Sam Waksal, the founder of ImClone Systems who fell from grace before the company became $6.5 billion takeover property for Eli Lilly, is back in the biotech world, trying to raise $50 million for a start-up, according to TheStreet.com.
Waksal (pictured at right in 2003) has an up-and-down bio highlighted by getting Imclone’s cancer drug Erbitux on the road to market. His lowlight came with a guilty plea to insider-trading charges for selling ImClone shares knowing FDA was going to issue a negative report on the drug before the agency’s eventual approval of it. Lifestyle diva Martha Stewart also avoided losses by selling ImClone shares, leading to her conviction on obstruction of justice charges.
Now Waksal wants to buy, develop or license new drugs aimed at cancer or infectious diseases, according to a prospectus being circulated to potential investors, according to TheStreet. It says $50 million would buy a 50% stake in the venture, which is called Kadmon.
Kadmon spells out its plans this say, TheStreet says:
We intend to replace the traditional, quantitative development paradigm of the pharmaceutical industry with a model that seeks out the most innovative elements of academia, and innovative activities in the private sector, dramatically increasing the number of high-value drugs we discover and develop, while keeping costs to a fraction of the industry mean.
Meanwhile, Lilly and Bristol Myers, which co-markets the drug, are trying to get it approved for an expanded list of uses. Erbitux produced 2009 revenue of $390.8 million of Erbitux, Lilly says.
Photo: Bloomberg News