If you鈥檝e been in 蜜柚直播 long, you may have heard the story of how Ventana Medical Systems was founded here more than 30 years ago by a University of 蜜柚直播 pathologist who invented an automated instrument to deliver fast diagnostics for cancer.
And you may have also heard what seemed to be the end of the story: How Ventana grew into a multi-billion-dollar public company and was acquired by Swiss drug giant Roche for $3.4 billion in 2008.
Now, company founder and UA professor emeritus Dr. Thomas Grogan has penned the rest of the story.
Grogan鈥檚 new book, 鈥淐hasing the Invisible: A Doctor鈥檚 Quest to Abolish the Last Unseen Cancer Cell鈥 is a remarkable story, a loving memoir with elements of a spy thriller, a medical whodunit and a compelling business story.
It also has an intriguing cast of characters, including Grogan鈥檚 own mother, former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, an Inuit woman, intrepid scientists and Wall Street money men.
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Grogan, 74, who retired from the UA about nine years ago and stepped down in 2017 from active duty at what is now Roche Tissue Diagnostics, said he may have learned as much about himself as he did about book publishing during the writing process.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a great experience. The amazing part of writing a memoir is you relive what happened,鈥 Grogan said. 鈥淎nd my story is one part personal, one part diagnostic medicine, one part technology, one part entrepreneurship and one part big pharma and Roche.鈥
But getting the book published wasn鈥檛 easy, said Grogan, who noted that his work was rejected by a dozen traditional publishers.
He finally reached a deal with Virginia-based Koehler Books to print the book under a co-publishing deal.
The initial critique from Koehler鈥檚 editor was decidedly mixed.
鈥淭he editor said, 鈥極kay, it鈥檚 interesting, it鈥檚 well-written 鈥 but it鈥檚 a lousy memoir because you don鈥檛 talk about yourself,鈥欌 Grogan said.
At one point in his draft, the editor demanded Grogan explain a passage noting that he had grown up 鈥渓iving in dangerous places in dangerous times.鈥
鈥淔inally I admitted to him, if I tell that part of the story I have to say something I was raised in the family to never talk about 鈥 that my father was a CIA officer in the Middle East and Africa,鈥 Grogan said.
With his mother鈥檚 blessing, Grogan detailed his family鈥檚 life on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus in the early 1950s, when Cypriots rebelled against the last vestiges of British rule as Greece and Turkey began fighting for control.
Grogan recounted how his mother fearlessly drove the family car through an angry mob of Cypriots to deliver him and his brother to a Christmas pageant rehearsal at church.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this whole episode where we鈥檙e attacked by a mob, and my mom says, Get down! And hits the accelerator,鈥 he said.
Grogan鈥檚 book starts with a scene about five years ago, when his 90-year-old mother asks him for advice after doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in her skull they believed may have been a recurrence of earlier breast cancer and suggested she consider hospice care.
She decided to get further tests and instead of metastatic breast cancer, the tumor was identified as a large B-cell lymphoma.
鈥淲ell, I don鈥檛 see giving up yet,鈥 she says. 鈥淎fter all, they haven鈥檛 done a biopsy and we don鈥檛 know the nature of the beast yet.鈥
After testing with Ventana instruments and treatment with a Roche drug, Grogan鈥檚 mother recovered and remains disease-free today, Grogan said.
Grogan relates his inspiring meeting with a Libyan doctor who treated Gadhafi鈥檚 sister and later won funding for Ventana instruments from late dictator.
He also tells the story of how during a fishing trip to Alaska he met a native Inuit woman with cancer.
Grogan helped her understand the importance of testing to get the right treatment, and after her successful treatment, the need to keep the 鈥渋nvisible鈥 disease from recurring 鈥 using the analogy of how mosquitoes return every summer.
The book also describes Ventana鈥檚 diagnostic technology in detail, but in terms most laymen can understand.
Grogan鈥檚 story of how he started Ventana seems to parallel his own life, overcoming obstacles, fighting the unseen, never giving up.
He relates how, after filing for a business license to start Ventana in 1985, a UA lawyer told him he could already be a felon because state law prohibited state employees from forming private businesses while on the state payroll.
That law was changed to accommodate Ventana and has led to the formation of countless faculty startups.
Grogan details how he was rejected by 35 investor groups before finding investors to bankroll Ventana鈥檚 development, how the company went public and at one point losses had piled up to nearly $50 million, and how convincing the famed Cleveland Clinic to adopt the company鈥檚 instruments helped the company break into the market.
He details how Roche鈥檚 advances were initially viewed with skepticism but what began as a hostile takeover put the company on a path to global acceptance as a standard of cancer diagnostics.
Despite his editor鈥檚 best efforts to get Grogan to talk about himself, he spends much of the book praising the efforts of colleagues, including his UA pathology department head, the late Dr. Jack Layton, for encouraging his work; key investor John Patience for his unwavering support; and his UA lab team and fellow pathologists for their hands-on work to develop and perfect the game-changing diagnostics.
Grogan does acknowledge he has one talent.
鈥淚 had my own talents, but my success had to do with the ability to create alliances,鈥 Grogan, said, describing how he lured top talent with the promise of transforming medicine.
鈥淭he reason to read this is, there鈥檚 something to learn about global medicine, something to learn about how it is that this hidden world is really something that鈥檚 actionable,鈥 he said.
鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 like the story I tell about the Inuit woman 鈥 there鈥檚 a strength you gain when you know what you鈥檙e dealing with.鈥