Pharma giant Eli Lilly’s acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a five year-old Philadelphia company focused on novel molecular imaging to detect early stages of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, was a testament to the well-documented fortitude and brilliance of Avid founder and CEO Dan Skovronsky, the former scientific director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. It was a strong desire to see his molecular imaging technology made widely available that pushed him out of academia and onto an entrepreneurial path.
Less than a month since the acquisition, reportedly worth up to $800 million ($300 million up front), it’s also worth examining how Avid got so far in a relatively short amount of time. The exercise centers around BioAdvance, one of the nation’s leading pre-seed and seed-stage investors in life sciences companies.
Focused on Southeastern PA and with $19 million in investments since it started making them in 2003, BioAdvance was part of Avid’s first institutional round of funding–and the only local entity at the time. But that didn’t happen until Avid underwent BioAdvance’s rigorous application process, which includes a star-studded team of reviewers that performs “initial triage,” and another deeper technical and commercial review from experts taken from a national database and with specific acumen in the applicants’ space. If the company passes those tests, they get called to the final table for extensive feedback and direction, which can then, finally, lead to investment.
“I think from the moment BioAdvance met with Dan, we knew he had that spark and that he had the focus and drive, strong science, and unmet need to make this a successful company,” says BioAdvance Director of Marketing and Communications Ellen Semple. “He was really willing to learn and surrounded himself with all the right people.”
BioAdvance made an initial seed funding of $500,000, the only local investment as part of an initial financing round of $8.9 million in 2005 (the round included Lilly’s venture arm), and housed Avid for about six months, helping Skovronsky network and make important connections that he quickly leveraged to build a successful growing company.
“This is a region so ripe with resources and one of the things we’ve done is draw attention to them through the Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Guide,” Semple says. “This is a database of resources for life sciences businesses and entrepreneurs that we led with Select Greater Philadelphia and the University City Keystone Innovation Zone a few years ago.”
But, as Semple notes, “it takes a village to raise a company.” Avid soon moved into the hallowed halls of the University City Science Center in Philadelphia (BioAdvance is now housed there, too, as well as an office outside the city in Radnor). From there, things really took off. In 2007, Safeguard Scientifics, whose VP of Life Sciences Gary Kurtzman worked at BioAdvance during Avid’s stay there, led a $26 million Series C financing round. In 2009, Avid attracted $34 million in financing–Safeguard invested more than $12 million in the company through the years. As Skovronsky began raking in awards and national media attention, it became obvious that a star had been born.
Then came this month’s acquisition by Eli Lilly, which will pay out an adition $500 million based on regulatory and commercial milestones for florbetapir, a molecular imaging agent under investigation for detection for amyloid plaque (a defining pathology of Alzheimer’s) in the brain and recently submitted to the FDA for marketing approval. It marks the seventh exit of a BioAdvance portfolio company and second of the year. Earlier this year, Conshohocken-based NuPathe filed an initial public offering for more than $80 million.
That’s another success story for BioAdvance, which has seen its 42 portfolio companies raise $1.4 billion through mergers and acquisitions and subsequent capital.
“It’s been a big year for us. We’re always looking for companies to make strong exits and we look forward to our next graduates,” says Semple. “It’s just an exciting ride.”
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.
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Photo:
Ellen Semple
Courtesy of BioAdvance