April 2009
Entrepreneurial Corner
Wharton MBA alumna Anne-Marie Corner found start up success in one of the most challenging of fields: HIV prevention for women
For Anne-Marie Corner, one of the few women to found and serve as CEO of a biotech company, it is a bit ironic that entrepreneurship was not part of her original plans. Trained as a biochemist before pursuing her MBA at Wharton, she was interested in the biotech industry, but she saw herself working after graduation at a large pharmaceutical company.
However, Corner discovered her inner entrepreneurial spirit during what she fondly refers to as her "windsurfing internship." She recalls, "During my first year at Wharton, I was really struggling with what to do that summer. A lot of my friends were going to Wall Street or into consulting positions and I didn't want that. I had [offers], but none of them kept me close to those who were important to me and I wanted to spend more time with my husband."
So when an opportunity came for Corner and her husband to spend the summer on Cape Cod, she joined him and spent most of her time windsurfing. "My husband was writing a paper and I needed time to think about life and decide what I wanted to do. When I went back to Wharton, I knew I wanted to channel that spirit into entrepreneurship," she says.
During her second year, Corner worked on building a business, Biosyn Inc., with a Penn professor she had met during her time as a research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry at Penn's School of Dental Medicine. "I was still working at the lab at Penn one day a week while I was earning my MBA and it was a great connection. The technology we founded the company on was licensed from Penn," she says.
The technology focused on preventing the transmission of HIV by interfering with the mechanism by which HIV is sexually transmitted. The initial product was a gel that could be used by women much in the same way that contraceptive gel is used.
Corner was particularly interested in women's healthcare based on what was happening in the late 1980s with the AIDS and HIV epidemic. It was apparent that women would be greatly affected, yet an article in a women's magazine titled, "Why Women Don't Get AIDS," shocked her as well as many people in the scientific community. "That was part of the impetus for me to go into HIV research and do something that made a difference," she says.
In the beginning, Corner says that the biggest challenge for Biosyn was money. "It was very hard to raise seed capital. Looking back, I was maybe 28 years-old and had no experience in an entrepreneurial venture. I often joke that if I was a VC at that time, I wouldn't have invested in me."
She notes that she has since learned that the most important factor when investing in ventures is the team. "You can get by with less than fantastic technology, but you have to have really good people," she says. "We were sort of young and naïve, but it worked out because within a few years we really knew what we were doing and Wharton gave me a great foundation for building on that."
Biosyn's initial funding came from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which seeds technology ventures in Pennsylvania. After that, "we did small private placements and those got larger," she says. "The first big round we did was with investors and bankers in Switzerland and that was about a $6-million round."
Corner, who is Welsh, recalls that the distance to Switzerland turned out to be quite a challenge with both a newborn and 2-year-old at home in Philadelphia. "I could fly via Boston over to Zurich in the morning, do a full day of business, and then catch the 7:30 flight back to Newark and be home by midnight. I did that many, many times and, after that we really got momentum. Once you have backers and money, you can start achieving things and it was easier to attract VCs," she says.
Over the years, Corner says that Biosyn stayed true to its mission of developing HIV prevention drugs. "We were heavily involved in discussions with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), and the World Health Organization about how to do clinical trials for prevention in HIV. The acquisition of other drugs helped expand the pipeline and minimize risk, but it was always in the same area."
During this time, Corner developed a reputation as an expert in the field and was even asked to testify before the President's Council on HIV and AIDS. "I was invited to talk about our approaches to prevention and it had tangible effects because within a short period of time more money was freed up and specific programs were created at NIH to move money to these prevention drugs," she says.
However, like many start-ups in the biotech field, the time came when it made sense to sell the company. Corner explains, "We had done a couple rounds of big VC financing and the climate wasn't necessarily that great for the size of the round we needed to do given where the drug was. We toyed with doing the financing, but the valuations weren't that good. So we discussed it with our board and they strongly suggested we look for a suitor."
Biosyn was ultimately sold for about $40 million to Cellegy Pharmaceuticals. As part of the deal, Biosyn became a wholly owned subsidiary. "The sign stayed on the door and we had Biosyn letterhead, but certainly employees are nervous any time a company is sold," says Corner.
To address that anxiety, she held an employee lunch every Friday where everyone could ask questions. "People felt informed and we had surprisingly little attrition throughout the transaction, but these things are always gut wrenching," she says. As for her own position, she decided to stay on at Cellegy during the transition as senior vice president.
She explains, "We had a lot of grant money from NIH, international organizations, and the Gates Foundation, and there was a lot of work that still needed to be done. For continuation sake, it made sense to stay. And when you do a sale, you don't necessarily want to just walk away because for several months there are always transition issues."
She also was waiting for a significant licensing deal with CONRAD, which is a collaborating agency of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The license involved several drugs, rights around the world, and definitions of developing countries. "Once that deal was signed, I felt I could leave and know that the drugs were in good hands in the U.S., but also that all the altruistic work that Biosyn was known for would be looked after. So we signed the deal with CONRAD and I announced my resignation that same day."
After she left, Corner decided to take a break. "I originally intended to take a three-month break, but then it turned into six months and then into a year and I'm actually enjoying doing a lot of different things now," she says.
One of those projects is ProTem Pharma, a temporary holding company she created to evaluate technology. "I've seriously looked at three or four technologies from various institutions, but I haven't yet found anything I think would be ready for prime time, particularly in this environment when it's that much harder to get anything off the ground," she says.
Corner also is involved with Women Inventing Next (WIN), which she cofounded in the mid-1990s to support women leaders and investors in high-growth businesses. What started as a handful of women who would meet for drinks has grown into a 140-member organization that runs education programs, investor and CEO Forums, and a mentoring program for young women entrepreneurs.
Corner credits all of her professional achievements in the life science field to Wharton. "If I hadn't gone to Wharton, learned the things I learned, and learned the value of friends and networks, I never would have accomplished what I did. It was the key that opened the door to everything else I did."
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Posted April 2009