To apply their protein research to the pharmaceutical pipeline, two UW bioengineers are learning the language of business — with the help of philanthropy.
“The average cost of developing a new drug is 2.6 billion dollars,” says David Younger, who recently received his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Washington. “But it’s not necessarily that it costs that much to develop one compound. It’s that nine out of 10 compounds that enter clinical trials fail.”
When it comes to drugs that target and disrupt specific protein interactions to fight maladies such as autoimmune diseases and cancer, screening candidates can be especially challenging. These drugs show great promise in their effectiveness — but there’s a catch.
“If you design a drug to disrupt a particular protein interaction, it’s likely that it’s also going to disrupt others,” says Younger. These unplanned, or “off-target,” interactions are very difficult to predict — and potentially lethal. In addition, they can typically be tested only one at a time using established screening techniques.
With these problems in mind, Younger invited his colleague Bob Lamm, a current Ph.D. student in bioengineering at the UW, to join him in starting a business focused on improving drug-testing efficiency.
Rooted in Younger’s thesis work on agglutination (put simply, yeast reproduction), their business, A-Alpha Bio, is developing a platform that uses genetically engineered yeast to help scientists test hundreds of drug candidates against thousands of potential targets.
To grow more yeast for testing, Younger and Lamm select yeast from an existing colony and add it to fresh streak plates, which are then stacked for later use.
By programming yeast cells to adorn their surfaces with human proteins and adding different drugs into the mix, Younger and Lamm can see which proteins and drugs interact — and how strongly. “Basically, we can screen thousands of protein interactions in a single test tube,” Younger explains.
But venturing into the world of business came with very different challenges than the ones presented by engineering microorganisms roughly 1/200 of a millimeter in diameter. “It’s like learning a completely new language,” says Younger.
Neither Lamm (left) nor Younger had any business training before they launched A-Alpha Bio. But, Lamm says, “With a technology I believed in and a partner I believed in, it was a no-hesitation decision.”
From concept to pipeline
When their team entered A-Alpha Bio in the Business Plan Competition hosted by the Foster School of Business’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Younger and Lamm took advantage of the many resources made available to help them navigate the business world. Through the Buerk Center, they connected with local attorneys, entrepreneurs and investors who helped coach the A-Alpha Bio team as they built out their business plan, presentation and pitch for the competition.
“It’s a lot of work,” says Younger. “You put a pitch together and show it to people, and they say, ‘Nope, that’s a science pitch. Start over.’”
“Each step through the Business Plan Competition was accompanied by workshops and panels that opened our eyes to more and more we didn’t know,” says Lamm. “From there, we’ve been keeping in contact with individuals from the panels, workshops, office hours with entrepreneurs, mentors through CoMotion [the UW’s innovation hub] — and, of course, we’ve been doing extensive internet searches.”
After months of shaping the strategic framework for A-Alpha Bio with an executive summary, a showcase with mock investors, a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation and a 15-page business plan, Younger and Lamm saw their hard work pay off: They advanced to the semifinal round of the competition and, although they didn’t win, they were awarded the Perkins Coie Best Innovation/Technology Idea Prize.
They also applied for and received a grant from the CoMotion Innovation Fund, a partnership between CoMotion and the Washington Research Foundation that helps applied research advance from the lab to the marketplace.
Younger and Lamm share a smile after receiving the Best Innovation/Technology Idea Prize at the Business Plan Competition awards ceremony.
Innovation powered by philanthropy
Both prizes are helping turn Younger and Lamm’s business dream into reality. Through CoMotion, Younger also received a fellowship that has enabled him to stay at the UW for a postdoctoral year as he works with Lamm to continue sharpening their product.
In the long term, they see potential for their technology to become the most cost- and time-effective method of screening drug interactions, in turn helping pharmaceutical companies make their products safer and cheaper. And the philanthropic support they’ve received is driving their innovative work while they prepare their business for the market.
“The prizes that A-Alpha Bio has received have been extremely helpful in pushing this endeavor toward something that people in the industry are getting excited about,” says Lamm.
“The culmination of the support we’ve received has made it possible to start a company. I have no idea how I would have gone about it otherwise,” adds Younger. “I’ve been so impressed at the level of support provided by the University and donors for entrepreneurial endeavors. The community at the University and in Seattle has been incredible.”