Immunex founder lectures on starting business

Kayla Webley
2004-01-30
The Daily

Local business people gathered last night at the Boeing Auditorium to find out how to get a multi-billion dollar business off the ground.

Steve Gillis, co-founder of Immunex and Alan Frazier, executive Vice President of Finance for the company, gave what is the first in the University of Washington Business School's High Tech Speaker series.

The lecture titled, "Origins of Immunex" gave an in-depth view of what these men endured to get to the top of the bio-tech industry. The lecture was part of Career Discovery Week.

His company, Immunex, centered their research on the immune system and finding hormones that could work to improve symptoms in patients suffering from various conditions, including arthritis.

Gillis, described by Frazier as the number one man in the company, started formulating ideas for the company while working as a researcher as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

That research sparked contact from many pharmaceutical companies interested in capitalizing on his findings. The "hard money" promised to him by these companies prompted Gillis to consider founding his own company to further develop his ideas.

Through the encouragement of peers and the assembling of what Frazier titles an unlikely cast of characters, Immunex was born.

When confronted with his reason for taking such a big risk in leaving Fred Hutch and starting the company Gillis replies that it was all due to the "life is too short mentality."

Immunex was a long time in the making and according to Frazier. They invested roughly 300 million dollars in the product before ever seeing a return.

But once their product, Enbrel, got through the test phase and into the hands of patients, it skyrocketed, which, according to Frazier, was due to the patients' reaction to the drug.

The drug was engineered to treat patients suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis and was popular because patients could see improvements as early as the first week.

Gillis warned listeners of the dangers of starting up such a venture.

"It's risky business," said Gillis, "You can't do this overnight."

The company was a long time in the making and according to Gillis. He has never seen a company start out and take off in less than four years.

"If you are interested in a job with low risk and high security," said Gillis, "This isn't it."