New Jersey biotech executive inspires movie
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
A Princeton biotech executive is the inspiration for a Hollywood movie that's in theatres now.
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Extraordinary Measures tracks the pursuit of a lawyer-turned pharmaceutical entrepreneur as he sets out to find a cure for his children's rare disease.
Movie: Dr. Stonehill.
Yeah?
This is John Crowley. All the researchers out there say you're a genius on the verge of a scientific breakthrough.
That's Brendan Fraser, from the movie's trailer. Real-life John Crowley is the CEO of Amicus Therapeutics in New Jersey, and the father of two children with Pompe disease, a rare form of muscular dystrophy.
After his kids' diagnosis, he started a drug company and successfully ushered a Pompe treatment to market. Crowley's story is quite rare. Most drugs fail human experiments, others never get funded to make it that far.
Crowley: I think when I was going through it all I didn't know any better and didn't have any other experience, so it all seemed perfectly normal at the time. Looking back on it now, I do realize how very unique that circumstance was.
Crowley's company continues to pursue a cure for Pompe and other genetic diseases. Although his son and daughter are very ill, they are still alive because of the Pompe drug.
