Tag: VivekRamaswamy

Shiva Ayyadurai Announces 2024 U.S. Presidential Bid

Staff ReporterUSA 0

The 2024 United States Presidential elections is turning out to be an Indian American affair as tech entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai became the fourth candidate from the community to announce his bid for the country’s top post.  Scientist and entrepreneur, Shiva Ayyadurai is running as an independent candidate.

Announcing his campaign bid recently, the 59-year-old Mumbai-born said he wants to serve America, beyond “Left” and “Right” to deliver solutions people need and deserve.

“I am running for President of the United States of America. We stand at the crossroads where we can either head into a Golden Age or into the Darkness… America becomes great when innovators, entrepreneurs, working people with skills and those committed to using common sense and reason run this country,” Ayyadurai said. “We stand at crossroads where we can either head into a Golden Age or the Darkness. I stand before you as someone who is a personification of the American Dream.”

On his campaign website, Ayyadurai maintained that America becomes great when innovators, entrepreneurs, working people with skills and those committed to using common sense and reason run the country. He added, “The Founders of America were blacksmiths, engineers, soldiers, architects, entrepreneurs, scientists — they worked for a living and produced through their labor, products and services to help other citizens.”

He is now the fourth Indian-American to bid for the US presidency, following Indian-American aerospace engineer Hirsh Vardhan Singh, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

A Fulbright Scholar with four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ayyadurai has started seven hi-tech companies, including EchoMail, CytoSolve, and Systems Health. He is said to have “invented email” at the age of 14. Currently, he serves as the Founder and CEO of CytoSolve, Inc, which is working on discovering cures for major diseases, from pancreatic cancer to Alzheimer’s.

The 59-year-old MIT scholar, who “invented email” when he was just 14, had earlier made headlines when he expressed interest in taking up the position of Twitter’s chief executive officer after Elon Musk said he wishes to step down from the post.

Mumbai-born Ayyadurai is an award-winning scientist and recently invented CytoSolveⓇ, a revolutionary platform for modeling complex biological phenomena, to support the development multi-combination medicines without animal testing. His parents immigrated to the US in 1970, when he was seven years old and settled in Paterson, New Jersey.

The question remains, if a foreign born US citizen is able to run for President’s office!

Axovant Strengthens Management Team and Completes Organizational Restructuring in Preparation for Pipeline Expansion

Staff ReporterBusiness, Education, Science & Technology 0

Axovant Sciences (NASDAQ:AXON) has announced that Gavin Corcoran, MB BCh, FACP, will join the Company as Executive Vice President of Research & Development, and Michael Hayden, MB ChB, PhD, FRSC, has been appointed as a senior scientific advisor to the company and Chairman of Axovant’s newly established Scientific Advisory Board.

“I am pleased to welcome Gavin and Michael to the Axovant team,” said Pavan Cheruvu, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Axovant. “Since starting as CEO in February, I have been focused on transforming Axovant into a leaner organization, introducing heightened standards of quality and excellence throughout the business, and establishing a new pipeline strategy. We are now poised for growth, and I am excited to have Gavin and Michael join us as we look toward expanding our pipeline in the coming months.”

“I am very excited to join Axovant at this turning point,” said Dr. Corcoran. “I look forward to working closely with Pavan and the senior management team to bring new investigational medicines into the portfolio as we build upon Axovant’s capabilities in research and development. We have a wonderful opportunity to develop life-changing medicines for patients with CNS diseases. I am also eager to leverage the Roivant platform to accelerate the development of Axovant’s pipeline.”

“I share Pavan’s vision of rebuilding the company on a foundation of transformative science and I look forward to expanding Axovant’s Scientific Advisory Board,” said Dr. Hayden. “I have been very impressed with the caliber of the Axovant team and am excited about the future growth of the company.”

Dr. Gavin Corcoran has overseen successful drug development across multiple therapeutic areas including neurology and psychiatry. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Allergan plc, and previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Actavis. Dr. Corcoran was Executive Vice President for Global Medicines Development at Forest Laboratories prior to the acquisition of Forest Laboratories by Actavis. In addition, Dr. Corcoran served as Head of Late Stage Clinical Development for Inflammation and Immunology at Celgene, and as Chief Scientific Officer and head of R&D at Stiefel Laboratories. Earlier in his career he held leadership roles in clinical development and regulatory affairs at Amgen, Schering-Plough, and Bayer. He received his MB BCh from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completed his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Dr. Michael Hayden is one of the world’s leading experts in the genetic basis of movement disorders and CNS drug development. He recently served as President of Global R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Teva. Prior to Teva, he founded multiple biotechnology companies, including Aspreva Pharmaceuticals. He currently serves as Killam Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia and Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine. Dr. Hayden played a key role in the discovery and development of GLYBERA®, the first approved gene therapy product in the Western world, and has received numerous awards including the Order of Canada, granted for his contributions to the understanding of Huntington’s disease and other genetic disorders. In 2008 he was named Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year and in 2017 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Dr. Hayden received his MB ChB, PhD in Genetics, and DCH Diploma in Child Health from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine and clinical genetics at Harvard Medical School.

Beginning in February 2018, Axovant initiated an organizational restructuring to simplify its organization, reduce costs, and streamline business processes in preparation for future business development activities.

As part of the restructuring plan, Axovant enhanced its capabilities in clinical research and business development, while reducing the size of its global commercial team. Overall, internal headcount has decreased by approximately 43%, and Axovant has increased its use of the Roivant platform to supplement internal capabilities. Forward-looking G&A expenses are expected to decrease in the current fiscal year. Most of the affected employees were transferred to roles within the Roivant family of companies.

“Roivant supports Axovant’s plans for pipeline expansion and organizational transformation,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, Chief Executive Officer of Roivant. “We are committed to hiring and developing high-caliber talent, and we were pleased to support many of Axovant’s employees in finding new roles within the Vant family. I am excited about the new direction that Axovant is taking.”

Axovant is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing innovative treatments for patients with serious neurologic and neuropsychiatric conditions, and turning promising therapies into lasting solutions for patients. Axovant is committed to developing and commercializing a pipeline of product candidates by identifying and developing novel treatments for unmet needs in neurology and psychiatry.

Roivant Sciences is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on reducing the time and cost of the drug development process to improve the lives of patients and their families. Roivant partners with innovative biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to ensure that important medicines are rapidly delivered to patients.

2 Indians in Forbes list of US’ richest under-40 entrepreneurs

Staff ReporterBusiness 0

Two Indian Americans, investor Vivek Ramaswamy and Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta, were named among Forbes’ “Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40” list, now in its second year. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has been ranked 24th on ‘America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 2016’ list with a networth of $600 million, and Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta, stands at the 31st spot with a $360-million networth.

Ramaswamy, 31, a Harvard University and Yale School of Management alumnus, continues to make waves in the biotech business with his deals and drug development plans, Forbes said. He was behind the biggest biotechnology IPO of 2016, Myovant Sciences, which raised $218-million listing its shares on Nasdaq in October, it said.

Last year, Ramaswamy pulled off the biggest IPO in the US biotech history by listing shares of Axovant, a company that is trying to develop a new Alzheimer’s drug. He runs Roivant Sciences, a biotech holding company with an innovative financial strategy to develop drugs, often by purchasing drugs that have been forgotten or abandoned by the pharmaceutical industry.

He made his roughly $600 million net worth on his own accord and through investments, and continues to make waves in the biotech business with his deals and drug development plans, Forbes said. He was behind the biggest biotechnology initial public offering of 2016, Myovant Sciences, which raised $218 million listing its shares on Nasdaq in October, it added. Ramaswamy formed the company in April and struck a deal with Takeda Pharmaceuticals for a prostate cancer drug and a female infertility drug.

Forbes called Mehta one of Silicon Valley’s youngest immigrant success stories. Born in India, Mehta and his family moved to Canada in 2000, where he studied engineering at the University of Waterloo before working at Blackberry, Qualcomm, and then Amazon. In 2012, he co-founded Instacart, a grocery-delivery service that partners with grocery chains. The company is valued at an estimated $2 billion, and most recently raised funding from Whole Foods Market in March, it said.

The 30-year-old Mehta would not have been included on the list in the inaugural year of 2015. A year ago, the cutoff to make the list was $400, but that dropped drastically with a number of entrepreneurs aging out. The cutoff in 2016 came in at $270 million, allowing the Instacart founder to place No. 31 on the list with his net worth of $360 million.

Mehta is one of Silicon Valley’s youngest immigrant success stories, Forbes said. Born in India, Mehta and his family moved to Canada in 2000, where he studied engineering at the University of Waterloo before working at Blackberry, Qualcomm and then Amazon.

Vivek Ramaswamy, Apoorva Mehta among richest entrepreneurs under 40

Ajay GhoshFinance/Economy 0

Vivek Ramaswamy, 30, a former hedge fund manager, has been ranked 33rd on the list with a net worth of $500 million. Forbes said his source of wealth is investments. On the 40th spot is 29-year old Apoorva Mehta, the founder and CEO of web-based grocery delivery service Instacart. Mehta’s net worth is $400 million.

Zuckerberg leads the pack with a net worth of $47.1 billion, more than four times as much as the second person in the ranks, his co-founder and college friend Dustin Moskovitz. At number three is Jan Koum, who came to America at age 16. He started WhatsApp, now the world’s biggest mobile messaging service with 800 million users, in 2009 and sold it to Facebook for about $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014.

Forbes said California techies dominate the first ever list of the nation’s 40 most successful young entrepreneurs under the age of 40, “reaffirming the American Dream and proving yet again that there is no better way right now to get rich fast than to go west and convince venture investors to back your most ambitious ideas”. Elizabeth Holmes is the only woman to make the ‘America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40’. Holmes quit Stanford at age 19 to start blood testing company Theranos. All of the young entrepreneurs in the list have a net worth of $400 million or more and 34 made their money in the tech sector.

Twenty-one are billionaires and many either created or work for some of the hottest tech companies, including Uber, AirBnB, Fitbit, GitHub, Instacart and Pinterest. The list’s youngest member is Palmer Luckey, who was just 21 years old when he sold his virtual reality equipment company, Oculus, to Facebook for $2.3 billion in July 2014. Luckey’s net worth is $700 million and is one of half a dozen in the ranks who are still in their 20s, Forbes said. Two Indian-origin businessmen have been ranked by Forbes magazine among the richest entrepreneurs in America under the age of 40, a list that has been topped by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Featured on Forbes Cover

Ajay GhoshFinance/Economy 0
Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 30, shocked a lot of people when he turned $5 million into $3 billion with Axovant Sciences’ initial public offering. Now, as featured in the Sept. 28 cover story for Forbes Magazine, Ramaswamy is poised to repeat history.
In June, Ramaswamy was at the forefront of the biggest IPO in the history of the American biotechnology industry. The Bermuda-based company, with offices also in New York, has just one product: a dementia drug to treat Alzheimer’s.
Axovant was formed eight months prior to the IPO and raised roughly $360 million to develop the drug that was essentially abandoned by GlaxoSmithKline. By the end of the first day on the New York Stock Exchange, Axovant had a market capitalization of about $3 billion. Ramaswamy had purchased the drug from Glaxo for $5 million.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Featured on Forbes Cover
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Featured on Forbes Cover

A graduate of Harvard College with an A.B. in biology and the recipient of a law degree from Yale Law School, Ramaswamy is a former hedge fund partner. There were skeptics who wondered how a company could be worth so much. The stock had dipped 12 percent below the IPO price by the beginning of the month.

And while Ramaswamy was touting that Axovant’s goal “is to be the leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of dementia,” they had yet to generate any revenue, even as other companies were creating drugs to compete with his company’s product.
But now, as Axovant drifts to the backdrop, Ramaswamy is up to his old tricks: rescuing the pharmaceutical industry’s forgotten drugs, according to Forbes. Ramaswamy said Axovant is the first step in a broader mission to liberate abandoned or deprioritized drugs, the report said.
It’s not unprecedented. Drugs like Lipitor and Imbruvica have also almost faced extinction before being presented anew to the world. Ramaswamy hopes to do the same for dozens of companies.
“This will be the highest return on investment endeavor ever taken up in the pharmaceutical industry,” he boasted in the Forbes report. “It will be a pipeline every bit as deep and diverse as the most promising pharma company in the world but with a capital efficiency that is unprecedented.”
As an analyst, Ramaswamy noticed there were several forgotten drugs that he would have liked to invest in but couldn’t. They were trapped in big pharmaceutical firms that had shelved them for strategic or bureaucratic reasons, or in small biotechnology firms that had to focus all their resources on a single product, no matter how good option No. 2 was, the Forbes report said.
The Indian American accomplished successful returns with his company Roivant Sciences’ 76 percent stake in Axovant, as well as turning an $8 million purchase of drugs to treat liver virus hepatitis B into $110 million in Arbutus BioPharma. With Roivant, in May, he bought a psychosis drug for $4 million from Arena Pharmaceuticals and later partnered with a Duke University group known for inventing rare-disease drugs.
Axovant speculators will have to wait until 2017 before they hear any new drug data for Alzheimer’s, during which the stock could drift without a bona fide catalyst, said Forbes. Under the best possible scenario, real benefit to Alzheimer’s patients is years away.
But it would be a mistake to get stuck in the weeds of Roivant’s Alzheimer’s efforts. Ramaswamy’s approach is long term and broad in scope and even if Axovant’s efforts fail, the money raised will help with finding other compounds of drugs that could be more effective.
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