Eyetech Pharmaceuticals - 2003 Fierce 15 revisited

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals
New York, NY
Founded: 2000

Why we said: Who said academics can't run companies? The brains behind Eyetech, New York University medical school professor David Guyer and Harvard medical school associate professor Anthony Adamis, proved to be good businessman. The two scored a collaboration deal with Pfizer in 2003 to develop a treatment for age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. We expected new drug applications from Eyetech in 2003.

What happened: Eyetech and Pfizer gained approval for diabetes drug Macugen in December 2004 and launched the drug in 2005. Unfortunately, biotech giant Genentech was expected to bring a competitor, Lucentis, to the market that same year. Eyetech's stock took a beating as analysts predicted its drug wouldn't be able to compete with a larger competitor. Just two months later, despite hesitation over competition from Lucentis, OSI Pharmaceuticals acquired Eyetech for $935 million. At $20 a share, the deal was a 43 percent premium over Eyetech's trading price at the time.

View the original Fierce 15 of 2003 report.

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