Biocurious: ‘My finest hour and my biggest regret’ – biotech veterans reflect on two decades in the game

• Two dozen esteemed sector figures recently gathered over lunch to recount their career highs and lows
• One luminary recalls an uncomfortable close encounter with a drug cartel, while others overcame the impact of academic and corporate fraud
• One of them says: “most of the people I have met in biotech are absolutely brilliant, wonderful and supportive”

 

What happens when a cabal of biotech sector veterans gathers in the private room of Andrew McConnell’s Melbourne Asian fusion restaurant Supernormal, to reflect on two decades or more of career nadirs and zeniths?

The answer is: ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few.’

But tales of heart-rending disappointment were interspersed with the elation of clinical and commercial success – and the tangible effect of a new drug on patients’ lives.

A key lesson from the yarns is the path to success is never linear.

The journey has been punctuated by monumental trial failures, near punch-ups, corporate and academic fraud and getting too close to Colombian drug lords (and the late Alan Bond).

Some simply failed to realise a stand-out investment opportunity.

The co-organiser of the inaugural Biotech Veterans Chow Down – trademark pending – PR maven Rudi Michelson recalled buying Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) shares at $4.

“I reckon I held them for five years and sold them at $4,” he rued.

“They are now near $300.”

Your columnist scored an invite to the gig because – scarily – he is a certified sector veteran.

In the mid noughties he penned his first piece on a long-forgotten drug developer, which later preferred uranium exploration or mining coal in Alabama.

Here is his exclusive, fly-on-the wall account of the best-and-worst moments recounted by Australia’s biotech glitterati.

All accompanied by Supernormal’s famed lobster rolls and the best vino Victoria’s Heathcote region has to offer.

 

PROFESSOR ANDREW WILKS

The founder of the early-stage biotech investment fund Synthesis Bioventures, Professor Andrew Wilks has a long history in the sector, notably co-inventing the myelofibrosis drug Ojjaara.

The local Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved Ojjaara, in the hands of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in 2023.

(GSK bought the drug in 2022 for US$1.9 billion.)

Some of Wilks’ earlier drug development experiences were less auspicious.

“I once went to see a backer in Western Australia and got in a lift with a fellow called Alan Bond,” he said.

“I realised there and then I shouldn’t be there and that’s not how the company would start.”

Another effort led him to an obscure investment bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico (later famed as the backdrop for the fictional Breaking Bad series).

“It seemed they had the perfect solution at the time,” he said.

“But I wish we had Google or ChatGPT then, because I would have realised the principal had spent some time in a penitentiary for wire fraud.

“What’s more, his wife was the daughter of a Colombian drug lord.”

That same banker swiftly pulled out with the ominous threat: we know where you live.

“We literally had nothing. My wife calls it the baked bean years.”

Via involvement with another discredited character, Wilks found himself at a charity horse semen auction in Denver.

“A truly bizarre day at the office,” he said.

“I can’t go to Flemington without some strange memories flooding back.”

 

JENNI PILCHER  

Now the CEO of medicinal cannabis grower Cann Group (ASX:CAN), Jenni Pilcher was involved in the formative days of Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) as CFO.

Over the period the stem cell developer grew from a $170 million market cap company to $1.7 billion (and now more than $3.2 billion).

She then took on the CFO role at Alchemia, which was developing a metastatic colorectal cancer drug candidate, irinotecan.

“This was four months before the read-out of a phase III trial,” she said.

“I had a $30 million capital raise ready to go and the trial failed. I reckon the shares lost 90% of their value in 15 seconds.”

She was the “last person standing” to restructure the business.

Pilcher was instrumental in selling Alchemia’s generic anticoagulant version of fondaparinux to Dr Reddy’s for US$18 million.

Fast forward to Cann Group and the company last month won a lifeline with the National Australia Bank agreeing to a $55 million debt write off.

That’s no mean achievement.

“It gives Cann the chance to realise its potential,” she said.

“But another aspect of my biotech experience was bringing Jon to Australia and later convincing him he should leave generic drug maker Acrux (ASX:ACR) for Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX:NEU).“

She is referring to her husband, Jon Pilcher. Neuren has entered the ASX biotech Hall of Fame with US approval of its Rett syndrome drug, Trofinetide.

 

JON PILCHER  

Neuren’s success was driven partly by a US partnership with the Nasdaq-listed Acadia Pharmaceuticals, by which Acadia funded the trial cost and became responsible for selling Trofinetide.

But investors cold-shouldered the first Acadia deal.

“Back in 2018, Neuren had only eight staff and we had been flogging our guts out to get the original Acadia deal across the line,” Pilcher said.

After Neuren announced the deal, the share price plunged.

“That was a pretty tough time.”

Four years later, the reaction was very different when the company announced successful phase III results (and then an expanded global Acadia tie-up).

“I didn’t enjoy or celebrate the phase III results moment as much I should have, because it was a frantic scramble to prepare all the communication.”

The FDA went on to approve the drug in March 2023 and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

DR SHANE STOREY  

Biochemical engineer Dr Shane Storey became a biotech analyst 18 years ago, after realising his scientific expertise at making antibody fragments rendered him “unemployable in Australia”.

“I thought I would be more useful in raising capital for biotech innovators, rather than doing the innovations themselves,” Storey said.

Storey recently joined Canaccord’s biotech research team, having held a similar role at Wilsons for almost 18 years.

“The best examples are when you raise significant capital for an asset at the right time,” he said.

Two notable ones were funding Opthea’s (ASX:OPT) successful phase IIb trial in macular degeneration and backing the launch of Telix Pharmaceuticals’ (ASX:TLX) IPO.

“They were hard transactions, but we got them done,” he said.

“The worst is when you put the effort in, but it’s a competitive industry and you don’t always get the transactions you want.”

 

SCOTT POWER

A 30-year sector veteran and “failed accountant”, Morgans analyst Scott Power says his “most interesting” experience was raising significant funds for the artificial heart device play Ventracor, on a whirlwind 10-day global tour.

“I learned that a story often will sell itself,” he said.

However, Ventracor does not have a happy ending: the company entered voluntary administration in 2009, despite the device being implanted into hundreds of patients.

The firm got away the IPO of the aforementioned Alchemia, “investing a lot of time and effort”.

“I was convinced this was going to work and it just didn’t,” he said.

Another client, Avexa had a “fantastic” phase II readout for an HIV drug candidate, but ultimately the program did not “tick the boxes” commercially.

 

MICHAEL JOHNSON

Michael Johnson heads Rhinomed, where he created a nasal medical technology platform that commercialised into devices to assist breathing.

Rhinomed was ASX-listed but delisted in early 2024 and then privatised mid 2025 – and Johnson does not miss the compliance burden of a public listing one iota.

Earlier Johnson was involved in CogState (ASX:CGS) , which developed a concussion test that most major Australian sporting codes adopted.

He also helped Acrux to sign a pivotal deal with Big Pharma exponent Eli Lily.

Other forays weren’t so successful.

“I’ve seen great companies and some total train wrecks: everything from death threats to the fact they didn’t have any IP,” Johnson said.

He added: “Most of the people I have met in biotech are absolutely brilliant, wonderful and supportive.”

 

MARK DIAMOND  

Now the chairman of Dimerix (ASX:DXB), Mark Diamond holds the honour of being the longest-serving head of an ASX biotech.

He served 22 years at Antisense, now Percheron Therapeutics (ASX:PER).

“I’m looking forward to someone else taking over that mantle,” he said.

Diamond recalls the warm glow of success in his first full-scale blinded, placebo-controlled study.

“We should have celebrated it more enthusiastically, because after a long time in the saddle I release how rare those outcomes are.”

He quipped that such successes are as rare as premierships these days for his beloved AFL team, Carlton.

Surely the odds aren’t that bad, Mark?

 

MATT McNAMARA

Former molecular biologist Matt McNamara now is chief investment officer at the later-stage biotech investor, Horizon 3 Healthcare.

“We always thought of venture capitalists as nasty people, but once I knew what they did, I became one,” he told the crowd.

McNamara was an early backer of Avita Medical (ASX:AVH), which has taken its spray-on skin treatment globally.

But that was not before plenty of hairier earlier moments.

His worst experience was with another company that foundered, after it became evident that clinical data was being falsified by an academic.

“We funded a phase II trial to the tune of many millions of dollars, and the results flatlined.”

McNamara has been on the board of several listed (and unlisted) biotechs including Avita, Bioxyne (ASX:BXN), Adherium (ASX:ADR) and Avecho (ASX:AVE).

 

DR JAMES CAMPBELL  

James Campbell is the chair of cancer drug developer Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) and the chair of industry body Ausbiotech.

Previously, Campbell was chief operating officer at Chemgenex Pharmaceuticals, which successfully developed the leukemia drug Omapro.

(Chemgenex was acquired by Cephalon of the US for $230 million in 2011.)

But Campbell’s favourite memory is not his involvement in what remains one of the biggest acquisitions of an ASX biotech company.

Rather, it was feedback from one of the patients from the successful phase II trial.

“The patient said that a year ago their doctor had given them three months to live,” Campbell said.

“The letter continued that since taking Omapro in the Chemgenex clinical trial, they had been doing well.

“This gave them time to see one of their daughters graduate, another daughter get married, and a third have the patient’s first grandchild.”

He added: “I’m not sure there are many jobs in the world where the results of your efforts are so uplifting.”

 

DR PETER MOLLOY   

Peter Molloy is the current CEO of Firebrick Pharma (ASX:FRE), which has developed the antimicrobial nasal spray Nasodine.

Previously he was CEO of flu drug developer Biota. His vast experience spans anything from oncology to attempting to create a blue rose using genetic engineering.

Molloy’s first ASX IPO experience was co-founding cancer drug developer Race Oncology (ASX:RAC).

“We had to pinch ourselves that we got listed and we finally had a real company,” he said.

“My worst experience was selling stock options under $1 when six months later they were $4 a share.”

Firebrick was Molloy’s second IPO.

Firebrick’s Nasodine is a nasal antiseptic that is available in some countries without approval (including Singapore).

But in Australia, Firebrick has struggled to win TGA backing.

“Unfortunately, we filed in 2020 at the height of Covid,” he says.

“Surprisingly, it seemed that the last thing the TGA wanted to see was a nasal spray that killed viruses.

“That’s because because they thought it would lead to vaccine hesitancy.”

Molloy says the best thing about going to work every day is knowing the company is now selling a life-changing product globally.

 

DR JULIAN CHICK  

A director of the ASX listed ReNerve (ASX:RNV) and LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP), Julian Chick likens early-stage biotech to a first date: “full of excitement and lots of regrets”.

He has seen both during a long sector involvement in companies. This includes being the CEO of HIV drug developer Avexa and chief operating officer of Admedus.

It was during this period that Chick witnessed one child die because of a third-party medical failing.

“Because of the Admedus treatment, one lady who was unable to have kids was able to do so after a heart reconstruction with the company’s tech,” he said.

“But the memory of that nine-year-old boy does stick to me like glue.”

 

HARRY ROSEN  

Harry Rosen recalled that on July 4, 1985, he was working as suburban solicitor, acting for clients of varying pedigree.

“On July 5, I was no longer doing that.”

What changed his career trajectory was co-founding Betatene, which produces natural beta carotene from algae.

Betatene shares bounded from $1 to $2 on listing day – which Rosen  thought that was a pretty neat outcome.

“But a couple of weeks later I ran into an acquaintance on Collins Street who said ‘you are stupid, you really undersold that company’.”

Sure enough, an acquirer snaffled the company for $100 million. German giant BASF now owns it.

That was enough to spur him to found drug delivery company Phosphagenics (now Avecho) and co-found WRS Therapeutics Pty Ltd (a biotechnology company delivering oral biologics orally).

Rosen chaired the listed Phosphagenics at the time a fraud committed by its then CEO Esra Ogru and other parties hobbled the company.

“It was not the most pleasant time in my life,” he said.

“At one meeting a person in the room couldn’t stop crying. It was pretty daunting.”

Rosen said he learned much from the failure, including the need to take responsibility as chairman even though the blame may lie elsewhere.

At WRS Therapeutics, Rosen these days is working on three early-stage projects – at least two of which he expects to succeed.

 At Stockhead, we tell it as it is. While Dimerix, Race Oncology, Renerve and LTR Pharma are Stockhead advertisers, the companies did not sponsor this story.