One-on-One with biotech executive Fran Heller

Fran Heller.

Fran Heller is a hawk when it comes to finding a drug deal. Now she's passing on her knowledge of the all-important deal that often determines whether a biotech company lives or dies. On Monday, Heller started her second year of teaching a six-week continuing studies course at Stanford University on the ins-and-outs of the drug development world. Heller has assembled or participated in nearly 100 transactions during her career, including her three years as vice president of business development at South San Francisco's Exelixis Inc., which she left in July 2011. She also was head of strategic alliances at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, vice president of corporate development and legal affairs at Signature BioScience Inc. and worked at Celera Genomics. I spoke with Heller about her Stanford course, called "New Drug Challenges for Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies," and the hurdles faced by drug-development companies.