In 1989, Stanley Crooke left his job heading up R&D at Smith Kline Beckman, a predecessor of the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, to found and run the antisense-oligonucleotide start-up Ionis Pharmaceuticals (initially called Isis Pharmaceuticals). With just over US$5 million funding at the time, Crooke’s ambitious plan was not just to develop a new RNA-targeted modality that could lower protein expression, but also to tackle industry’s productivity crisis while delinking drug development from commercialization. As broader interest in antisense technologies waxed and waned, Ionis faced some tough years. But it now has three antisense products on the market with partners, three products including a pioneering treatment for Huntington disease in phase III trials and more than ten candidates that could enter phase III trials by the end of 2020. After 30 years at the helm of Ionis as CEO, Crooke will transition to the executive chairman role in January. He spoke with Asher Mullard about Ionis’s long road to success, and the future of antisense drug technology.
