On Aug. 30, the BioVenture eLab kicked off its Fall 2022 Accelerating BioVenture Innovation (ABI) program with an interview and Q&A with special guest Gene Marcantonio M.D., Ph.D., CEO of ARMGO Pharma, Inc.
Dr. Marcantonio shared his entrepreneurial journey from academia to big pharma to startup CEO. He advised our aspiring audience on both biopharma research and business development. When asked what suggestions he would give our young Weill Cornell graduate students and postdocs, Dr. Marcantonio said they have to be committed to vigorous science work whether they want to work in a lab or a startup. Young scientists must learn to broaden themselves and work on different topics. They cannot simply stick with their research in the lab. Dr. Marcantonio also emphasized that early-stage development in biopharma is filled with uncertainties. ABI students need to consider if they can tolerate this norm, and that every startup will fail in some ways before they succeed with a new pivot.
Dr. Gene Marcantonio (Provided)
The audience eagerly interacted with Dr. Marcantonio with diverse questions, which include molecule modeling, animal to human safety and transferability issues for therapies, pros and cons of big pharma versus startup, developing business and leadership skills and collaborating remotely as a startup in biopharma.
Approximately one hundred ABI students and mentors attended this informative event. Students also had a chance to network with mentors and mingle during the social hour.
BioVenture eLab is the hub of entrepreneurial activities at Weill Cornell Medicine with the mission of growing a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem and building the next generation of leaders and successful companies in the life sciences. The ABI program is designed to teach graduate student and postdocs how to develop and launch a startup using patented, unlicensed technologies from academia. This 15-week program is an experiential, team-based approach that combines workshops, lectures, assignments and 1:1 mentorship from industry experts.