© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(March 22) – Andrew Strong, the former chief executive officer and general counsel at College Station-based Kalon Biotherapeutics, is returning to practice environmental and life sciences law at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a New York law firm that has about 20 lawyers in Houston.
He was tapped to be the general counsel at Texas A&M, where he received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1989. At Texas A&M, he supervised all legal matters for the $3.6 billion institution, which included 11 universities, seven state agencies and a health science center.
In 2011, Strong agreed to be the CEO and GC of Kalon, a biologics development and manufacturing company formed by the Texas A&M University System. In December, he engineered the sale of Kalon to Diosynth Biotechnologies, which is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan-based FujiFilm.
Strong, in an interview Sunday with The Texas Lawbook, said he’s excited by the opportunity to return to Pillsbury as a partner in order to build and grow the biotech sector in Texas.
“The ability to work with several biotech companies – not just one – in the start-up phase and helping them grow is very exciting,” he said.
“Most biotech companies die because they cannot translate or move from research to clinic and then to market. There are a lot of obstacles,” he said. “Scientists are great at the research but they have no experience in running the business side and my job is to help them navigate those waters.”
Strong believes that his experience as a general counsel gives him a better understanding of the needs of clients.
“What I cared about as a GC was whether I was getting value for the legal work I paid for,” he said. “I want to make sure that when my client pays my bill that the client knows they got real value from my work.”
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