What if all of the above “what-if’s” were possible? Then you would have a company like North Coast Biologics. Nothing fancy – just filling a need both financially and spiritually in such a way that everybody wins.
My goal is to start this paradigm shift that satisfies my need to discover, creates value for everyone involved, creates jobs for our lagging Seattle biotech hub, and brings back a little idealism that we had in the very beginning – from the guys in the leaky warehouse to the enthusiasm of George Rathmann, the Zen of former Icos scientist Patrick Gray, to the determination of Carl Weissman.
In an Xconomy Forum piece a responder quoted Robert Noyce, the founder of Intel, as saying “Look around who the heroes are. They aren’t lawyers, nor are they even so much the financiers. They’re the guys who start companies.” I believe this now because in the last few months, I’ve met many former founders in our biotech community and I’ve met others who can and want to be founders. And these people are heroes in my view. They are my heroes and I’m flattered and grateful to share the founder title with them. Because of our collective passion and willingness to take on new approaches to solving problems, I have a strong sense that tells me I won’t be alone in this new, unconventional approach.
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Author: Johnny Stine
Johnny Stine is founder and president of North Coast Biologics, a Seattle-based company that discovers targeted antibody drugs. He previously founded Spaltudaq in January 2005, an antibody drug developer that has gone on to raise $34 million in venture capital from investors that include Arch Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, HealthCare Ventures, Amgen Ventures, MPM Capital, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Earlier in his career, he worked on antibody drug discovery programs at Abgenix Biopharma in Vancouver, BC and Icos. Before joining the biotech industry, he performed cancer biology research at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis from 1989 to 1994. Stine has bachelor's degrees in microbiology and zoology from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville with post graduate training from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and the departments of Tumor Cell Biology and Biochemistry from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Stine, a member of the Snohomish tribe, named Spaltudaq after a healing ceremony once performed by his ancestors in the Puget Sound region. The elaborate ritual was described as the Spirit Canoe Ceremony where local shaman would collaborate in a soul recovery journey to ensure that people stricken with disease wouldn't die before their time. The new endeavor, called North Coast Biologics, while it doesn't use the indigenous Lushootseed language, it is the English translation of how the indigenous people of Puget Sound and British Columbia referred to their regional tribal lands.
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