Amarpreet Sawhney is the President and CEO of Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. and Augmenix, Inc. Ocular Therapeutix is focused on solving unmet needs in ophthalmic surgical wound closure and drug delivery. Augmenix is focused on biomaterial based solutions to minimize radiation damage to non-target organs and increasing targeting accuracy in radiotherapy. Prior to this he was Founder and CEO of Confluent Surgical, a biosurgery company, based in Waltham, MA. Confluent was acquired by Covidien. Before Confluent, Dr. Sawhney was the technology founder of Focal, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme). Dr. Sawhney’s innovations are the subject of over 100 issued and pending patents in biomaterials and bio-surgery. His inventions include several “first of a kind” surgical sealants to be approved by the United States FDA including DuraSeal for neurosurgery, FocalSeal for Lung surgery, and Mynx for femoral puncture sealing.

In addition to being an entrepreneur Amar, has also created a platform to support other entrepreneurs. He and his partner, Fred Khosravi, have founded Incept LLC, whose vision is to serve as an “enabler” of healthcare entrepreneurs. Incept counts among its companies, Embolic Protection, Endo-Tex, and Sadra Medical (all acquired by Boston Scientific), Access Closure, Inc. Hotspur, Inc and Ostial LLC in California, Axtria and MarketRx in New Jersey (acquired by Cognizant), Maya Medical (acquired by Covidien) and Augmenix, and Ocular Therapeutix, in Massachusetts,. Amar currently serves on the board of directors of TiE Boston, EcoSikh, Axtria, Ostial, Augmenix, and OcularTherapeutix and is also a Founder of the latter two companies. Through his family Foundation, Dr. Sawhney has been active in charitable causes that are dear to him, which include education as well as wildlife and the environment, with a focus on India.

Dr. Sawhney has been recognized by several awards including being named the “Five most innovative Medical Device CEOs” by MassDevice, MassMedic best startup company award, Frost and Sullivan Product innovation award, MIT Global Indus Technovators Award, the E&Y regional entrepreneur of the year award, Mass High Tech All Star award, The Immigrant Entrepreneur Award, Indian Institute of Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award, and the University of Texas Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate award. He was recognized by India New England News as one of the 50 most influential people of Indian origin in New England.

Dr. Sawhney holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He is married to Deepika Sawhney. They have a son Anhad (9) and a daughter Pria (7), and live in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Dr. Sawhney talked to Lokvani about Hydrogel Technology, entrepreneurship and how Sikhism has shaped his life.

The hydrogel technology provides a way to do make solid materials out of liquids inside the body.  So, a chemical reaction can be done harmlessly, yet very rapidly to make all kinds of materials that can serve a useful medical purpose.  This could range from preventing leakage from of fluids (air from lungs, spinal fluid from the brain, blood from arteries etc.) by forming a tight seal on the tissues, to scar prevention, to delivering medicines locally.  The materials can absorbed at varying rates, so the body can clear them naturally and they can be designed to have the feel of tissues ranging from soft skin to bone.  These materials can be delivered within the body by delivery devices that can be sprayers, catheters, needles etc.  So, it is a very flexible platform that can and has had a broad impact on medical technology.

You started a company right after your PhD. Was it a difficult decision? 

Not really.  I guess I did not know any better or worse.  I did not have a green card and this venture capital group had approached my PhD advisor to set up a company based on the work I had done and it seemed quite natural to join this company and shepherd the technology through.  I had never worked in a company before, so did not really know what to expect.  Plus, it was hard to get a "real" job without a green card, so it became the only choice too!

One needs to look for real unmet or underserved medical needs that are large enough markets to be commercially attractive.  Then, you have to ask yourself if your technology can provide a simple and elegant solution to this problem.  If the answer to the first two questions is yes, then one needs to assemble a team that fills out any weaknesses you have and has had a lot of experience developing medtech products.  Finally, dogged persistence and obsession and a little bit of luck always helps.

I have been fortunate to have a team of senior managers that has stuck with me through these ventures and this really helps provide continuity and a good understanding of the team's strength and weaknesses.  Being able to leverage the technology and learning more each time is helpful.  We also now have an ecosystem of financial and service providers (lawyers, bankers, accounting firms etc.) that have been good supporters and we have done well for them too.  So, the number of moving parts or uncertainties in any subsequent venture is reduced.  Each venture also tends to create some additional intellectual property, which can be leveraged across all the companies.  We can also be more cost efficient.  So, these factors enable us to focus on the clinical problem much more acutely and not be distracted by some of the mundane issues that can be very trying as a first time entrepreneur.

There are three areas that we are focusing on at Ocular Therapeutix.  The first is to develop an ocular sealant, which will replace sutures for many eye surgeries.  It will be easier to use and more effective compared to sutures and also more comfortable for patients.  Hopefully this will be a new paradigm for ocular wound closure.  Next, we are hoping to replace eyedrops for several eye diseases.  Only a few percent of the medicine in an eye drop makes it inside the eye and particularly elderly people often forget to take their drops or are unable to administer them properly.  We are developing tiny implants that will be placed within the natural ducts that drain tears from the eye and release all the required medication from there from a single placement, or several months worth of medicine for chronic diseases like glaucoma.  This way we hope to make a big difference in treatment of diseases like glaucoma which is a leading cause of blindness worldwide and over a $5 Billion market for eyedrops.  We are also collaborating with large pharma companies to be able to reduce the frequency of injections to the eye from once a month to say, once in six months for age related macular degeneration, the leading cause for blindness in people over age 50.  

The current climate for startups is challenging.  Venture capital funding for new startups has dropped by 15% last year over 2011 and the FDA has become tougher in its regulatory scrutiny.  This being said this is a good time to do healthcare IT and services companies, given the cost and efficiency focus in healthcare now.  I would advise entrepreneurs to challenge their thinking with objective information and if they still feel that they have a compelling idea, go for it.  Better to have tried and failed than have not tried at all.

The most rewarding thing for me is to hear from both doctors and patients who have been helped by products I have helped develop and the impact that they have had.  However, I tend to view what I do as a continuum and a work in progress, though it is good once in a while to stop, catch your breath, look around and enjoy the fruits of the work and the company of the people you have spent long hours working with.  There is a constant flow of new ideas both from within and from other entrepreneurs I interact with, as well as my partner, Fred Khosravi, who is on the west coast.  As long as I am having fun and there are problems to be solved, I will keep at it.  I have a good work life balance, so I feel fortunate and privileged to be in this position.  

Ecological and wildlife conservation are near and dear to my heart.  My father was in the Air Force in India and we always lived in green camps, out of big cities.  I really enjoyed that and loved going into the jungles and viewing wildlife, something my family enjoyed too.  I am particularly working to highlight the plight of leopards in India, which are neglected compared to Lions and Tigers that get all the attention.  Leopards are solitary, wide ranging, and are increasingly coming into conflict with human habitation.  My sister, Maninder, who is in India, is helping create educational materials for the Geer Foundation and the Forestry department in Gujarat to help with this.  Additionally, my wife Deepika and I help with a number of educational efforts like Nishkam, Ekal Vidyalaya, AIF's digital equalizer etc.

I have been actively involved in these efforts. An example of this effort is the interfaith communication that we are doing with the ADL (anti defamation league).  I am also meeting with the board of the ADL.  We had an interfaith program at the Trinity Church in November, which my foundation helped sponsor.  I also met with President Obama to have hate crimes against Sikhs recorded formally.  In fact Gurpurab (the birthday of Guru Nanak, Sikhism's founder,)was celebrated for the first time in the white house, last year.

There are some unique aspects of Sikhism  that are worth mentioning:

1. Each Sikh must make a living from honest hard work (Kirat) without usurping rights of another.

2. He should share what he has with others (thus the concept of Langar) and perform community service (seva).

3.Any person can conduct any Sikh ceremony, such as a wedding, by reading the appropriate passages dedicated to the "Anand Karaj" or "ceremony of bliss".  

4. All people are considered equal in Sikhism.  Men and women, all castes, paupers or kings, all must sit together and eat together and there is no discrimination.

5. Interestingly the foundation stone of the Golden Temple was laid by a Muslim saint (Mian Mir).

6. The 9th Guru was martyred defending the rights of another faith (Hindu pandits from Kashmir), probably unparalleled in history.  He was thus called Teg Bahadur, Hind Ki Chadar.  

Sikhs were given a particular outward appearance, so they would stand out and be identifiable.  This helped in the past for an oppressed person to find someone who could help and also placed a special onus upon the individual not to do nefarious deeds since they were easy to identify.  In todays' world, initially is it challenging since one appears different than everyone else and as a young man in a new country, it was difficult.  But now, I find it to be tremendously helpful, since I am often the only person in a turban in many get togethers and meetings, and so am easier to find and remember!  However, I still take the original responsibility seriously and hope to serve as a role model to my kids and community.  There is also a hidden lesson for entrepreneurship here, in that an optimistic person takes what may be perceived as a disadvantage and turns it into an advantage.  Same goes for other walks of life, in that we are dealt the cards that we are dealt and instead of finding fault with fate, we should find how we can play them to the fullest.

If you have ever wondered if you should try being an entrepreneur, I would heartily recommend that you try it!

Thank you.