Christoph Westphal: Live Forever or Die Trying
Just published in our premium issue, my Forbes Interview with Christoph Westphal (who co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2004 and has since served as CEO).
Sirtris has become a recognized pioneer in the research and development of small molecule drugs that target the sirtuins, a family of enzymes that control the aging process. In 2007, Dr. Westphal successfully led the company through its initial public offering. In June 2008, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] acquired Sirtris for $720 million. Dr. Westphal is a co-founder of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [ALNY], Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [MNTA], CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Acceleron Pharma, Inc. Prior to establishing Sirtris, Dr. Westphal was a general partner at a venture fund and a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Dr. Westphal earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University; and he graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University. Dr. Westphal currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and he serves on the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Westphal has been the lead or senior author on several patent applications and scientific papers in journals including Cell, Nature and Nature Genetics. Dr. Westphal enjoys traveling (he has visited over 130 countries) and playing the cello. He is also fluent in English, German, Spanish and French. Dr. Westphal is married with three young children.
You’ve spanned the gamut as a scientist, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. Obviously pattern recognition is a key skill in all of these endeavors. Tell me about the founding of Sirtris and the things you saw that led you to believe it was a great opportunity.
Let me take a 30 second step back. Yes, I’ve done a bunch of things, and probably failed at most of them! I started as a medical student getting an MD, but I wasn’t very good at it because I wasn’t passionate about it. For the scientist part, I did the MD with my Ph.D. at Harvard, and then went to work for McKinsey. That was an interesting experience because I learned about the business world and how business folks dress and act and think, but I’m not really someone who is great at problem solving. I like thinking more creatively, and so I got into venture. But as a venture guy, I really became more of a serial entrepreneur. I was founder and CEO Momenta, then Alnylam, then Acceleron, and then Sirtris. Each of those situations was pretty similar—I tried to find really cool science out of Harvard or MIT with great IP protection, and gather other folks around the technology who could help me tell the story. I think a big part of trying to create any new technology based company is the ability to communicate the message to the key potential “buyers” or stakeholders.
With Sirtris in 2003, David Sinclair reminded me a lot of some of the past founding scientists I’ve worked with—a visionary scientist who really wanted to translate his scientific insights into products that could help people. When I read David’s 2003 paper in Nature, saying he could extend lifespan in yeast, I said “that’s interesting.” But in 2004, when it became clear that a number of other labs had made a similar fundamental link, and there was evidence that these genes control not only aging, but may also be targets to control key diseases such as Type II diabetes, I got excited.
So for me, the key shift to start a company around the aging area was the ability to move it into a practical space of drug discovery and development focused on diseases of aging, where we could have a reasonable timeframe and a reasonable chance to capture large pharma interest, because the markets would be huge. The story was attractive, so we decided to raise a lot of money and try and discover new and important drugs.
You’ve worked with a host of luminaries with whom you’ve helped build companies. Are you more often betting on a scientist and not the science?
Often I am betting on the people. I am definitely a people person. Whether it’s a scientist or the venture folks and corporate lawyers and accountants around a deal, I always bet on the people much more than on the science. I like to think of it as a 3-legged stool: good money, good science & IP, and good people. The most important leg of that stool is the people, by far. The “B-science with an A-team” is always preferable to me than the converse.
Talk to me about your approach to picking investment areas and how that differs from others.
Because of my technical background, I have always been interested in this world of really cool science at great universities. And because I also went to medical school, I think I’ve been constrained in the things that I get excited and passionate about. That combination leads me to think about really cool science, that could ultimately turn into drugs that could help people. Many people are constantly trying to “innovate” in this space. There have been many different models and many different attempts to improve the odds of generating a good return to the investor. Overall, I think it’s a very, very tough business, and many people don’t fully understand how difficult it is to generate good returns. Maximizing my own financial situation hasn’t really driven my personal passion and interest. Instead I have been absolutely focused on what is really cool science that I think could improve healthcare and change the world. I don’t want to sound too idealistic, but it just so happens that’s totally what floats my boat.
I’ve been doing this for 12 years. I’ve watched things go up and down, I’ve heard venture guys say a 100 different things, and throughout that time I have always said, “Hey, I just want to do what I enjoy doing.” Sometimes people respect that, but every time I’ve started one of these companies, nine out of 10 people think it’s just the dumbest idea and it will never work. With Alnylam, it was “Wow, that sounds just like antisense, what a dumb idea.” And with Momenta, it was like “Oh, glycobiology has been tried forever and has never worked.” With Sirtris, I distinctly remember everyone saying you can’t start an aging company.
For access to the complete interview with Christoph Westphal sign up for my Weekly Insider E-Newsletter, click here for more details.
Sirtris has become a recognized pioneer in the research and development of small molecule drugs that target the sirtuins, a family of enzymes that control the aging process. In 2007, Dr. Westphal successfully led the company through its initial public offering. In June 2008, GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] acquired Sirtris for $720 million. Dr. Westphal is a co-founder of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [ALNY], Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [MNTA], CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Acceleron Pharma, Inc. Prior to establishing Sirtris, Dr. Westphal was a general partner at a venture fund and a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Dr. Westphal earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University; and he graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University. Dr. Westphal currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and he serves on the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Westphal has been the lead or senior author on several patent applications and scientific papers in journals including Cell, Nature and Nature Genetics. Dr. Westphal enjoys traveling (he has visited over 130 countries) and playing the cello. He is also fluent in English, German, Spanish and French. Dr. Westphal is married with three young children.
You’ve spanned the gamut as a scientist, venture capitalist, and entrepreneur. Obviously pattern recognition is a key skill in all of these endeavors. Tell me about the founding of Sirtris and the things you saw that led you to believe it was a great opportunity.
Let me take a 30 second step back. Yes, I’ve done a bunch of things, and probably failed at most of them! I started as a medical student getting an MD, but I wasn’t very good at it because I wasn’t passionate about it. For the scientist part, I did the MD with my Ph.D. at Harvard, and then went to work for McKinsey. That was an interesting experience because I learned about the business world and how business folks dress and act and think, but I’m not really someone who is great at problem solving. I like thinking more creatively, and so I got into venture. But as a venture guy, I really became more of a serial entrepreneur. I was founder and CEO Momenta, then Alnylam, then Acceleron, and then Sirtris. Each of those situations was pretty similar—I tried to find really cool science out of Harvard or MIT with great IP protection, and gather other folks around the technology who could help me tell the story. I think a big part of trying to create any new technology based company is the ability to communicate the message to the key potential “buyers” or stakeholders.
With Sirtris in 2003, David Sinclair reminded me a lot of some of the past founding scientists I’ve worked with—a visionary scientist who really wanted to translate his scientific insights into products that could help people. When I read David’s 2003 paper in Nature, saying he could extend lifespan in yeast, I said “that’s interesting.” But in 2004, when it became clear that a number of other labs had made a similar fundamental link, and there was evidence that these genes control not only aging, but may also be targets to control key diseases such as Type II diabetes, I got excited.
So for me, the key shift to start a company around the aging area was the ability to move it into a practical space of drug discovery and development focused on diseases of aging, where we could have a reasonable timeframe and a reasonable chance to capture large pharma interest, because the markets would be huge. The story was attractive, so we decided to raise a lot of money and try and discover new and important drugs.
You’ve worked with a host of luminaries with whom you’ve helped build companies. Are you more often betting on a scientist and not the science?
Often I am betting on the people. I am definitely a people person. Whether it’s a scientist or the venture folks and corporate lawyers and accountants around a deal, I always bet on the people much more than on the science. I like to think of it as a 3-legged stool: good money, good science & IP, and good people. The most important leg of that stool is the people, by far. The “B-science with an A-team” is always preferable to me than the converse.
Talk to me about your approach to picking investment areas and how that differs from others.
Because of my technical background, I have always been interested in this world of really cool science at great universities. And because I also went to medical school, I think I’ve been constrained in the things that I get excited and passionate about. That combination leads me to think about really cool science, that could ultimately turn into drugs that could help people. Many people are constantly trying to “innovate” in this space. There have been many different models and many different attempts to improve the odds of generating a good return to the investor. Overall, I think it’s a very, very tough business, and many people don’t fully understand how difficult it is to generate good returns. Maximizing my own financial situation hasn’t really driven my personal passion and interest. Instead I have been absolutely focused on what is really cool science that I think could improve healthcare and change the world. I don’t want to sound too idealistic, but it just so happens that’s totally what floats my boat.
I’ve been doing this for 12 years. I’ve watched things go up and down, I’ve heard venture guys say a 100 different things, and throughout that time I have always said, “Hey, I just want to do what I enjoy doing.” Sometimes people respect that, but every time I’ve started one of these companies, nine out of 10 people think it’s just the dumbest idea and it will never work. With Alnylam, it was “Wow, that sounds just like antisense, what a dumb idea.” And with Momenta, it was like “Oh, glycobiology has been tried forever and has never worked.” With Sirtris, I distinctly remember everyone saying you can’t start an aging company.
For access to the complete interview with Christoph Westphal sign up for my Weekly Insider E-Newsletter, click here for more details.
Labels: Acceleron Pharma, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Christoph Westphal, Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, interview, McKinsey, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Sirtris, small molecules, Weekly Insider
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