The Power of Partnerships
Buffalo Business First published a story detailing the implications of Anthenex Inc.’s recent filing for bankruptcy. The company—known for its global commercialization of Klisyri or tirbanibulin, a topical treatment of actinic keratosis—emerged from a discovery made by researchers at the University at Buffalo and was co-founded in 2002 by David Hangauer, a chemistry professor at UB.
As reported, in early 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied Athenex’s New Drug Application to commercialize its metastatic breast cancer therapy drug and required the company to conduct a new Phase III trial, which is a very expensive process. This proved to be too big a setback for the company and ultimately led to its demise.
UB's Jeff Dunbar, director of business partnerships, and Rick Gardner, associate vice president for economic development, shared that despite this failure, Athenex paved the way for the biopharmaceutical industry in Buffalo, as much of the ecosystem that now exists was built to support them and more drug companies like Athenex.
Dunbar stated "[Athenex] taught us how to build out our ecosystem to support more companies like them. Now we have Empire Discovery Institute (EDI), which marries the pharmaceutical expertise with state money to invest in the early-stage discovery to get more companies going.”
The EDI, funded through Empire State Development, provides not only state funding for the discoveries, but also connections to top pharmaceutical executives with industry expertise and investor connections. Dunbar and Gardner expect the EDI and other investors to continue playing a significant role in the success of Buffalo's drug development scene.