right now.
http://www.biocentury.com/Archives/bctvthisweek/2013-01-27
Regis B. Kelly is a neuroscientist and university administrator who develops academia-industry partnerships and supports early-stage entrepreneurship in the life sciences.[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_B._Kelly
This is where we are at!
