Oliver Fetzer (TPR’93) was recently appointed president and CEO of Cerulean Pharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing nanopharmaceuticals. These drugs, delivered by using particles as small as 50-100 nanometers (one-tenth the size of a bacterium), may one day revolutionize the way we treat disease.
What are the advantages of nanopharmaceuticals compared to conventional drugs?
In treating disease, for example, cancer, you’d like to target just the affected tissue. You want to get the cancer therapy into the tumor, not other parts of the body where it might be harmful. Tumors have pore sizes larger than blood vessels, so you can target the tumor with nanoparticles that only the tumor will absorb. The side effects are much lower.
Cerulean Pharma has assembled a world-class team that collectively has an impressive track record of business building, product development, and scientific breakthroughs. Is that what drew you to this company?
Yes, it’s the combination of the science and business strategy. It’s a chance to shape a company around some really exciting science. ... Anything involving nanotechnology is clearly viewed as a very sexy scientific field.
Has Tepper helped you in your career?
As a scientist, I felt that I needed more formal business training, and it was a phenomenal foundation builder. Also, I found what I learned in the softer courses was very valid. Courses like interpersonal behavior—examining what motivates people and how to get people to work together. Those things are really important in terms of getting deals done and projects up and running.
What is Cerulean working on right now?
Our first drug is in clinical trials for cancer, but, instead of developing just one type of drug, we’re developing a delivery system for nanoparticles to treat multiple types of disease where drug targeting and the formation of new and "leaky" blood vessels are important—which includes oncology, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases. We’re making new nanoparticles and testing them in animal models. It’s a long journey to clinical trials, but it looks very promising.
—Rob Cullen (HS'02)
