Biotechnology Consulting, Strategic Planning, Commercialization Strategies, and Biotechnology Marketing by Beachhead

Gary Sams, Ph.D.
Richard Fisler
Laura Penny, Ph.D.
Patricia Landers Gee
Steven Richieri

Dr. Gary Sams has worked as a Sales and Marketing executive for the last 20 years in the life sciences research and drug discovery tools sectors. He has played pivotal roles in a broad spectrum of activities, including early corporate formation, commercial strategy development, marketing, business development, and sales at several life sciences reagents and instrumentation companies, including Promega, EG&G (now Perkin Elmer), Digene (Nasdaq: DIGE), and Vysis (acquired by Abbott for $350MM in 2002).

For the past five years Dr. Sams has provided strategic marketing and commercialization consulting services as a Managing Partner of Beachhead Consulting Group. The group’s clients include a wide range of leading life science companies including Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Perkin Elmer, and Caliper. Dr. Sams has also worked with many early-stage companies, including Geneospectra, 454 Corporation, Cytokinetics, Sequenom, and Nanogen.

Dr. Sams has broad experience in technologies, from genomics to proteomics to cell assays. He has worked in virtually all product platforms including reagents, instruments, and imaging systems, and has worked in evaluating all parts of the drug discovery process, from basic research through drug discovery and development. Prior to entering the commercial sector, Dr. Sams received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Kansas and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Cancer Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin.

Richard Fisler

Richard Fisler has spent 15 years developing and commercializing instrumentation and consumables in the medical and biotechnology fields. He has extensive experience in developing business and marketing strategies for emerging technologies and established product lines, and has managed numerous licensing and OEM relationships with medical and biotechnical companies.

At Siemens Medical Systems, he was responsible for developing and implementing its imaging workstation business plan, licensing third party solutions, and coordinating internal development programs. He managed Siemens’ $75M Ultrasound business, including the development and release of 3-Dimensional Ultrasound imaging, and successfully managed Pre-market Approval Applications and 510k submissions for Class II medical devices.

In the biotechnology field, Mr. Fisler has commercialized live cell imaging systems, as well as microarray scanners, printers, and informatics software. At Applied Precision, he built the sales and marketing infrastructure to grow the biotechnology division revenues 100% in 2 years. In addition, he created and established the company’s structured product development process. Mr. Fisler launched proteomics systems and consumables and was a key member of in the PerkinElmer-Packard BioSciences product integration team. At 454 Life Sciences, Mr. Fisler created the revised business plan used for a $20M second round of financing.

Mr. Fisler has worked in Germany in both technical and business management roles and is fluent in German. He holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Laura Penny, Ph.D.

Dr. Laura Penny has ten years of marketing, business development, clinical, and laboratory expertise spanning the fields of genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and diagnostics. For the past three years, she has provided marketing and commercialization strategy consulting services in the discovery tools sector at Beachhead Consulting, with a special emphasis on market research and marketing communications strategy and implementation. Dr. Penny has worked in a wide range of biotechnology product areas, bioinformatics platforms and services, and in evaluating all parts of the drug discovery process, from basic research through drug discovery and clinical development.

Prior to working as a consultant, she held marketing, business development, and technical positions at Pharsight Corporation, Gene Logic, Quintiles, Axys Pharmaceuticals, and Sequana Therapeutics. Before entering the commercial sector, Dr. Penny completed a Clinical Molecular Genetics Fellowship, and was an Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, a CLIA-compliant laboratory that provides DNA-based diagnoses for mendelian disorders, certain forms of cancer, and human identification.

Dr. Penny holds a bachelors degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from Yale University. She performed her postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan, the Salk Institute, and the University of California, San Diego. Her Board Certification in Clinical Molecular Genetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics is valid until 2006.

Patricia Landers Gee

Patricia Landers Gee has over 20 years of product marketing, clinical applications and marketing communications expertise in the medical imaging, clinical research, biological research, and semiconductor fields. During this time she has developed particular skill in the areas of new product introduction, teambuilding, market research, customer-focused design and market/product fit.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Ms. Landers Gee joined the VA Medical Center in San Francisco to support clinical research and medical student training in cardiac performance and to initiate the clinical utility of ultrasound for cardiology. Later positions at other medical teaching institutions led to an industry position with General Electric Medical Systems in their growing business of diagnostic ultrasound where she provided direction and development of system ergonomics and user interface design. At Advanced Technology Laboratories (now Philips Ultrasound), she provided product management, market research and user interface expertise for the introduction of their groundbreaking platform, the HDI3000, which revolutionized ease of use and image quality in the diagnostic ultrasound market. Additionally, she developed a novel approach to market segmentation based on customer activities, choices, and psychological attributes that clearly identified distinct target groups making it easier to plan product features, utility and introduction strategies.

At Siemens Ultrasound, Ms. Landers Gee provided product marketing and marketing communications leadership for the worldwide introduction of three new diagnostic imaging platforms and numerous new product features and enhancements. A key accomplishment at Siemens was the development of the Marcom Toolkit, containing creative materials, public relations kits, and supporting materials for easy use by marketing professionals around the world. She managed the company’s research activities that examined customer perceptions of corporate reputation and the first research-based feature/value study. As Director of Corporate Marketing at Applied Precision LLC, Ms. Landers Gee reinvented the corporate look and feel with a public relations campaign, a new product literature system, and new internet site as well as internal documentation of departmental and corporate presentations for the attraction of a new investor - which was complete in 2002. She was successful in establishing a commitment to industrial design, user interface design and customer-focused feature development. Additionally, she was responsible for the introduction of three new product platforms into the semiconductor space and two new platforms into the microscopy and microarray markets which included sales training, public relations, advertising, and sales support materials for each product.

Steven Richieri

Steven Richieri is a founder and Managing Director of Beachhead. Mr. Richieri has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and has a broad background in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device product development and corporate collaborations.

Mr. Richieri is a co-founder of two life science companies, American Life Science Pharmaceuticals and NuVista Technology Corporation, and consults with a number of companies regarding a wide range of product and corporate development activities. Mr. Richeiri has successfully filed nine Investigational New Drug applications and has conducted numerous Phase I-III clinical trials in the areas of HIV, autoimmune diseases, allergic rhinitis, and cancer. Mr. Richieri directed the design and construction of a 50,000 ft² cGMP commercial scale BSL-3 manufacturing facility for the production of a parenteral biological product. He successfully prepared Pre-market Approval Applications and 510k submissions for Class I, II, and III medical devices.

Mr. Richieri has held senior executive positions at The Immune Response Corporation and Dura Pharmaceutuicals, and currently serves as Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Product Development at Egea Biosciences. Mr. Richieri holds a degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers College of Pharmacy and an M.B.A from the University of San Diego.