FATHER OF BIOTECHNOLOGY PASSES AWAY

San Diego, CA November 16, 2015

Dave Kohne, who founded Gen-Probe in 1983 to plant the first seed of biotechnology, passed away yesterday at age 80 due to complications of pneumonia. It was Dave who introduced the world to the use of highly specific DNA fragments for diagnosing and treating diseases that led to the culmination of Biotechnology all over the world.

The word “Biotechnology” was a rare word until David Kohne started Gen-Probe and brought it to fruition. The concept of Biotechnology did not originate at some big pharma, nor at some prestigious governmental institute, nor at some big name university but it originated in 1500 Sq ft beaten down building on Chesapeake Drive in Claremont Mesa, San Diego. Dave was indeed a scientist who was the father of biotechnology. He was a great scientist who could have gotten the Nobel Prize had he played his political game right. He never wanted to give interviews on social media. All he wanted to do was to bring his idea to fruition.

“I was the first scientist whom David hired in 1985," says Ram Bhatt, President, CEO, CSO of ICB International in La Jolla CA. “Dave had the idea of using DNA fragments for clinical applications but he did not know how to make these DNA fragments, which I knew. The world did not believe us that DNA fragments can be used to diagnose and treat diseases. We used to be ridiculed by every academic scientist and consultants of Venture Capital firms. Regardless, Gen-Probe has maintained a steady revenue stream of more than $0.7B per year since 1992 from the diagnostic tests for STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) Dave and I developed.”

Technology is rapidly changing and most of the present and future generation won’t know or even care about who David Kohne was. However, what most big pharma and universities are doing now and will do in the future in the field of medicine will always have some elements of Dave’s technological principles applied in some shape or form to the process they are trying or will develop in the future. Dave taught the world that high specificity is the fundamental requirement in any clinically useful diagnostic ligand or a therapeutic drug. Dave Kohne and Ram Bhatt started MediGen, Inc, in 1992. They got funding from Eli Lilly right from the beginning but then about 30 months later, Eli Lilly had its internal chaos. The new president was hired who cut off funding to all diagnostic ventures.

Doctor Bhatt says, “I will always miss Dave as a friend and a mentor.”