Small Molecule Therapeutics Inc.

When Dr. Prabhavathi Fernandes, then VP of biomolecular screening at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), spoke to venture capitalist Jim Blair of Domain Associates early last year, she told Blair that she wanted to start a unique drug discovery company to supply novel lead molecules to the pharmaceutical industry. Her idea was to build a company that would bring together the newest technologies for drug discovery and the best people for developing and implementing these technologies. What she couldn't offer, however, was any of the proprietary technology that she had helped to develop at BMS or a precise plan as to how she would go about discovering small-molecule drugs. Blair, who had invested in Aurora Biosciences Corp. , a San Diego screening company, and who knew of Fernandes' reputation for identifying leads at BMS, was willing to provide seed and first round funding for the venture which became Small-Molecule Therapeutics Inc. (SMT) It's the sort of thing that device start-ups can only dream of.

When we wrote about SMT last October, it was difficult to pinpoint just how the company planned to develop small-molecule...