And Now A Word From Exit/Financing DOTY Winner Ablexis

Before bidding adieu to the acronym DOTY for eleven months, it seems only fair to offer our winners a chance to share their enthusiasm for joining that select group of companies worthy of The Roger. We now turn the microphone over to Larry Green, PhD, CEO of Ablexis, which hammered out its fab Pharma5 consortium while simultaneously raising a Series A.

Ablexis is honored to receive the Roger for Exit/Financing Deal of the Year and to be in the company of the other nominees, all of whom had outstanding deals of their own.

We start by thanking the wise and visionary group at the IN VIVO Blog for our nomination and the many people who voted for Ablexis.

The Ablexis-Pharma consortium deal started out as a simple concept, as a way to better assure an attractive near-term return for investors so that Ablexis could attract Series A investors. People said that we were crazy in thinking we could get five major pharmaceutical companies to all agree on anything.

In fact, negotiations almost broke down the first time we ordered lunch for delivery. (Really, who in their right mind wants to eat vegan pizza?) But we were -- and remain -- fortunate to have great pharma partners who worked with us rather than against us. Pharma partners – Pfizer and you four others (you know who you are!) – we thank you.

Of course, none of this could have happened without the vision and support of our investors. First were our seed investors, California Technology Ventures and Jacobs Capitol Group, who supported us while we rounded up the pharmas. Third Rock Ventures and Pfizer Venture Investments had the vision to say “Yeah, this sounds like a good idea.” We remain indebted to them (no pun intended) and look forward to giving them their IRR and more.

We couldn’t have closed the consortium and financing without the efforts, smarts, and long hours of our attorneys. But they received our thanks when we paid off all our legal bills. (Oy!)

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Peet’s Coffee and the Coca-Cola Company, which provided the extra oomph for us to plow through all the negotiations. We also thank United Airlines and the Star Alliance for the occasional upgrades out of cattle class when flying. Kudos to our spouses, children, and parents for putting up with and supporting us through our absences (both physical and spiritual), the sleepless nights, and the occasional irrational mood swings.

Lastly, let us not forget the AlivaMab Mice and those transgenic mouse platforms for therapeutic antibody discovery that have gone (and been acquired) before. Transgenic mice are the most successful platform for human therapeutic antibody discovery. Ablexis is making the next generation of mice to ensure that they remain as such. We look forward to being nominated for another DOTY award in the future.