Christopher Henney

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Christopher Henney is a British-American biotechnology company executive and board member. In 1980, he co-founded Immunex Corp., which was later acquired by Amgen Inc.

Background

Henney was born on Feb. 4th, 1941, in Potters Hill Aston in Birmingham, UK. He attended Prince Albert School in 1945.[1] In 1952 he attended King Edward VI School until 1959 and went on to study biochemistry at the University of Birmingham, where he earned his B.Sc, his Ph.D. in experimental pathology, and his D.Sc. for his contributions to the field of immunology in 1964.[2][3] He was recruited by Japanese scientists Teruko and Kimishige Ishizaka to Children’s Asthma Research Institute and Hospital (Denver) in 1966.[4][5]

He worked as a professor of Immunology at Johns Hopkins between 1972-78. In 1978, Henney was offered the first Chair in Immunology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a position as an Academic Immunologist at the University of Washington. At that time, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffman-La Roche offered Henney’s research lab $1 million to fund research in exchange for commercial rights to new inventions. Colleagues at the Hutch denied the arrangement.[6]

Dr. Steven Gillis, whom Henney had recruited from Dartmouth to work on cloning interleukin - 2 (IL-2), a protein that regulates the activities of white blood cells, proposed that they form their own company. In 1980, Henney and Gillis co-founded Immunex Corp.[7][8], a venture-funded biotech company which Amgen, Inc., acquired it in 2002.[9][10]

Before its acquisition, Immunex (a contraction of immune experiments) had developed, manufactured, and marketed therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders, and was responsible for the development of Enbrel,[11] used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: Novantrone,[12] used to treat acute nonlymphocytic leukemia and pain associated with prostate cancer; Leukine, for use in bone marrow transplant patients.[13]

In 1989, Henney, Amgen Founder and CEO, George Ratthman, and Genetic Systems founder Robert Nowinski founded ICOS Corp. The founders raised $33 million in July 1990 from investors, including Bill Gates - who at the time was the largest shareholder and on the board of directors.[14] Gates sat on the ICOS board for 15 years and departed to sit on the Berkshire Hathaway board.[15] Henney was the Executive Vice President and Scientific Director from 1989 to 1995. While ICOS was primarily focused on the development of drugs to treat inflammatory disorders they became famous for developing tadalafil (Cialis), a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction.[16]

From 1995 to January 2003, Dr. Henney was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dendreon Corporation.[17] Originally named Activated Cell Therapy and founded in 1992 by Stanford scientists, Edgar Engleman and Samuel Strober,[18] Henney ran the company and subsequently moved the company from Palo Alto to his hometown of Seattle, WA, and renamed it Dendreon.[19][20] Dendreon developed its lead cell-based therapy product Provenge, and in 2010, it became the first FDA-approved therapy for Prostate cancer.[18]

In 2004 he left the company and has gone on to be actively involved as a senior advisor to several biotech companies. He guide start-ups and has presided as chairman or sat on the board of the following companies.[21]

  • SGX Pharmaceuticals - 2004 Chairman of the Board
  • Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals - 2004 Vice Chairman of the Board
  • Bionomics Ltd. - 2005 Board of Directors
  • Xcyte Therapies - 2005 Chairman of the Board
  • Cascadian Therapeutics - 2006 Chairman of the Board
  • CG Therepuetics - 2007 Chairman of the Board
  • Anthera Pharmaceuticals - 2008 Chairman of the Board
  • AVI Biopharma - 2009 Board of Directors
  • Allostera Pharam - 2010 Chairman of the Board
  • Prothena - 2013 Board of Directors

Awards and honors

2011, Dr. Henney was inducted into the Biotech Hall of Fame.[22]

2019, Dr. Henney was inducted into the Washington Life Science Hall of Fame.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Dr Chris Henney - Prince Albert School". www.princealbert.bham.sch.uk. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  2. ^ "Manchester United's Chief Exec and BBC Sport Boss Honoured by the University of Birmingham". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  3. ^ "Christopher Henney | News, Articles and Opinions". Xconomy. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  4. ^ Henney, Christopher S.; Ishizaka, Kimishige (1968-04-01). "Antigenic Determinants Specific for Aggregated γG-Globulins". The Journal of Immunology. 100 (4): 718–725. ISSN 0022-1767. PMID 4171392.
  5. ^ "Immunological Unresponsiveness to Specific Antigenic Determinants in Human γ G Globulin". insights.ovid.com. Retrieved 2021-03-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Marie Daghlian (2015-12-15). "LSFMAGFALL2015-reduced". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Deutsch, Claudia H. (1988-11-06). "AN INDUSTRY OF SCIENTISTS TURNS TO VETERAN MANAGERS (Published 1988)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  8. ^ Fisher, Lawrence M. (1991-02-14). "Talking Deals; Getting New Cash For Biotechnology (Published 1991)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  9. ^ "Looking back at Immunex and ahead to Seattle's biotech future". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2011-12-02. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  10. ^ LEFF, MARNI (2001-12-15). "Amgen-Immunex merger would unite like companies". seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
  11. ^ "Immunex' Enbrel Launched In USA For Arthritis - Pharmaceutical industr". www.thepharmaletter.com. Retrieved 2021-03-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "FDA approves Novantrone for secondary progressive MS". www.pharmaceuticalonline.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  13. ^ "US Approves Immunex' Liquid Leukine - Pharmaceutical industry news". www.thepharmaletter.com. Retrieved 2021-03-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Icos sale a blow to local biotech". Seattle Times. 18 October 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ "Gates quits ICOS board". Seattle Times. 11 January 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ Times, The Seattle (2006-10-18). "Eli Lilly to acquire Icos". Lewiston Sun Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  17. ^ "BIOTECH LEADER PLEADS his sector's SPECIAL CASE". Australian Financial Review. 2002-02-21. Retrieved 2021-04-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ a b Herper, Matthew. "The Man Behind The First Cancer-Treating Vaccine On The FDA And Innovation". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  19. ^ "Biotech firm moving here". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on 2003-01-31. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  20. ^ Herper, Matthew. "CEO: Corporate Egghead Officer". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  21. ^ Booth, Bruce. "Distinctive Corporate Culture In Biotech: Walk The Talk". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2017-07-25. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  22. ^ "Chris Henney Receives 2011 Hall of Fame Award at Annual Biotech CEO Meeting at Laguna Beach". BioSpace. Retrieved 2021-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ^ "Life Science Washington Announces 2019 Inductees into the Washington Life Science Hall of Fame". AP NEWS. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
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