The WallStreet Transcript, February 20, 2001
TWST: Could we begin with a brief overview of the company [SuperGen], including the history?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Yes, in order to talk about the history, I will begin with a brief summary of my history a little bit in order to put the company into perspective. I was instrumental in starting the Bristol-Myers oncology business back in the early Seventies. All the drugs at Bristol-Myers that time were in-licensed, and I was responsible for in-licensing all the original oncology drugs. I left Bristol-Myers and became one of the co-founders of Amgen. I was the first executive at the vice presidential level to move from the pharmaceutical industry into the biotech industry. The reason I went to Amgen is because I knew how to develop drugs. One of the problems with the early days of biotech is that nobody really new what a drug was. They were all mostly academic people who founded the biotech industry. I was successful in Amgen because I knew how to identify and in-license promising drugs. The reason I emphasize in-licensing is because that is one of the major cornerstones of our company. After I left Amgen I retired for a while, but I found that retirement was not to my liking. So I came out of retirement and founded SuperGen. I called it SuperGen because I wanted it to be a super Amgen. It was really founded on the idea of being a real company. In other words, most of the 2000 biotech companies in 1990 when I founded SuperGen were unprofitable. There may have been only three or four profitable ones. And still to this day maybe there are only a handful. Mostly, these companies were founded on technology, hoping to find products rather than the other way around. So I founded SuperGen with the idea that it would be a real company. A real company, a company that would have products. I would have late-stage products, and they ultimately would be profitable. And so that briefly brings us to how I founded the SuperGen.
…
TWST: Could you give an insight into the management team their experience and history?
Dr. Rubinfeld: We have a superb management team now. When we started the company, we had four people. When we went public five years ago in 1996 we had 15 people. Now we have 100 people and growing dramatically. We have 11 vice presidents who cover all the major areas. We have three Vice Presidents alone in the marketing area, marketing, sales and national accounts. Because a lot of what we do involves the government, PPOs and HMOs et cetera. You need to have very good people who are conversant in these areas. Most of our people go back to the genesis, the beginning of oncology. They go back 25 years. Their experience includes companies such as Adria, Bristol-Myers, and Pharmacia UpJohn all major players in oncology. We have in-house capabilities in research, clinical and regulatory affairs, and manufacturing. So we have a very experienced team. Our team has done something between 100 and 150 ANDAs and NDAs collectively. So we know drugs. I have been in the business 50 years so we really come from drug background. I think that is one of the big advantages that we have. We do possess the single most concentrated group of oncology experience industry professionals in the world.
…
TWST: Beyond research and development, would there be anything in line as far as partnerships or acquisitions?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Well my idea really was to be somewhat independent. We do have a deal with Abbott and it was a very big deal. And they got, as I said, co-marketing rights to Rubitecan in the US. Overseas they have marketing rights exclusively to Rubitecan. They do have a right of first look at any of the products in our pipeline. They can step up to the plate at any time. While I am not looking for other alliances it is a possibility. We have our own marketing force, and I would like to build this company independently of Abbott. I look at models like Immunex that is independent of American Home Products and Chiron, which is independent of Novartis, even though these larger companies do own a substantial piece of the smaller ones. And that is what I am looking for is to be an independent company and be the worlds leader on oncology.
TWST: Do you foresee any specific challenges and obstacles presenting themselves?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Well the greatest challenge was actually not to overgrow and to become too diffused in what we are doing. In other words, I want to concentrate on the product line that we have now and the products in the pipeline to bring them to fruition. And toward that end, we also have strategies of spinouts and things of that sort. If we cannot really give the full advantage to some of these products to reach full potential, maybe then we would out- license them or spin them out into another company or division that could concentrate on them. We have this huge pipeline. We have a lot of products out there. We have probably the most patients in clinical trials in oncology in the United States so this is an enormous challenge. http://www.twst.com/interview/8279
TWST: Could we begin with a brief overview of the company [SuperGen], including the history?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Yes, in order to talk about the history, I will begin with a brief summary of my history a little bit in order to put the company into perspective. I was instrumental in starting the Bristol-Myers oncology business back in the early Seventies. All the drugs at Bristol-Myers that time were in-licensed, and I was responsible for in-licensing all the original oncology drugs. I left Bristol-Myers and became one of the co-founders of Amgen. I was the first executive at the vice presidential level to move from the pharmaceutical industry into the biotech industry. The reason I went to Amgen is because I knew how to develop drugs. One of the problems with the early days of biotech is that nobody really new what a drug was. They were all mostly academic people who founded the biotech industry. I was successful in Amgen because I knew how to identify and in-license promising drugs. The reason I emphasize in-licensing is because that is one of the major cornerstones of our company. After I left Amgen I retired for a while, but I found that retirement was not to my liking. So I came out of retirement and founded SuperGen. I called it SuperGen because I wanted it to be a super Amgen. It was really founded on the idea of being a real company. In other words, most of the 2000 biotech companies in 1990 when I founded SuperGen were unprofitable. There may have been only three or four profitable ones. And still to this day maybe there are only a handful. Mostly, these companies were founded on technology, hoping to find products rather than the other way around. So I founded SuperGen with the idea that it would be a real company. A real company, a company that would have products. I would have late-stage products, and they ultimately would be profitable. And so that briefly brings us to how I founded the SuperGen.
…
TWST: Could you give an insight into the management team their experience and history?
Dr. Rubinfeld: We have a superb management team now. When we started the company, we had four people. When we went public five years ago in 1996 we had 15 people. Now we have 100 people and growing dramatically. We have 11 vice presidents who cover all the major areas. We have three Vice Presidents alone in the marketing area, marketing, sales and national accounts. Because a lot of what we do involves the government, PPOs and HMOs et cetera. You need to have very good people who are conversant in these areas. Most of our people go back to the genesis, the beginning of oncology. They go back 25 years. Their experience includes companies such as Adria, Bristol-Myers, and Pharmacia UpJohn all major players in oncology. We have in-house capabilities in research, clinical and regulatory affairs, and manufacturing. So we have a very experienced team. Our team has done something between 100 and 150 ANDAs and NDAs collectively. So we know drugs. I have been in the business 50 years so we really come from drug background. I think that is one of the big advantages that we have. We do possess the single most concentrated group of oncology experience industry professionals in the world.
…
TWST: Beyond research and development, would there be anything in line as far as partnerships or acquisitions?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Well my idea really was to be somewhat independent. We do have a deal with Abbott and it was a very big deal. And they got, as I said, co-marketing rights to Rubitecan in the US. Overseas they have marketing rights exclusively to Rubitecan. They do have a right of first look at any of the products in our pipeline. They can step up to the plate at any time. While I am not looking for other alliances it is a possibility. We have our own marketing force, and I would like to build this company independently of Abbott. I look at models like Immunex that is independent of American Home Products and Chiron, which is independent of Novartis, even though these larger companies do own a substantial piece of the smaller ones. And that is what I am looking for is to be an independent company and be the worlds leader on oncology.
TWST: Do you foresee any specific challenges and obstacles presenting themselves?
Dr. Rubinfeld: Well the greatest challenge was actually not to overgrow and to become too diffused in what we are doing. In other words, I want to concentrate on the product line that we have now and the products in the pipeline to bring them to fruition. And toward that end, we also have strategies of spinouts and things of that sort. If we cannot really give the full advantage to some of these products to reach full potential, maybe then we would out- license them or spin them out into another company or division that could concentrate on them. We have this huge pipeline. We have a lot of products out there. We have probably the most patients in clinical trials in oncology in the United States so this is an enormous challenge. http://www.twst.com/interview/8279
