By: Shahrokh Ahkami
Dr. Ghanbari is an exemplary person. It is my sincere pleasure to share his interesting life with our readers.
Let us start our conversation with learning about your family, childhood and your education from elementary school to graduate school.
I was born in a mountain village near Isfahan. My family migrated to the Tehran suburbs seeking a better life before my first birthday. As I learned much later, my father suffered a devastating loss when his leased orchards and town were invaded by foreign soldiers during WWII. They took everything useful and ate anything edible in the face of the famine then. This caused a migration to the city of Qom.
My primary education was in Qom, starting from maktab followed by Ferdowsi primary school. During my primary education, I was the target of kindness by all school staff and was a mobser (class leader), and top of the class and grade during all six grades. In the final national exam, I earned the highest overall grade in the city. I attended the Hekmat High School for 7th grade. In the summer, with my father’s permission, I went to Tehran, and attended Modarres High School.I supported myself by being a “milkman,” working in a dairy store and tutoring. I finished at the top of my class every school year. I then happened to qualify for an elite education boarding school (Daneshsara) in Mamazan scoring highest in that year’s entrance exam. The school fully funded my room and board, clothing, school supplies and incidental expenses. I happened to continue paid tutoring. One of my students was Mahin who I married seven years later.
Where did you begin your higher education and where did you complete it?
After graduating from Daneshsara, I was employed by the Ministry of Agriculture and had a year’s scholarship to Japan awarded by the Government of Japan. During this period, it was recommended by one of the American advisors in Iran that I try entering the American University of Beirut (AUB). AUB was one of the best universities worldwide and had allocated four scholarships annually selected from thousands of top Iranian students, selected by administering their own exams. I was again fortunate to have the highest overall score. This scholarship paid for everything including travel, living expenses, a stipend and school supplies. Prior to going to Beirut in 1966, I married one of my private students whom I had tutored seven years earlier. This marriage and scholarship to AUB changed my life and future. Again, I was at the top of each class and as a top graduating student and based on my records, I received all the awards for that year. Our oldest son was born during my freshman year. During my study at AUB, I published two scientific papers and my article for the SOS conference held in DC was judged to be the best from MENA and won a travel scholarship that paid for our flights to the US (all three of us).
What was your field of study in the US and why did you choose it?
During my 4th year at AUB, in January 1970, I was quite fortunate to get accepted to graduate school with a full research assistant fellowship which would pay all expenses and a stipend to support my family. I picked biochemistry as my field, which was rather new in that period and considered to be considerably challenging. I saw the future of science and medical science in that field. My master’s research focused on beating heart cells. Based on my results, a pharmaceutical company developed a cardioactive drug which finally ended up as an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug still marketed as Viagra. We also made “The Beating Heart Cell Culture” movie that won second prize in the International Scientific Film Festival in Prague. I got my Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1975. By then, we had our twin children.
What was your first job after graduation?
Within days after graduation, we returned to Iran and I started as an assistant professor at Arya Mehr University of Technology (AMUT; now Sharif University). I participated in the design, planning, and establishment of Arya Mehr University of Isfahan and was honored to work there. My wife was in charge of the scholarship office of AMUT. In 1977, we returned to the US and worked with Penn State and later the University of Florida. My wife graduated from the University of Florida with an MFA and taught art there.
How many years did you work with Abbott and why did you leave?
I always had the dream of somehow helping humanity. Hence my decision in 1982 to join a multi-national mega company, Abbott. During my 10 years tenure at Abbott, I learned greatly about the medical field, both diagnostic and therapeutic. I also acquired significant experience and expertise as our team succeeded in developing and registering Lupron, which is still the hormone treatment of choice in advance prostate cancer. Similarly, we developed Survanta which is used for critical treatment of prematurely born infants who cannot breathe on their own without respirators. With only one simple treatment (lavage), the premature child can breathe normally and be saved from virtual death. Both of these drugs are more like miracles and have saved hundreds of thousands of lives (including that of our twin grandchildren). Abbott has recognized my role to be critical in the development and registration of these two drugs. In addition to drug development, I was very active in developing diagnostic tests for mental illness and neurological disorders (MIND). In addition to these diagnostic tests that were marketed for psychiatric disorders, the Alzheimer’s diagnostic test using brain tissue caught a lot of interest. We published an article in JAMA with myself as first author (in at least three languages).
This article was reflected in numerous national and local newspapers and magazines and was covered in several radio and television broadcasts. The Abbott stock price went up 11% which translated to several billion dollars. After this huge publicity, I was invited by numerous institutions and conferences for presentation. Subsequent to these, I was selected as one of the world’s best Alzheimer’s research scientists by the Long Island Alzheimer’s Association two years in a row. For the two key patents filed by Abbott regarding these activities, Abbott compensated me with two one dollar bills. I still carry them in my wallet. For me, this was a wakeup call.
After ten years’ experience at Abbott, I came to the conclusion that if I continued research independently, and was able to convince some investors to join me by funding the projects, I could be doing more good and doing better. Hence I became the first Volwiler Society member to resign from Abbott. At that time, Abbott had about 55,000 employees and a very limited number of these were honored with membership in this honor society. The members were living treasures for the company with their pictures displayed in the entrance halls of every research building. They had it made!
Everyone thought I was taking a big risk except my wife who had confidence in me and trusted me with this decision and gave me the deciding nod.
In your first discovery company, what did you do and what happened after?
The first discovery company that I founded after leaving Abbott was Molecular Geriatrics. My cofounder was a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and we continued discovery in the field of Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. A prominent venture capital group in New York gave us $25 million seed money. Because of, and due to, rapid breakthrough results in our discovery, we needed a huge sum of money to continue and register the drug. However, our primary investor group had some issues with the regulators and we were forced to continue our activities in the next company called Nymox. This company went public eventually on the NASDAQ and is still functioning.
In your new company, what did you discover and what was the outcome?
In April 1999, my son, Kasra, and I founded a new company, Panacea Pharmaceuticals. Kasra had worked with me for years. We were a very productive team providing energy and wisdom as well as new and old world approaches with essentially no disagreement! We decided to work on unmet clinical needs, starting with brain diseases and cancer.
As was expected, the investors shook their hand instead of moving their arms to sign a check. Eventually we were able to convince a few. The funding came from Japan (about $10 million), Europe, and certainly the US. It took many years. Also, we were able to acquire some significant non-equity funding from NIH and other government and NGOs.
In 2004, our company was elected as the top incubator company of the year in the State of Maryland; a huge honor. Our diagnostic test for lung cancer was selected as a Top 10 Medical Breakthrough by Time Magazine in 2007. The other nine were from multibillion, multinational mega companies. Even we could not believe it at first. Also our vaccine therapy drug, first in class, with an amazing safety and efficacy profile reached Phase 1 and Phase 2 human clinical trials under FDA.
This company is now operating as Sensei Biotherapeutics and had an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $150 million in February 2020 on World Cancer Day. The market value of the company went up to $600 million dollars post-IPO. Although I retired from the company in November 2019 when I turned 81 years old (I was chairman and CSO at the time), the company is still very active and has a new face with a potentially great future.
Since old habits are difficult to give up, my son, Kasra, and I started two new companies in January 2020 to try to discover treatment for auto-maladies and xeno-maladies. We are now doing the foundational work for high potential drugs for a vast array of devastating human diseases.
In your long years of work and discovery, you have had many patents filed and issued, published hundreds of papers/chapters, as well as given numerous presentations in national and international conferences. How did you do all this in 24-hour days? How did you find the time?
Our research and discoveries happened over a long period of time and many people were involved in every step of the way. This is not the sound of one hand clapping. One thing that I need to mention is that I focus on the future and consider the past to be the past and is not that attractive for me. However, others are impressed and point them out to me. One of my assistants once asked me for copies of my published papers, book chapters, awards and patents to file for the record. She was surprised to hear that I did not have them. Then she started building the “collection.” She told me later that it was a big mistake, “it seems an endless project.” One interesting example was a publication that has since been referenced 1,421 times by other papers and pioneered a new field. The paper was on the probable cause of Alzheimer’s disease which was published in a high impact scientific journal.
What drugs have been registered and marketed as a result of your research? What are the distinct properties of your most recent drug candidate?
I have referred to them in the previous answers and repeating them may not be that interesting for your readers. I can use this opportunity to go over my general philosophy in conducting research and discovery. When I start a certain idea as a project, I do not convince myself of the end result. I believe that even with a small chance of success, it can help the human race, and if we have to stop along the way, the process can be a head start to those that come up with smarter ideas. “Others planted the fruit we are enjoying and we plant for others to enjoy.” This is not just a proverb for me. It is the work order.
I have always reminded my team that we celebrate small steps forward and any individuals’ success is certainly the team’s success. And about the latest cancer immunotherapy drug candidate, it is a vaccine therapy. Our goal is controlling out of control cells and not necessarily destroying them. Cancer cells are “self” cells. Attacking them is attacking ourselves. The question is how to handle “self” factors. Our body has evolved to not attack itself, otherwise, we would have a condition called autoimmunity which is a devastating disease.
The complicated issue was how to target a self-factor by “fooling” the immune system; first how the body differentiates self and non-self. It appears simple. But millions of events can happen from any action. The reality is to think and act like the molecules, not human personal experience. Possibilities are many and we should approach it with trial and error. It requires years of perseverance and patience. During my youth, I would try solving Khayyam’s equations for my “entertainment,” but sometimes I lost sleep followed by days of being a dazed, half-crazy boy. However, any small hint was a huge success for me. I could not solve Khayyam’s equations, but it helped me to be a humble mathematician. Yes, eventually we were able to make a vaccine that targets self-factors without adverse side-effects and test it in humans with FDA authorization. This story is awfully long.
Have you been involved in any academic work in addition to running your companies and participating in important discoveries?
After graduate school, I joined the scientific staff of several universities including Arya Mehr (Sharif) University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Florida. Later on, I was an adjunct professor at George Washington University Medical School’s biochemistry department. I have never done research for research’s sake alone, but its eventual utility, even for my thesis research. For me, research and discovery has been that, regardless of the type of institution.
Please let us know a bit about your family; your artist spouse and your children.
My family begins with my wife, Mahin. My life has two primary chapters: pre-marriage and post-marriage. My wife is a complete and active partner in all I do. Whatever is said about me is really about us. I consider the start of my life being the time when she trusted the future with me. She has supported me with no hesitation and no pause for 55 years now. She should be recognized as two characters: Hossein’s wife and Mahin. Aside from being my partner, she has had blazing success in her art-related profession as well as social activity and activism.
And about our children. We have three. All three were born away from the home country. We also have four adult/young adult grandchildren. Our older son, Reza, was born in Beirut when I was a freshman at AUB. He was born on our first anniversary. He graduated from Libertyville High School in Illinois, receiving all the honors presented during the honors night. Then he graduated from the University of Illinois UC with an electrical engineering degree in three years at the top of his class, again receiving all the honors and prizes including the Churchill Scholarship, a full scholarship to Cambridge University, England and a full scholarship from the Office of Naval Research to study at MIT toward a Ph.D. Reza has two daughters, 19 and 24. They have been exceptional students all along.
Our other two children are our twins, Leila (daughter) and Kasra (son). Leila has a professional degree from Georgetown University and is one of the directors at the FDA now, being one of the youngest promoted to that level. She has twins also, a boy and a girl. Both are academically in very high standing and represent their school athletically. They will be in college next year.
Kasra is two geniuses in one person. He is highly accomplished in the field of biotechnology. The Washington Post called him the youngest president of a biotech company valued at several hundred million dollars. He started his technical career with me and is still going strong. There is another side to him. He is very creative artistically. He is involved in different aspects of fine arts and music. He is also an avid collector of art and organizes exhibitions worldwide. He has authored several art books. My wife and I consider our children to be our biggest accomplishment in life.
Please talk about your life’s bitter and sweet memories.
I do not recall any bitter memory. Maybe I am lucky or actually set my expectations low. I do not feel entitled to anything. If anything, I have woeful memories such as not being able to share happiness and sorrows with friends and family members or extend a helping hand when needed. Remembering that we have been away from home for 55 years, the sad memories are many.
For the sweet memories, they are mainly proud memories. One earlier one, which is unforgettable for me, is when my future wife and I went to the Ministry of Science to hear the final results of the AUB scholarship. In the designated area, a gentleman climbed a chair and read the four names with a loud voice. I had promised my future wife that my name would be first. She herself heard my name first in a heavy American accent. We walked to the sweet shop next door to celebrate. No words were exchanged between us. There was no need for it, I guess. Another sweet memory was attending the opening of my wife’s exhibition in the University of Florida gallery. In my opinion, it was a proud day for anyone loving art and loving Iran.
Finally, I proudly remember our son Reza’s valedictorian speech at the University of Illinois. Later, the university published his speech as a pamphlet. It was mesmerizing, full of hope and power for youth to build a bright future for all. “Do not bet against us,” he said.
In my professional life, the most memorable event for me was the first injection of our vaccine therapy cancer drug into a patient. I have to admit, I could not sleep at all the night before the scheduled event.
What is your message for the younger generation and how do you see the future of Iranians in and out of Iran?
My message to the younger generation is quite simple. You are humanity’s hope. All you need to do is make sure you leave the world a bit better than the one you were born into. There is no excuse. Future generations depend on you. Just remember, if I could do it, you should too. You certainly have better means and more opportunities.
The future of any country and society is in the hands of its members. I consider Iranians, in general, more gifted and intelligent, and I am certain that somehow Iranians will have a great contribution to the betterment of the world. History is full of examples. With the hope of better days for our mother country and countrymen. Thank you, indeed, for the opportunity to communicate with your readers.