Washington’s Health Care System Includes a Vibrant Tech Sector
By Seattle Business Magazine February 18, 2011
Outstanding Achievement in Biopharmaceuticals (in alphabetical order)
Ryo Kubota
Chairman, president and CEO, Acucela Inc.
It wasnt enough to discover the first glaucoma gene; Ryo Kubota founded Acucela Inc. on the notion that some eye diseases, including what is called age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, could be slowed down. His innovative new approach, which is based on electrical signals in the retina of the eye, targets the leading cause of blindness in people age 50 and older. Acucela is also teaming up with the Japanese Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. to test and develop a new treatment for glaucoma.
CEO, Dendreon Corporation
Dendreon exploded into national prominence in 2010 for bringing its research discovery, Provenge, into commercial use after receiving Food and Drug Administration approval in April. Provenge is a breakthrough therapy that uses a patients own cells to fight prostate cancer, which is the second most common cancer in American men and the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. One expert in the field, Philip Kantoff of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said Provenge will likely create a new treatment paradigm for patients with cancer.
President and CEO, Seattle Genetics Inc.
This company, based in Bothell, is poised to break from research into the commercial world in a big way if the Food and Drug Administration approves its product, brentuximab vedotin, which showed promise against two blood cancers in clinical trials in patients whose cancer had returned or did not respond to other treatments. The results demonstrate the potential of Seattle Genetics antibody-drug conjugate technology, which sends what some describe as a smart bomb of chemotherapy directly to a cancer cell.
Outstanding Achievement and Innovation in Medical Devices
Chairman and CEO, IsoRay Medical
Richland-based IsoRay Medical dramatically improved the effectiveness and efficiency of internal radiation therapy for treating prostate and other cancers by finding a way to use Cesium-131 as the source of radiation. Cesium-131 delivers radiation uniformly across the gland, which means fewer side effects than with other radioactive materials. It also has a much shorter half-lifeCesium-131 releases half its radiation in only 9.7 days as opposed to 17 days or more for alternative isotopes.
Steve Hulteng
Engineering manager, Pathway Medical Technologies
Steve Hultengs invention of the Jetstream G3 System comes as the number of people afflicted with peripheral arterial disease is expected to double in the next 10 years. The catheter, with rotating blades and a vacuum, restores circulation in the peripheral arteries by removing hard and soft plaque, calcium, thrombus and fibrotic lesions with shorter procedure times, minimal trauma to blood vessels and fewer complications for patients.
Chairman, president and CEO, Atossa Genetics Inc.
After more than five decades of research, scientists agree that almost all breast cancer begins within the milk ducts, and identifying precancerous cellular changes in nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) enables early, potentially lifesaving, treatment. Whats new is how NAF is extracted. The MASCT System, invented by Steven Quay, is a noninvasive, handheld and reusable breast pump that is simple, painless and quick.