THE DRUG REFINERY
LISA M. JARVIS · Chemical & Engineering News · 2011
AFTER JONATHAN VIOLIN completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, he wanted to continue his research with a high-profile scientist working on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Robert Lefkowitz, an expert in protein receptor biology at Duke University, was at the top of his list. Little did Violin know that his 2003 interview with Lefkowitz for a postdoc position would be so fateful: Their chat was a first step in founding Trevena, one of the more successful biotech start-ups of recent years. Just three years after its formation, King of Prussia, Pa.-based Trevena has raised two rounds of financing and secured a sizable National Institutes of Health grant. More impressive, the biotech firm, with a staff of just 30 people, has a drug poised to enter midstage clinical trials and is readying a second candidate for testing. Trevena is based on a new understanding of the biology of GPCRs, large proteins that span ...