Theragenetics – great science needs great entrepreneurs

World-class science doesn’t help anyone unless it gets out of the lab. That’s where GEP’s special entrepreneurial skill, expertise and insight really make the difference.

TheraGenetics is about personalised medicine diagnostics – a spin-off from 15 years of work in the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London.

The company started in 2006, with King’s College linking up with the IP Group (UK), who specialise in commercialising intellectual property from research-intensive institutions.

The entrepreneurial gap

So TheraGenetics had the science. But they didn’t have the entrepreneurial drive and expertise to convert it into a world-class company.

So TobyWilson Waterworth, GEP dealmaker, linked them into GEP’s Mentoring Programme, a bank of extremely experienced and globally-minded healthcare entrepreneurs and senior executives from international healthcare companies.

The Mentoring Programme is readymade to help growing companies make their mark on the world scene.

The challenge for clinicians

Until now, when someone has a disorder of the central nervous system, identifying the right drugs has been trial and error. Start the patient on a drug and see whether it works… and keep going until you find the right one. It can be a long and expensive process, so it’s a problem that has always needed solving.

TheraGenetics solved it. Their innovatory diagnostic genome-types cut out the hit-and-miss have immense commercial and social benefits. As Toby puts it, “It can save months and months of lost time and an awful lot of wasted drugs.”

Filling the gap

Robert Forrester and Rich Kivel are both GEP mentors. When Toby introduced them to the company they saw the potential straightaway, and wanted to be part of it.

Robert is a former Wall Street financier, CFO of the NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company, CombinatoRX. And now he’s a valuable TheraGenetics board member. Rich is the serial US healthcare entrepreneur. He’s involved with MIT – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – and has a 20 year track record leading high tech and biotech companies, especially in diagnostics.

He is, to quote Toby Wilson Waterworth, “… a guy who goes after opportunities.” And he’s now Theragenetics’ first CEO.

World-class science – and investment opportunities

Working with GEP’s network of investor contacts Rich is now successfully raising the finance the company needs to finish developing the technology and get it to global markets. He already has some UK-based funding, but he’s looking globally for exactly the right investors.

He knows its world-class science, and he’s just as convinced that it offers world-class investment opportunities. He’s also convinced that Toby’s networks and his role as a catalyst has been – and is set to remain – one of TheraGenetics’ great strengths.