Qualifications: Cash, More Cash, Creativity, And The Courage To Fail

Chemist George Rathmann is a scientist entrepreneur with not one, but two successful startups to his credit. Ten years ago, in early 1981, Rathmann and his colleagues were successful in raising $19 million to launch Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, Calif., which in 1989--the year in which its flagship product, erythropoietin (a red blood cell stimulator), was approved by the Food and Drug Administration--recorded sales of $192 million. Last July, Rathmann resigned as chairman of Amgen (he remains

Julia King

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Last July, Rathmann resigned as chairman of Amgen (he remains on the company's board of directors) to launch another new biotech company, Seattle-based ICOS Corp., which, like Amgen, focuses on recombinant DNA technology and was launched with venture capital--$30 million.

In the following excerpts from a recent interview, Rathmann, a former vice president of R&D at Abbott Laboratories of North Chicago, Ill., discusses the similarities and differences between the biotech industry of today and that of 10 years ago. He also offers some advice to today's would-be scientist entrepreneurs.

--Julia King

Q In the early 1980s, venture capitalists were eager to invest in startup biotechnology companies like Amgen and Genentech. What is the attitude of the venture capital community today?

A It was certainly common throughout the 1980s for venture capitalists to approach scientists. Today, contacts between scientists and venture capital companies still represent some of the earliest contacts in ...

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