Evgen Pharma Plc (LON:EVG) Chief Executive Officer Dr Stephen Franklin caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss Evgen’s unusual start, floating a second company and finding his way from PhD Biochemist to entrepreneur
Q1: Stephen, Evgen Pharma Plc had a relatively unusual start, can you explain that to us?
A1: Yes, back in 2007 I was approached by investors that had made money in my last IPO and their proposition was to invest in me as an entrepreneur with a mandate to go and find technology that could have a disruptive effect in the healthcare space. So that’s quite an unusual start to any company where you don’t actually have any technology, it was very much entrepreneur-led, I looked at some 2,000 innovations and went to see the best part of 200 over 5 different continents and eventually we settled on a shortlist of 4 technologies and then selected the sulforaphane opportunity which underpins the business to date. Even within that sulforaphane area, we were holding a number of technologies under option whilst we appraised them and built the investment case. So in hindsight, I think it was very satisfying to build what’s now an AIM-listed company from what was totally a blank piece of paper.
Q2: You were only 37 when you floated your first company, what it’s like second time round at the grand old age of 47?
A2: More enjoyable, it has to be said. This time I took my time and built the core components of the Evgen Pharma proposition and meticulously built an absolutely outstanding team over a long period of time so this time, it was 7 years from company foundation through to IPO whereas in my last business which was Provexis Plc, it was 3 years from inception to the market and we came to the market via a reversed take-over. Now looking back at both businesses, they’re both very different in terms of technology, markets and the regulatory environment so it’s difficult to compare. What I do like about Evgen Pharma is the whole drug development programme process and the fact that it’s so transparent in terms of the regulatory process and the scale of the value creation that can be attributed to developing a new medicine so I think just been in drug development, it’s tremendously exciting for all of us.
Q3: How did you actually find your way into entrepreneurial life from being a PhD Biochemist?
A3: I did my PhD, I have to be honest, mainly because I had no idea at the time what I wanted to do, I guess a lot of people do that. Within the first couple of months of standing, I remember working in a cold room throughout the night pipetting away into glass tubes and I knew within 2 months, it wasn’t for me. I think it’s a small miracle looking back but then persevered with it for 4 years. The truth is I love the science but the actual laboratory work, it has to be said, it can be quite tedious, repetitive and also quite solitary. So straight after my PhD, I was offered a position in a start-up company, I got more and more involved in the commercialisation of science, I guess looking back, the epiphany, if there’s such a thing for me, was being at a seminar in London in the early 90’s and listening to a talk by Sir Chris Evans and it was at that point that I realised there was a real opportunity for somebody like me to bridge the scientific world and the financial world and I’ve never really looked back since then. For me, nothing really compares to converting a scientific idea that might be in the mind of a professor into a tangible product that has the potential to impact so many lives.
