Some biotechs thrive best outside the glare of public attention. And VLST, a fledgling graduate of Seattle's Accelerator Corp., has been using its quiet time to line up its staff and complete preclinical work in preparation for its shift into clinical development.
"When we completed our Series B (a $55 million round announced in mid-2006), we took down $20 million in the first tranche and set about doing a couple of things," says CEO Martin Simonetti. "One was moving our lead program forward as rapidly as possible. At that point we had an early-stage discovery program. We also put a team in place and made some key hires in the last two years."
From late 2005, when Simonetti joined the company, VLST grew from seven to 42 employees. And a key co-founder, Craig Smith, a co-inventor of Enbrel, was replaced by a new chief scientific officer. Article