Paul Lammers discussed his experience raising funding and building a team for biotech startups. He co-founded Mirna Therapeutics in 2009 and raised over $100 million in funding including $32 million from the state of Texas and $77 million from private investors. Mirna went public in 2015, raising $48 million but was later acquired through a reverse merger in 2017 after a clinical trial failure. Lammers emphasized the importance of building a strong team, traveling extensively to meet with investors, practicing pitch presentations, and having patience and perseverance through the challenges of startup funding and development.

1. “So you want to
raise funding and
build a team?”
Few lessons learned
Paul Lammers, MD, MSc
President & CEO
Triumvira Immunologics
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

2. “An often heard story…”
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

3. Life Sciences Venture Funding ($ millions)
2018 Year to Date
Therapeutics Diagnostics HC Technology HC Services & Other
9,222
860 815
310
87 47 35 17
Total Amount Avg Investment
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

4. Paul Lammers, MD, MSc
Brief career overview
 Dutch Biologist & physician by training; spent almost 30 years in
pharma and biotech; all in therapeutics
 Worked in Europe and US; in HQ and local sales-driven
organizations; from big Pharma (n=35,000) to small biotech (n=3)
 Experience in general management, P&L responsibility, business
development, clinical development medical affairs, regulatory
affairs, drug safety, pharmacovigilance, medical information,
quality assurance, contract manufacturing
 Fund raising & corporate transaction experience
 Federal & State grants
 Venture capital firms: strategic and traditional
 IPO on NASDAQ
 Reverse merger
 Moved family 5 times for job opportunities
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
Therapeutic Modalities:
 Small molecules
 Monoclonal Antibodies
 Recombinant Proteins
 microRNAs
 Engineered T cells
Therapeutic Areas:
 Contraception
 Infertility
 HRT
 Surgical muscle
relaxation
 Cystic Fibrosis
 Seasonal allergic
rhinitis
 Erectile dysfunction
 Multiple Sclerosis
 Oncology

5. The Mirna Therapeutics Experience
2009-2017
 $ 32 million in Texas State Funding
 $ 77 million in 2 Private Venture rounds
 $ 48 million IPO
 Building a team along the way
 Running a Public Company
 Finished with a Reverse Merger
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
Austin, Texas

6. Mirna Therapeutics
Fund Raising & Team Building Chronology
 Mirna Therapeutics spin-out from Asuragen in Austin: received $ 5 million in operating expenses and IP
(became Series A)
 Joined as President & CEO in Nov 2009 (employee nr. 7), with BOD charter to “Turn company into a
Therapeutics Company”
 Dec 2009: Received $ 5.0 Million from Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF)
 Started to build the team: hired industry-experienced individuals from Genentech, Pfizer, Azaya; half
the team came from Southern California; n=12 total
 2010: on the road trying to raise $15 million; interest from NEA & Pfizer Ventures, wanted to co-lead a
$25 million round, but ‘data talks’….
 2010: Were successful in first ever Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) round of
financing: 3/42 companies awarded; received highest award: $10.3 million
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

7. Texas State Funding
Great non-dilutive money, but still….
 Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF):
 Basically, almost every company that requested money, did get it ($250K - $ 5 M)
 Legislature not in favor; program fizzled out
 CPRIT: “there is pros and cons to everything in life….”
 Key issue to consider in application: “It is not all about the science”
 Great non-dilutive money
 Accounting and auditing requirements are high
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

8. Mirna Therapeutics
Fund Raising & Team Building Chronology
 2011: $ 1.5 million (internal) Series B as qualifying round for TETF; could still
convert at first external round at 20% discount (“a really bad deal…”)
 2011-2012: On the road trying to raise a $25 million, first institutional, Series C
round: “Having money in the bank is a double-edged sword”
 October 2012: Raised a $35 million Series C, with Sofinnova, NEA, and Pfizer
Ventures (PVI) as anchor investors, and Osage University Partners, Correlation
Ventures, and internal HNWI as ‘followers’
 Built a very strong Board of Directors: a HUGE advantage!
 Further expanded the team (n=21)
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

9. Road to the IPO
“May You Live in Interesting Times”
 2012 – 2014: The world of IPOs is heating up big time, including several of Mirna’s
competitors (Regulus Therapeutics; Dicerna Pharmaceuticals)
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

10.  Sept 2013: BOD decides to take Mirna public on NASDAQ
 2013 – 2014:
 Built a bankers syndicate: ideally a mix of ‘bulge bracket’ and niche sell-side
banks
 Meet with a lot of banks; focus on experience and reputation of research
analysts (“be prepared for change”)
 Syndicate I identified:
 Hired a corporate law firm with lots of experience in biotech IPOs
 Latham & Watkins (Menlo Park, CA)
 Weekly S-1 drafting sessions F2F with bankers and lawyers
 S1-drafting is a time- and energy-consuming exercise
Road to the IPO
“May You Live in Interesting Times”
Bookrunners
Leerink Cowen
Co-Managers
RW Baird Wedbush
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

11.  June 2014: Mirna files confidentially for IPO (JOBS Act)
 Mid 2014: Banks organize 34 ‘Test The Water’ (TTW) meetings with buy-side
investors:
 NYC, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles
 Banks collect potential investor feedback after the meetings:
 # 1 issue = The Team !
 Key feedback received:
1. We would like to see several encouraging responses in the clinic
2. Have you considered conducting a mezzanine/cross-over (XO) round of
financing first, before going public?
 Sept 2014: BOD decides to put IPO in hold, pursue XO round first
Road to the IPO
“May You Live in Interesting Times”
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

12. Mezzanine Round of Financing
March 2015
 Q4 - 2014: Back on the road trying to raise funding; receive term sheet from Baxter Ventures for
a Series D mezz round on Christmas Eve
 Jan 2015: Start marketing the TS during JP Morgan
 We observe patient responses in Phase 1 trial (PRs; SDs)
 March 2015: Close Series D with good group of investors:
 Baxter Ventures as lead (but only ‘Board Observer’ seat)
 Sofinnova, NEA and PVI as anchors take 50% of round
 XO investors include: Eastern Capital; Celgene, Rock Springs Capital; Sante Ventures,
Morningside, Osage University Partners, Correlation
 Target raise $25 million; over-subscribed: raised $35 million
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

13.  Q2-2015: BOD decides to re-initiate the road to an IPO
 Identified a new bankers syndicate (2):
 Bookrunners to split 80%
 Co-Managers’ pity fight over how to split 20%
 Sept 2015: Mirna files S-1 publicly
 IPO Target $ 68 million @ price of $13-15/share
 Mirna hires experienced public company CFO
 Initiate IPO road show:
 69 meetings in 7 days: PA – Baltimore – NYC (2 days) – Boston – San Francisco – Los
Angeles – Denver – San Diego
 Lots of interest, banks excited about building a promising ‘order book’
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
Road to the IPO
“May You Live in Interesting Times”
Bookrunners
Citi Bank Leerink
Co-Managers
Oppenheimer Cantor Fitzgerald

14.  Day before Pricing: Martin Shkreli happened: biotech values drops 22% !;
several interested parties back out
 Sept 30, 2015: Mirna closes IPO: gross proceeds of $48 million @ price of
$7.00/share; insiders take 50% to maintain relative percent ownership
 Cost of IPO: ± $ 3.5 million, mostly law firms & printer
 Banks distribute ± $ 3.3 million (7%) amongst the syndicate
 Received 2nd CPRIT Award of $16.7 million on same day as IPO and at same
price
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
Road to the IPO
“May You Live in Interesting Times”

15. The End of Mirna
A Reverse Merger
 Immune-related adverse events developed in about 10% of patients treated in a Phase 1 clinical
trial, including life-threatening Cytokine Release Syndrome
 Decision made in Sept 2016 to stop the program; Board accepted my suggestion to not try to
discover a new delivery method (despite $ 60 million in the bank)
 From 36 employees down to 12, then down to 4 till the end
 Oct 2016 – August 2017: Wedbush hired to manage a potential strategic transaction process
 Initial interest was enormous: ± 140 companies; Meetings held with 49 (!) companies
 Funnel evaluation process ended with 5 lead companies; Synlogic (Cambridge, MA) selected
 Drafting S-4 more work than S-1; Reverse merger completed August 2017
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

16. Few Lessons Learned….
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

17. Building your Team (‘it all depends…’)
The small biotech conundrum:
“You need a team to raise the money, you need money to raise a team”
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
Initial Critical Functions
Finance
CMO
CSO or CTO
Preclinical Development
Project & Outsource Manager
R&D scientists
Initially Not So Critical Functions
Regulatory Affairs
Clinical Operations
Manufacturing
Business Development
Administrative Assistant
Outsource
Do it yourself

18. “Will Travel for Food”
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
“If you want to raise money
for your company, you live in
Boston, New York,
and San Francisco”

19. “Will Travel For Food”
 2014 - 2015: ± 150 investor meetings
 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (SFO)
 BIO CEO Conference (NYC)
 BIO Investor Forum (SFO)
 BIO-Europe
 BIO Sofinnova Conference (JP)
 Bio Int’l Convention (cave: do not present)
 Sachs Investor Forum
 Biotech Showcase (SFO)
 MedPace Forum (SFO)
 Etc.
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
• Be prepared to present in front of a tiny audience
• Be prepared to only have service providers attend your presentation,
just to introduce themselves to you after the talk
• Be prepared to pay about $3,000 for each presentation

20. “Will Travel For Food”
All of the Other Meetings
 Boston Biotech CEO meeting (a lot of peers, a decent number of investors)
 NY Biotech CEO meeting (a lot of peers, a decent number of investors)
 Therapeutic Area meetings: e.g., for oncology
 AACR
 ASCO
 ASH
 SITC
 IO meetings
 Texas Life Sciences Venture Forum
 Texas Life Sciences CEO Meeting
 Etc.
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

21. The Investor Pitch
“Practice Makes Perfect”
 Be prepared for presentations of:
60 - 45 - 30 - 20 – 15 – 8 – 4 minutes
 “If you cannot do PowerPoint, you will not be successful in business”
 “I know you love the science, but easy on the data dump” (back-up slides)
 Be prepared to give the same talk 10 times in a row (and last one should
sound as enthusiastic as first one)
 Tell yourself “You can do it, You can do it, and….You can do it”
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
‘ridiculous territory’

22. So You Want To Be A Public Company CEO…?
Be Careful of What you Wish for
 Pay is bigger, but so is personal accountability….(D&O insurance!)
 Awesome in good times, but we all know, those normally don’t last….
 Be careful what you promise, because if you don’t deliver, Wall Street can be ruthless….
 Institutional investors are mostly great, but retail investors can a be a royal pain…
 Please don’t watch your company’s ticker symbol more than once a day, will drive you
crazy..
 ‘Stocks go up on rumors, go down on news’, so hold on for the ride!
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018

23. PATIENCE
InnoTech Meeting, San Antonio, April 12, 2018
PERSEVERANCE
BUILD TRUST
BE HONEST & OPEN
STAMINA
BUILD CONNECTIONS
SHOW CONFIDENCE
The Bottom Line