Social connections first, science second: How biotech’s recipe for success has its limits
When Laura Indolfi set out to launch a biotech in Boston, she had an idea — and little else. She had never run a company before. She had no practical experience in fundraising.
But she was undeterred. In 2014 she founded PanTher Therapeutics, with the goal of turning a postdoctoral side project into a bona-fide drug delivery company.
“I took a leap of faith,” she told STAT.
Through her five-year odyssey, Indolfi learned a fundamental lesson about the biotech world: who you know can be as important — or even more important — as what you want to do.
First, her “leap of faith’’ needed to be backed up with data. But soon, she needed to match it with cold, hard cash. She met with as many venture capitalists as she could fit into her schedule, hoping to find a
