Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Honors San Diego Partner John Wetherell

In her introduction of the award, the foundation’s Executive Director Jamie Weissburg noted that in 2014 the foundation sold its royalty rights for cystic fibrosis treatments developed by Vertex for $3.3 billion. Wetherell and his team at Pillsbury brokered the monetization deal between the foundation and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The foundation remains one of his clients and he often advises its leaders on intellectual property rights.

More recently, Wetherell helped introduce the CEO of San Diego-based Calibr, a nonprofit division of Scripps Research, to key research executives at the foundation, leading to a research grant for its new infection control initiative.

Wetherell has been a board member of the San Diego chapter for more than four years and donates office space for many foundation meetings. As a former research scientist, Wetherell often invites local scientists to share their research projects with the cystic fibrosis community and helps interpret the progress generated by the foundation’s venture philanthropy approach to research and development.

For more on Wetherell’s work on cystic fibrosis, see here and here.

Cystic fibrosis is a rare genetic disease that progressively limits the ability to breathe. More than 30,000 people in the United States are afflicted. The foundation was founded in 1955.