Philip Morris
Cetus Corporation
Fields
- Type
- SPCH, SPEECH/PRESENTATION
- Site
- R37
- Named Organization
- Cetus
- General Electric
- Massachusetts Inst of Technology
- Seven Up
- Standard Oil of Indiana
- Stanford
- Univ of California at Berkeley
- Univ of Washington
- General Electric
- Document File
- 1000229812/1000229948/Missing. Cetus Corporation
- Litigation
- Stmn/Produced
- Named Person
- Cohen, S.N.
- Demain, A.
- Falkow, S.
- Gelfand, D.H.
- Glaser, D.A.
- Goldsmith, C.H.
- Hopwood, D.A.
- Lederberg, J.
- Narang, S.
- Rapoport, H.
- Wakeham, H.
- Demain, A.
- Area
- WAKEHAM,HELMUT/KAROL SHARPE'S OFFICE
- Request
- Stmn/R1-004
- Stmn/R1-150
- Date Loaded
- 05 Jun 1998
- UCSF Legacy ID
- kdi84e00
Document Images
CETUS CORPORATION
The Cetus proposition came in over the transom. Had it not been for
Cliff Goldsmith's often-expressed interest in a high technology; rapidly
evolving field of industriali activity, I would probably not have given it
a second thought. Howeve r, we did look. I went out the re with Dr.
0
Wakeham and one of his associates and I have become very enthusiastic
about it, though there's no doubt there is a high degree of entrepreneurial
risk.
I can express my enthusiasm by contrasting this situation with some of
the very high technology industrial situations we talked~ about last fall.
While the Seven-Up acquisition diverted us from the industrial companies
we were considering before I had' to take a final stand on them, I was
concerned by the competitive factors. For example, I was not altogether
happy about putting a billion dollars into a Gould and then facing the
competition of the General Electric Company.
It seems to me, based on the reactions of Dr. Wakeham and~ our other
scientists, that we have the opportunity in Cetus to back a team which
is as good as any in the world in~ their chosen area, and possibly the
be st.

-L
One of the founde rs is Dr. Donald A. Glase r, who won the 1960 Nobel
prize in physics and presently holids dual professorships in physics and ~
molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley. Cetus
has a Board of'Scientific Advisors, each one of which, we understand,
has a significant equity stake in Cetus and for most of them Cetus
represents their exclusive industrial involvement. This: board includes:
Dr. Joshua Lederberg, who won the 1958 Nobel prize
in medicine for his discoveries elucidating the mechanisms
of genetic change in bacteria.
Professor Arnold Demain of MIT, a microbiologist
and expert in industrial fermentation.
Professor David A. Hopwood, the British pioneer
and acknowledged world leader in antibotic-producing
organisms.
Profe ssor Stanley N. Cohen os Stanford, who is
described by Cetus as a; renowned leader in the
field he pioneered, recombinant DNA.
,

-3-
Dr. Saran Narang, who togethe r with a co-worke r
who is now a Cetus employee,' holds the patent on the
chemical te chnique s currently utilize d to rr, ake
synthetic genes.
Professor Stanley Falkow of the University of
Washington, who is described by Cetus as a
recognized authority on the molecular biology
of plasmids, infectious diseases, and the plasmid-
mediated resistance to antibiotics.
Professor Henry Rapoport, Professor of Chemistry
at the Unive rsity of California at Be rkele y, who is
widely known for his skills in organic chemistry and
biochemistry with special! emphasis on natural
products.
Special mention should also be made of Dr. David H. Gelfand, the
34-year-old Director of Recombinant Molecular Research at Cetus.
Dr. Gelfand and his colleagues constructed the first plasmid DNA
cloning vehicle permitting the expression; of foreign DNA sequences.
He has also been the first to amplify by mutation the number of
plasmid DNA molecules in a cell.

It is worth noting, I think, that two large and sophisticated companies
are already investors: in Cetus. We know that one of them, Standard'
Oil of Indiana, made a careful investigation of Cetus; and Standard,
as you know, would still prefe r to control Cetus but Cetus would like
to remain independent. That is why we have this opportunity. -
That"s about all I have to say. Frankly, I have used some scientific
te rnns to you that I really don't und'e r stand. That is why we have Dr.
Wakeham here today to answer questions and to make a statement, at
this time, if he would like to.
