Alumnus discusses genes

Randy Scott visited the University of Kansas on Saturday to talk about the importance of gene research in science

By Mary Sorrick

Monday, February 11, 2008

Imagine a world where doctors base health care on the affordable mapping of each person’s 20,000 genes.

That’s what Randy Scott, University of Kansas alumnus and bioscience entrepreneur, encouraged students to do Saturday when he visited the University.

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The pharmaceutical industry has lost its way. It’s too focused on Wall Street, not the customer.

— Randy Scott, KU alumnus and bioscience entrepreneur

Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Genomic Health Inc., a company that provides health care advice based on the analysis of genomes. The company uses diagnostic technologies to help assign the most successful treatments.

This type of medicine, which shapes a patient’s treatment according to their genes, provides vast opportunities for entrepreneurship in biology and health care, Scott said.

Scott said the technology that analyzes an individual’s genetic makeup, called genomic technology, has ushered in a new era of personalized medicine.

“The moment when we first sequenced the human genome was a turning point in human history,” Scott said.

Medicine based on an individual’s genes helps cancer patients get the right treatment, Scott said. Medical professionals can assess the likelihood of a cancer recurring and which treatment, chemotherapy or drugs, would be best.

It’s an aspect of medicine, he said, with which the health care system has struggled.

He said most drugs prescribed today are effective in less than 60 percent of the patients who take them. The success rate for cancer drugs is only 25 percent, he said.

“The pharmaceutical industry has lost its way,” Scott said. “It’s too focused on Wall Street, not the customer.”

Initiative to help the customer has led some students to consider following in Scott’s entrepreneurial footsteps.

Matt Leming, graduate student in molecular biosciences, said he would rather work on genomic technology in industry than in a lab.

“Industry focuses on the patients themselves,” Leming said. “There are more opportunities for making a difference.”

Nandini Mehta, Bombay, India senior, said she was also interested in the business side of biotechnology.

“I would like to eventually have my own company,” she said. “Biotechnology is exciting and I want to help make genome sequencing affordable for everybody.”

Entrepreneurship has received greater emphasis at the University in recent years, Kevin Boatright, director of research communications, said.

Discoveries related to drug delivery and radio-frequency identification, the method used in security tags on clothing, are among new technologies and technology licenses at the University, Boatright said.

Other areas that also have big potential for entrepreneurship are in the computer industry, mathematics, green technology and alternative fuels, Scott said.

But ultimately, he said, entrepreneurship hinges on people doing work for which they have real enthusiasm.

“For successful entrepreneurs it’s not about the money,” he said. “It’s about the passion for what you want to do and what you want to accomplish.”

— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird

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