Charlie Turner of TCG Presents Talk to LES on “Biotechnology Licensing in a Virtual Business Model”

Research Triangle Park, NC – TCG Partner Robert W. (Charlie) Turner gave a presentation to the Research Triangle Park Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) detailing how as an interim Business Development leader, he helped create and then implement a licensing strategy for a virtual biotechnology company.

He described how Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) was created as a spin out from UNC – Chapel Hill around the gene therapy platform technology discovered by Dr. R. Jude Samulski. Given the unique value of the technology to deliver a wide variety of gene therapies, AskBio licensed portions of the platform technology to a number of companies for very specific applications. But at the same time, the small management team created a series of companies in distinct therapeutic areas.

Charlie, who has served AskBio as an interim Business Development leader since 2009, advised them with the April 2014 sale of one of these therapeutic entities, Chatham Therapeutics, LLC (focused on hemophilia gene therapy) to Baxter International Inc. for $70 million upfront and undisclosed future development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. He continues to serve as a Business Development Consultant to AskBio as it implements its strategy of executing additional strategic transactions with other global companies and research institutions.