Word: boyer
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...faded jeans and open leather vest, a can of Budweiser in his hand, he looks like a leftover from the 1960s. Back then, in fact, he marched regularly in the streets of Berkeley, Calif., taking part in civil rights and antiwar demonstrations. Despite his casual look, Herbert Wayne Boyer is a millionaire many times over, at least on paper. More important, he is in the forefront of a new breed of scientist-entrepreneurs who are leading gene splicing out of the university laboratory and into the hurly-burly of industry and commerce...
...Boyer's success is a result of brains and foresight, plus a strong independent streak. In 1976, after the first flush of public excitement about gene splicing, Boyer got an unexpected telephone call from Robert Swanson, a young venture capitalist. Swanson wanted to discuss the commercial possibilities of the new science, and many scientists might have kept him at arm's length. Boyer invited Swanson to his lab for a chat but told him he could only spare 20 minutes. The two hit it off so well they went on talking over beers at a local...
Yielding to Swanson's enthusiasm, Boyer borrowed $500 and joined him in forming a company to exploit the new technology. They dubbed it Genentech (for genetic-engineering technology). As Boyer explains, "He wasn't happy with Boyer & Swanson, and I wasn't happy with Swanson & Boyer." The motives of the two were different. Swanson was 28, with degrees in chemistry and business administration from M.I.T. After several years of seeking out investment opportunities for others, he wanted to show the world he could succeed with a business of his own. Boyer, on the other hand, was interested...
...Genentech's vice president, Boyer pinpointed promising areas of exploitation and, in his words, "made sure that the scientists were being taken care of and their particular value recognized." Boyer did his job extremely well. Today, after less than five years, Genentech probably has the best research facilities in the gene-splicing business (40 Ph.D.s, 65 technicians). It has produced and is testing half a dozen recombinant DNA products, including insulin, human growth hormone and various types of human interferon. Swanson gives Boyer the highest grades: "For an academic, he's got an incredible sense of what...
...Boyer now draws only a consultant's fee for his Genentech work, but he has not exactly gone unrewarded. Like Swanson, he owns 925,000 shares of Genentech stock. Last October, when the stock shot up to $89 a share, he was briefly worth more than $80 million. Currently, with the stock at around $43, the figure is down to a mere $40 million or so. Watching the ebb and flow of this paper fortune, Boyer admits: "It's all a little unreal...