Today we’d like to introduce you to Inanc Ortac.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Inanc. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
DevaCell is a biotech company developing next generation therapeutics for cancer. Its technology generates stealth viruses that replicate only in cancer cells and delivers them to the cancer site without being detected by the immune system. It was founded based on multiple award-winning technology developed in UC San Diego during my doctoral studies. The awards include the Grand Prize in prestigious national Collegiate Inventors Competition 2012, 1st place in Entrepreneur Challenge 2013, and Grand Prize in medical research in Innovation Awards 2014.
DevaCell is currently doing preclinical stage R&D. Human clinical trials are not that far.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
A startup is always a struggle. In particular, when you talk about a biotech startup working in a field that is one of the most complicated areas of biology, nothing is smooth. To succeed in this path, you have to fail in every possible way so that the only remaining path is the right path. So, if you take this road you better be ready for the struggle. Our technology is a pure engineering solution to a medical problem. One of the first struggles we faced was the biology itself. From engineering perspective, you can simulate everything on paper or with a computer with enough assumptions. So, you can have a pretty good estimation of what is going to happen even before building your prototype. On the other hand, the first thing you realize when tackling a medical problem is that there are no shortcuts. You cannot be sure of anything without actually doing it, which brings years of R&D and millions of dollars of investment, and a lot of risk. But, in the end, even if you have a slight chance of success, that is worth pushing forward. Because, if it works, it may be saving millions of lives including your loved ones.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
In a nut shell: Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging field as the next generation of cancer therapeutics. Oncolytic viruses are genetically engineered viruses that replicate preferably in cancer cells. They use the machinery of the cell they infect to make copies of themselves and spread to other cancer cells. Oncolytic viruses can either directly kill the cancer cells, or/and help generate anti-tumor immune response in the host. However, although it is very promising, there is a fundamental problem with this approach: The virus themselves are eliminated by the body’s immune system, so the viruses that could barely made it to the tumor often generates a very limited damage on the tumor. With our approach, we make the viruses stealth to the immune system until they infect the cancer cells solving an important issue improving the effectivity of the therapy, and reducing the side effects dramatically.
As being founded by engineers, we’ve brought a brand-new perspective to the biology. There might be various different ways that leads to a solution, but it is often hard to find the most optimal path that makes you reach your goal. I have a BS and physics and PhD in Electrical Engineering yet I’m the CTO of a biotech that develops cancer drug. This might look unusual, but this is what makes our approach powerful and unique. Cancer is very hard to tackle and it has been proven that sometimes you need to take the unconventional means to defeat the monster. And that is exactly what we are trying to do. Our technology is a platform technology applicable to numerous fields including medical and non-medical. However, as a startup you need a focus. First few years was spent to find out focal point, now we believe we have found it and going ahead full throttle on it.
What were you like growing up?
I was very curious and had a broad scope of interests. I was into arts as much as I was into science. One of the biggest decisions that I had to go through while growing up was whether I would pursue a career in arts as a designer/painter or become a scientist/engineer. But, seems like I’m yet to make that decision. I have physics and engineering degrees running a technology company, and on the side, have another company developing mobile games. Oh, I’m also playing bass in two local bands. While growing up everybody says you need to focus. I understand the value of it. However, the key is not focusing into one interest. To me, it is more like: You need to have a dedication to whatever you do regardless of how many things you do. If you can maintain that passion and dedication, you can be successful in more than one thing. At least this is what I believe and we will see if I will manage to be successful in any of these paths. I benefit from this multidisciplinary multitasking in every aspect of my work.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6650 Lusk Blvd. Suite B105, San Diego CA 92121
- Website: www.devacell.com
- Email: iortac@devacell.com
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