Avtar Dhillon – Successful Returns October 2005 PharmaVOICE A scientist’s perseverance and foresight, a doctor’s compassion, and an entrepreneur’s penchant for turning business opportunities into successful ventures are just some of the traits that define the multifaceted career of Avtar Dhillon, M.D. Now as President and CEO of Inovio Biomedical Corp., he is once again creating a thriving business while placing full emphasis on the success and well-being of staff, investors, clients, and, most importantly, patients. Avtar Dhillon, M.D., puts ideas into action — from his athletic pursuits, to opening clinics that bring advanced medicine to patients, to establishing small businesses on behalf of friends and family, to his venture capital expertise and insights on behalf of life-sciences companies, and now to leading a biomedical company to greater success and profitability. The result has been one success after another. Front and center for Dr. Dhillon has been a passion for medicine and a desire to provide care for vulnerable patients. It is this outlook that has molded his leadership style throughout his career. “In my clinical practice, I created an environment that was focused on win-win situations for everyone, providing quality patient care and creating a fun working environment for the physicians, rather than taking the dog-eat-dog perspective that many people in business take,” he says. This optimistic, entrepreneurial spirit has benefited Inovio Biomedical Corp., which was founded in 1983 as Biotechnologies and Experimental Research Inc. and later renamed Genetronics Inc. The late-stage biomedical company is focused on building an oncology franchise based on its proprietary electroporation therapy. The therapy targets a significant unmet clinical need: the selective killing of cancer cells and local ablation of solid tumors while preserving healthy tissue. Over the past year and a half, Inovio has raised more than $35 million, formed several significant partnerships, and developed a solid relationship with the FDA to allow the company to develop its technology in a way that offers the best chance of commercial success. “Inovio has given me the opportunity to combine my experience in venture capital and clinical practice into one environment where I truly believe that I can make a difference,” Dr. Dhillon says. Putting ideas into practice Medicine has held a lifelong allure for Dr. Dhillon because of his deep interest in science and a desire to help people. “In high school, I started focusing on science, and I began to look toward picking a career that I thought would be the most rewarding and challenging for me,” Dr. Dhillon says. A keen sports player and athlete, the young student considered specializing in orthopedics, but the intensity of working in a tertiary care hospital, where doctors were often on call for 48 or 72 hours at a time, led Dr. Dhillon to go into general practice and instead focus on sports medicine through that route. After finishing his medical degree, Dr. Dhillon was disinclined to join an existing practice, where he would inherit patients or battle with preconceived notions of medicine; so, he decided to establish his own practice. The question was how to attract patients. “At that time, it was unethical to advertise because all physicians were considered equal,” he says. “So I opened a clinic in a new, busy mall, placing my practice in the middle of a high-traffic area.” The practice quickly grew, and the enterprising young doctor took the opportunity to open two more clinics in other busy malls. Recognizing that he couldn’t man all of the clinics himself, Dr. Dhillon recruited like-minded physicians to join his practice. The decision to open clinics in multiple locations was to create a business that could obviously make money, but more important for Dr. Dhillon was the opportunity to provide top-quality healthcare to patients in convenient locations. “I have always had a very deep desire to provide the best level of care without having to worry about how much time I was spending with each patient or what resources were required and so on,” he says. “I think the people who I treated in my clinics appreciated my genuine interest in wanting to help them.” Dr. Dhillon’s practice also was unique in that the physicians provided a wide variety of medical services, including surgical procedures, for a broad spectrum of patients in diverse healthcare settings, such as nursing homes and in-hospital acute-care management. Such diverse exposure to medical conditions and treatments during his 12 years in practice provided valuable experience that Dr. Dhillon was able to capitalize on when he moved into venture capitalism and ultimately the life sciences. “I was able to meld my medical training, my clinical practice experience, and my business sense into one pot when I entered the biotech arena,” he says. “Unlike so many investors or venture capitalists in the biotech industry, I believed I had the advantage of having a sense of what patients would tolerate as a treatment.” The move into consulting and venture capital began when Dr. Dhillon was looking for personal investment opportunities and provided advice to friends and family. Before long, this led to consulting opportunities for institutions, high-net worth individuals, and analysts. “One of the things my clients appreciated was that I was able to take complicated science or products and simplify them into what their clinical utility would be and what the business opportunity was,” he says. A Keen business mind While medicine and the life sciences are at the epicenter of Dr. Dhillon’s interests, his business acumen extends into vastly different fields. “During my fourth year of medical school, I had the opportunity to open up a salon for four friends who were accomplished hairstylists who had recently left their jobs,” he says. That was his first go at running a business, and the business is still going strong, although Dr. Dhillon is no longer involved. After he opened his practice, Dr. Dhillon again decided to delve into another business opportunity — this time in construction. “My brother was in the construction industry, and I had worked as a laborer when I was young, so I opened a construction business with him,” he says. This savvy business sense has benefited companies and investors across the life-sciences sector. As a consultant for Cardiome Pharmaceuticals (formerly Nortran Pharmaceuticals), Dr. Dhillon helped the company raise money to avoid insolvency and restructured the management team, including installing a new board and CEO. “When I first came to the company with funding, I helped build a rapport with the scientists by buying their shares and letting them reinvest the money into the company by buying a private placement,” he says. “This allowed them to increase their ownership rather than having their shares diluted by the new money. They appreciated that I was genuinely interested in helping them and not just looking at this as an opportunity to make money.” Dr. Dhillon’s enterprising outlook was recently recognized by the AAPI Forum for Health Entrepreneurs, a sector of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin that works to nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship among Indian physicians. He received the AAPI Health Care Entrepreneur Award for 2005. With a tremendous track record of success in all his pursuits, Dr. Dhillon has found himself in demand. “I’ve been fortunate that most of the opportunities have come to me rather than my going out and looking for opportunities,” he notes. One such opportunity was with the Canadian venture capital firm MDS Capital Corp. “MDS offered me a job because the company’s management was aware of my efforts in the healthcare industry,” Dr. Dhillon says. Initially hired as a consultant, Dr. Dhillon was eventually hired as a full time VP at the company. The experience broadened his experience in the venture-capital field. “MDS has a very extensive process of looking very deeply into companies,” he says. “For me, sometimes it was difficult to control my enthusiasm when a promising opportunity presented itself. There was a need to balance that excitement with the corporate requirements of extensive due diligence. MDS had a very structured environment that allowed me to build a skill set that has been very helpful in the management roles that I have undertaken, which have required building a corporate structure in addition to providing entrepreneurial thinking.” One company to cross Dr. Dhillon’s path while at MDS was Genetronics, which was developing a technology that showed great promise: electroporation. “My focus always has been on finding technologies that could have a profound effect on the practice of medicine on a global basis,” he says. “I found that Genetronics easily fit that investment criterion.” Even though Genetronics had an exciting technology platform, the company’s corporate structure was less than ideal. In September 2001, the company had about 90 employees and was going through money at an alarming rate. After a thorough corporate review, Dr. Dhillon offered multiple suggestions for improvement to the board. Genetronics’ board, impressed by the insight, recognized that he could bring the ingredients necessary to rejuvenate the business and create shareholder value and offered him the position of CEO and president. Recently, Dr. Dhillon and his board believed that a name change would give the company a lift. “We were already looking for a relatively simple, easy to pronounce name that reflected the innovative characteristic of our company,” Dr. Dhillon says. “With the $10 million acquisition of Inovio in early 2005, it was a logical decision to adopt its name.” Untangling the web Four years after Dr. Dhillon took the helm, Inovio is thriving under his leadership. The company has witnessed a dramatic turnaround. Previously, it had a market cap of less than $10 million, no clinical programs, and no licensing deals. Today, the company boasts a market cap greater than $80 million, five clinical trials in oncology, and licensing deals with Merck and Vical, as well as an investment from Quintiles. “I assessed every aspect of the company in terms of how to improve the business, from the management structure to the board to how the company can accelerate the development of the technology to evaluating the true clinical utility for particular products,” he says. Inovio has gone through many changes since Dr. Dhillon took the helm, including moving to a new facility. The company leader continues to push Inovio toward greater success. “My goal is to build an enduring global sciences company and deliver superior shareholder value with the worldwide introduction of a truly revolutionary product, in partnership with a global marketing giant,” he says. Along with the breakthrough technology, another key to the company’s success is the team that Dr. Dhillon has helped put together. What he seeks in those leaders are their insights and can-do attitudes toward problem solving. “I encourage people to share their expertise and their points of view,” he says. “I foster a setting that allows everybody to contribute and to come up with the best solutions to any particular problem. But before my managers tell me what the problem is, I want to hear what the solutions are.” Even with a promising technology and progressive team in place, one of the difficulties emerging life-sciences companies can face is maintaining the interest of investors when the strategic direction changes or a new management team is brought on board. “It is not easy for investors, who may have a long history with a company, to let go of the past and focus on the new management and their achievements,” he says. “Quite often, if they expected the company to be at a further stage, it feels like a step backward when you outline a new development strategy.” In these circumstances, Dr. Dhillon’s venture capital and clinical practice background are particularly helpful. “I can bridge the gap between the business community and the scientific community,” he says. “By developing a base of connections in the industry, I’ve been able to raise the money that is needed to move forward and bring top managers on board.” Dr. Dhillon’s skills have been put to the test on numerous occasions, and each time he has proven his ability to unlock a company’s potential. “I believe that one of the areas where I have excelled is helping to turn around companies that have a good technology,” he says. “At Inovio, I have been able to provide strong leadership, as well as attract the right team to move the company to its next stage.” PharmaVOICE welcomes comments about this article. E-mail us at [email protected]. A Practice of caring In an exclusive interview with PharmaVOICE, Avtar Dhillon, M.D., president and CEO of Inovio Biomedical Corp., discusses what inspires him, who has influenced him, and how he motivates and leads those around him. When you originally entered the healthcare field, what in particular did you find inspiring and exciting? are these the same things that inspire and excite you today? As a medical practitioner, I very much enjoyed caring for patients one at a time. I believe this mindset has given me an appreciation for the need for better medicines and products. The opportunity to be able to do something on a grander scale — the potential to help hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people — intrigued me. I continue to be enthused by the potential of the biotech industry. This industry will develop more products, become more profitable, and be less dependent on major pharmaceutical companies. Biotech is an exciting area to be part of, and I think it is the pinnacle of entrepreneurship in the healthcare industry. For me personally, it’s great to be able to challenge myself and bring all that I’ve learned in terms of leadership, product development, team building, fund raising, and so on, to try to build a successful organization. Who are the people who have been a significant influence on you and your career? There have been many people who have had tremendous influence on me; they taught me important fundamental traits, such as teamwork, discipline, and perseverance. I have been influenced by my professors, my coaches, and various business colleagues. I’ve been able to take bits and pieces from everybody whom I’ve interacted with and continue to add knowledge from those around me to my own business acumen. How do you seek to influence those you lead? I believe in leading by example; I believe in integrity, in being honest, and in being fair. I seek to match people to their skill sets, their motivations, and their work ethics. America is the greatest land of opportunity; there are plenty of opportunities for those who are disciplined and passionate. The more passionate one is about something, the less it feels like work. I like to surround myself with people who work hard because they enjoy what they do, which also means we are able to have a lot of fun interacting with each other. Delivering solutions Inovio Biomedical Corp. has come a long way since its early days. The company was founded in 1983 based on the concept of electroporation (EPT) and the technology’s potential use in delivering genes and molecules into cells. “The technology has broad-reaching potential applications for cancer, gene delivery, and vascular applications,” says Avtar Dhillon, M.D., president and CEO of Inovio. “The two areas that Inovio primarily focuses on are treatments for cancers, speci ically solid tumors, and gene delivery.” EPT involves the use of brief, pulsed electric fields to temporarily permeabilize cell membranes, allowing the entry of various types of molecules, such as nucleic acids and proteins, into the cell. In oncology, Inovio is putting the technology to the test as a way to kill cancer cells in solid tumors while still preserving healthy tissue. For years, cancer researchers have been trying to find a way to target chemotherapeutic agents more precisely and deliver the agents only to the part of the body affected by cancer. EPT does this by making the cancer cells more permeable, making it easier for the chemotherapeutic agents to penetrate the cell membrane and enter the cell. This could make it possible to deliver reduced dosages of chemotherapy more effectively, thus increasing cytotoxicity while reducing or even eliminating side effects. The company’s main product in oncology is its MedPulser Selective Electrochemical Tumor Ablation (SECTA) therapy system. While surgery is the traditional way to remove tumors, the downside is that surgeons have to cut out fairly significant margins so as not to leave any cancer cells behind. This approach can lead to cosmetic deformities and function loss, Dr. Dhillon says. “Inovio’s intent with SECTA is to not displace surgical oncologists or other physicians,” Dr. Dhillon says. “The goal is to provide them with an alternative tool to surgery to provide local tumor control, while providing equivalency with respect to local tumor control and survival. Our belief is that SECTA can be a lower-cost alternative to surgery by potentially reducing hospitalization and reconstructive surgery requirements. We aim to provide the evidence of this outcome by including pharmacoeconomic data as part of our current clinical studies. The FDA provided an important acknowledgement of the attributes of Inovio’s SECTA by permitting a Phase III clinical trial with a nonsurvival primary endpoint; rather, it is quality of life. This was approved under a special protocol assessment (SPA).” Inovio has initiated Phase III clinical trials in the United States for the treatment of recurrent head and neck cancer. In Europe, the company has initiated trials in primary head and neck cancers, recurrent head and neck cancers, and primary and recurrent skin cancers. The second key area of focus for Inovio is gene delivery. The company and its partners are testing an array of gene therapy mechanisms with different genes and DNA vaccines. The company says other methods of gene delivery, such as liposomes, cationic lipids, microinjection, or biolistic gun, typically yield inefficient gene transfer and expression and may limit the size of the DNA being delivered, or they are inconvenient, invasive, and costly. Viral vectors, which were considered to be one of the most promising approaches, can cause immune complications and other safety issues. According to Inovio, electroporation poses few complications and is applicable to a wide variety of targets. “Upon a local injection of DNA, at which point the tissue is pulsed for less than one second, we can generally increase the uptake of that gene into cells and increase gene expression 100- to 1,000-fold,” Dr. Dhillon says. “This is a very easy and effective way to enable genes to enter into cells.” The promise of gene therapy — using DNA vaccines to stimulate immune responses or using genes as “production factories” to make up for a deficiency of proteins necessary for vital functions of the body — has been curtailed by a lack of effective delivery systems. Inovio’s managers believe their solution can become a preferred delivery method for a range of therapeutic genes. The company has investigated the use of gene delivery for protein-deficient diseases, such as Factor IX deficiencies, which cause patients to develop hemophilia. The primary area of Inovio’s focus in gene therapy is in the promising area of DNA vaccines, where the company is working with partners, including Merck and Vical. According to Dr. Dhillon, the use of electroporation to deliver DNA vaccines in studies using large animals, including primates, demonstrates the ability to overcome the lack of effectiveness of DNA vaccines delivered by alternative methods by mounting stronger, faster, and longer immunological responses to a variety of DNA sequences encoding various antigens. Replicating this result in humans would be a very important scientific breakthrough with commercial potential. The Doctor is in the House September 2001 — Present. Director, President, and CEO, Inovio Biomedical Corp. (formerly Genetronics), San Diego September 2000 — September 2001. VP, MDS Capital Corp., Toronto August 2000 — August 2001. Consultant, Forbes Meditech, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada August 1999 — September 2000. Investment Manager, MDS Capital Corp., Toronto July 1998 — August 1999. Consultant, MDS Capital Corp., Toronto March 1997 — July 1998. Consultant, Cardiome Pharma Corp. (formerly Nortran Pharmaceuticals), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 1997 — November 1997. Consultant, Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Richmond, British Columbia, Canada November 1996 — July 1998. Consultant, Biotechnology Investment Analysis, British Columbia, Canada July 1989 — September 2001. Family Physician, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Education 1989. Internship (Family Medicine), University of British Columbia Family Practice Program, British Columbia, Canada 1988. Medical Doctor (Physician and Surgeon), University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada 1984. Bachelor of Science (Honors Physiology Program), University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada Memberships British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, British Columbia, Canada British Columbia Medical Association, British Columbia, Canada Canadian Medical Association, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1998 — 2001. Securities Practice Advisory Committee to the British Columbia Securities Commission, British Columbia, Canada Avtar Dhillon, M.D. — Resume

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