Making Your Own Luck
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Amgen's now shuttered Boulder R&D operation--which it had created from its 1994 acquisition of Synergen--was supposed to be joint ventured. No other companies wanted in and now the former head of the Boulder group is trying to create a new discovery services company, Source Biopharmaceuticals, from some Amgen R&D projects and a core of former Amgen-Boulder scientists. But Amgen hasn't made up its mind on whether it wants to let the projects go--and it will be tough to get VCs or corporate partners to sign up without the licenses. Meanwhile, another group of former Amgen scientists, this time chemists, have decided to create their own discovery services company, entirely without Amgen technology, raising $7mm to do so.