Eyeworld

EW CATARACT 42 December 2011 by Enette Ngoei EyeWorld Contributing Editor Pursuing invention O phthalmology is one of the fastest growing areas to make investments in right now, said R. Dana Ono, Ph.D., managing director, Life Sciences, VIMAC Ventures, Boston. There are several reasons for this, he said, one being the growing patient population of baby boomers. Another is that there are still unmet needs for the treatment of diseases at the back of the eye as well as the front of the eye that could involve more devices and therapeutics. The clinical trial expense is probably not of the same order as some other areas like the cardiovas- cular space, for example, he ex- plained. "Some of those require thou- sands of patients. You could proba- bly do it in ophthalmology for less total capital expenditure. That makes it very attractive," he said. Dr. Ono and colleagues at VIMAC Ventures, an early stage ven- ture capital firm for life science in- vesting, have looked at several oph- thalmology assets and are currently invested in a company looking at a therapy for dry eye. A passion for creating start-ups A biologist by training, Dr. Ono worked on the business side of the life science biotech industry for sev- eral years. His passion for entrepre- neurship led him to become CEO of several companies in the Boston area before he eventually became a ven- ture capitalist. The toughest part about starting a new company around an inven- tion, besides getting the technology license from whoever had it (the university or the inventor), getting human resources together, and get- ting a place to put the company, was getting capital, he said. After he sold his last company, he decided to continue to fuel his passion for putting companies to- gether by creating a captive financ- ing vehicle so that every time someone came to him with a good idea and he helped to start a com- pany, he could have the fund right there. Advice for inventors Investors are looking for an insanely awesome technology or opportunity. "In other words, we don't want just an incremental improvement on something, we want a game changer, something that's really dis- ruptive in the marketplace for an unmet need. High risk, high return —that's the game here," he ex- plained. Every technology that comes through his door may seem cool at the beginning, but being able to convert that technology or research to a commercializable asset is essen- tial, he said. If you're an ophthalmologist with a great idea and you want to create a company around your in- vention, Dr. Ono's advice is to first file an invention disclosure on your idea and protect it before you talk to anyone. Then bring in someone with business savvy, someone who has experience in doing this and knows how to put a business to- gether. That person can help put to- gether a plan and an executive summary to pitch to potential in- vestors because you will need capital from the get-go, he said. "You have to be monitoring it all the time, you can't just do it in absentia; you've got to be on it all of the time," he emphasized. Raising capital The hardest thing about going for- ward with an invention is raising capital. The earlier you do it, the better, he said; raising money can take anywhere from 3 months to a year. "Go to a venture capitalist like myself or the professional equity people and you may get money but you're going to get diluted in your ownership position, so there's al- ways a trade-off for taking capital," Dr. Ono said. When accepting capital, make certain that with the check also comes a network. While a venture capitalist will take an ownership in your company, he said, what he pro- vides is the network you will need because chances are you have an in- complete management team, if you D eveloping a new technol- ogy is similar to having a child: The conception of the idea is fun and excit- ing, but then there are the years of hard work in raising the child. Many, if not most, physicians have had at least one good idea for a new technology in their career. However, the majority of those ideas languish due to the hurdles of converting the ideas into reality. R. Dana Ono, Ph.D., an expert in biomed- ical investing, shares some thoughts on how to approach a new idea. Bonnie An Henderson, M.D., cataract editor Cataract editor's corner of the world Venture capitalist R. Dana Ono, Ph.D., offers a peek into the world of biomedical investing and how ophthalmologists can pursue their ideas 42-43 Cataract_EW December 2011-DL_Layout 1 12/2/11 3:10 PM Page 42

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