By Dale Denwalt Copyright 2020, The Oklahoman The evolutionary defenses of a fungus could help humans deal with another defense mechanism, the noxious odor of skunk spray. Robert H. Cichewicz and his Natural Products Discovery Group were hunting for a chemical to help treat breast cancer when they found a surprising molecule made byRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman It’s really difficult to invent new drug therapies. Research and development can take decades. Once a potential drug appears viable, testing for safety and efficacy adds more years. At every stage, risk of failure is extreme. Ascend BioVentures, a pharmaceutical accelerator company, helps Oklahoma’s early stage therapeuticsRead more
Ascend BioVentures keeps overhead at a minimum to focus on the science Ascend BioVentures puts a unique spin on the concept of pharmaceutical accelerators, says Elaine Hamm, Ph.D., the company’s founding CEO. It is a lean operation that features its own crowd-sourcing element in a diverse, 12-member advisory committee. “I think what we are doingRead more
“Hi….my name is Elaine Hamm and I am here because of my failures.” Last month, that is how I introduced myself to a room of people at the Department of Health and Human Services. While everyone else at that meeting talked about their progress, I had the opportunity to talk about my failures. And IRead more
