Whenever someone asks about dreams, there is an underlying expectation that it is something that springs up on you at a nascent age, like an epiphany where you’ve realised your life’s calling. But that is not always the case. For me, founding a global biotechnology company was not an overnight phenomenon, but a dream that gradually materialised as I started helping at my family’s pharmacy when I was eight.
My paternal grandfather influenced my worldview. Since young, he shared tales of his experiences travelling from Burma to India during the pre-partition era, and his journey to becoming one of the top five registered pharmacists in India. Growing up, I immersed myself in a pharmacy family legacy dedicated to improving people’s lives. This transformed my perspective of healthcare as a necessity. But that was also when I realised the harsh reality: healthcare is not always affordable and accessible to everyone. This sparked a fire in me to make a difference in the lives of people, and that is how my journey towards AUM Biosciences began.
Carrying my family’s baton, I enrolled and completed my Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Mumbai, India, and registered as a pharmacist. Later, I furthered my studies at Kingston University in London to become a medicinal chemist in pursuit of greater knowledge. My research focused on aromatase inhibitors, currently the standard of care in breast cancer. After completing my Master’s, I worked at a clinical research organisation as a proposal developer.
As part of my job, I prepared extensive documentation on how clinical studies are conducted, including basic drug research and development. I also found an opportunity to work as a business development executive where I honed my client-facing skills.
My experiences taught me that if I wanted to translate science into commercial success—a key step towards inciting change in people’s lives—I would have to swap my lab coat for a business suit. As Gujarati descendants, entrepreneurship has always been in our blood. My father and grandfather are great examples; they ran the pharmacy family business. My Gujarati roots and pharmacy heritage brought me closer to my biotechnology destiny.
My lessons and experiences across the science, healthcare and business sectors enhanced my belief in the benefits of precision medicine and healthcare reforms for patients. This is especially true for oncology, as cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide.
Studies show that 40.8 percent of global cancer incidence recorded from 2015 to 2020 occurred in Asia. There is a need for oncology treatments in this region, but only 20 percent of approved treatments are available. I realised I could make a tangible impact in this field since drug development was something I learned and trained for.
“Only 10 percent of drugs make it past clinical trials and regulatory approval today. As a result, pharma and biotechnology companies pump more money into failed drugs. On top of shouldering hefty medical bills, patients then bear the brunt of these costs. Our goal is to increase the success rate of our drugs to at least 30 percent.”
Vishal Doshi on the difficulties of developing pharmaceutical drugs
This led to the birth of AUM Biosciences in 2018, a global clinical-stage biotech company I founded with Dr Harish Dave, our chief medical officer. It focuses on discovering, developing, and advancing a pipeline of precision oncology therapeutics to deploy multifaceted inhibition strategies to reverse cancer resistance.
The development of new anti-cancer drugs, from the lab to the market, takes an average of six to 12 years. At AUM, we envision optimising and speeding up the entire process from Phase I to Phase III. Drug development costs are high, as is the cost of failure, which is another challenge we hope to overcome.
Only 10 percent of drugs make it past clinical trials and regulatory approval today. As a result, pharma and biotechnology companies pump more money into failed drugs. On top of shouldering hefty medical bills, patients then bear the brunt of these costs. Our goal is to increase the success rate of our drugs to at least 30 percent.
AUM has adopted an “Asia to Global” strategy to achieve this. The objective is to facilitate the transfer of approved drugs across geographies at any given time, destabilising the Western-centric focus of current drug development. Multifaceted inhibition strategies have enabled us to push the boundaries of precision oncology by developing a pipeline of therapeutics that overturn cancer resistance.
Recently, we announced our market listing through a merger with Mountain Crest, a US-based Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. We forecast to receive about $69 million in gross proceeds from this deal, which will be used to advance our clinical-stage precision oncology development pipeline.
Throughout my career in my family’s pharmacy, I have never lost sight of my goal: improving people’s lives. I hope AUM Biosciences will enable patients to live normal and productive lives by turning cancer into a manageable lifestyle disease.
