March 12, 2007
Entelos
James Karis
President and CEO
How has your company adapted and responded to the changing economic climate in the past five years when so many others companies did not?
I joined the company in early 2000 during the tail end of the genomics wave and height of the “dot-com” era. Many early players had software business models and some did go public. Hindsight is 20/20, but the companies in the space just weren’t mature enough and had business models that were not fully developed. We stayed focused on our core business — providing high-value biosimulation services to our key early adopters who wanted to shake up their internal R&D and we never wavered from maintaining solid financial discipline and recruiting first rate scientific and engineering talent.
What is your vision for the future of the life sciences market over the next several years?
It’s obviously still highly fragmented so I would guess there will be much more M&A activity in the years to come. Given the natural trend towards “convergence” — i.e., combining different technologies like imaging, molecular diagnostics, and therapeutics — there could be some interesting opportunities.
What products and services does your company provide and what special capabilities do they offer the life sciences market?
Entelos builds large-scale mathematical models of human biology that can accurately simulate and predict human response. We also can model animals to make the translation to humans more predictable. The company provides high-value biosimulation services using its core PhysioLab platforms across multiple disease areas that can be applied across discovery, development, and commercialization in both pharma and consumer industries.
Partnerships are an effective way to track life science advances and ensure that your company delivers timely products and services. Which life sciences companies or organizations have you partnered with or invested in and why?
Although not a life sciences organization per se, our partnership with the American Diabetes Association — the premier research, volunteer, and patient advocacy group for people with diabetes — has been a highly productive and successful one on multiple levels. We are excited about our continued work together.
What are your most exciting products and initiatives in development, and how will they improve life science research?
There are multiple initiatives in the works: i) specific new products generated from our core technology; ii) efforts related to toxicology; iii) new market opportunities; and iv) internal product development.
Where do you see your company in five years?
We plan to keep our core biosimulation services business alive and well, and we believe that it will continue to enable new products, new markets, and new businesses for Entelos. We will most likely have a mix of complementary products, services, and new technologies in the health care space.