THE first person to admit he had no head for business, Dr Lee Chee Wee should have given up on his floundering drug company more times than he could count.
Such as the times when funding dried up and he had to pay staff out of his own pocket; or the long nights when he was so worried that he couldn?t sleep.
But the taekwondo exponent of three decades could not quit the fight.
The thought that he could help people like his mother, who was crippled by arthritis, kept him going.
'I wanted to help people, and I could not let go of something that was my passion,' said the founder of National University of Singapore spin-off company Lynk Biotechnologies.
He knew his research - backed up by 10 years at the laboratory - was based on sound science.
But he had to change tack when he realised that his lofty goals of developing new drugs for ailments such as cancer and Aids would take decades, and bankrupt him in the process.
Dr Lee, one of only a handful of people here who has attained a sixth dan black belt in taekwondo, applied his fighting philosophy to business.
The most effective moves are the very simple ones, he said, demonstrating with a slice of his palm how an assailant's windpipe can be crushed.
'I decided to think smaller, go low-tech, to use tried and tested drugs, but to deliver them more efficiently,' said the 50-year-old, who has a PhD in membrane physiology.
'I had to change course to deal with bread and butter issues before I worked on my long-term strategies.
'Yes I was stupid, I made a lot of mistakes, but I never gave up although a lot of people said I should close down my company and start afresh,' he said.
His trump card: a special technology that allows drugs to be delivered effectively through the skin, that allowed him to develop a range of creams.
This so-called transdermal delivery, if successful, is said to be a huge advantage over drugs taken orally, where most of it is broken down.
In 2004, when the company had long exhausted the initial US$1 million from angel investors, it received its first big break from Whiterock Investments. The local private equity firm pumped S$2.5 million into Lynk.
'It gave us that much-needed lift and allowed us to set up our factory and start marketing our cream,' he said.
Lynk has since opened manufacturing and research facilities in Tuas and Geylang, which cost several million dollars and include top-of-the-line proteomics equipment, animal-testing facilities and a semi-automated plant where the creams are produced.
His star product is a glucosamine cream for osteoarthritis and joint injuries, which accounted for the bulk of the company's revenue of several million dollars last year.
The profits are put back into research and development, to pursue the dream of developing a blockbuster drug some day.
Other newer creams - like those which claim to make breasts firmer, and to aid erectile dysfunction - are based on traditional herbs sourced from Thailand, he said.
The father of three is quick to add that such creams are no mere snake oil, and are undergoing hospital trials here to validate their efficiency.
'These are based on plants that have been used in traditional medicine for centuries. The only thing I have done is to improve how they are delivered.'
He says that his happiest moment was when he began production of his glucosamine cream in 2003.
'The first thing I did was to scoop out a tub and give it to my mother,' he said.
Although he 'does not owe anybody a single cent now', he will never forget the early years when he had to marshal his deepest reserves to keep going.
'You are never out of the woods. The moment you think so, you're dead,' he said.
Forging Lynk
DR LEE Chee Wee, 50, a PhD-holder in membrane physiology, is chief executive officer of biotech company Lynk Biotechnologies and Associate Professor at the physiology department of the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Achievements: Lynk was spun off in February 2000 from NUS, with an investment of US$1 million (S$1.4 million) from angel investors.
The company uses transdermal technology to deliver water-soluble drugs from the skin's surface directly to the bloodstream.
Products on the market range from creams for osteoarthritis and joint injuries to those which claim to help erectile dysfunction.
To date, Lynk has received more than $10 million from investors. Its revenue has crossed several million dollars annually since 2005.
Dr Lee won the Spirit of Enterprise award, which honours successful entrepreneurs, last year.
Advice: 'Start early, when you have less to lose. The closer you are to the bottom, the more you will dare to take risks.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 23, 2008.
