Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> June 2, 2003

Garo Armen – Antigenics Inc (agen)

GARO H. ARMEN is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Antigenics Inc. which he co-founded with Pramod Srivastava in 1994. In 1990, Dr. Armen established a money management firm which specialized in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, Dr. Armen has provided advisory services to several companies including Immunex, American Cyanamid, Forest Laboratories and Ivax. In 1993, he was architect of a widely publicized transaction: the creation of the Immunex Lederle oncology business. He was also an advisor to PerSeptive Biosystems in its restructuring. He began a career on Wall Street in 1981 as an Analyst at E.F. Hutton. Subsequently, he moved to Dean Witter Reynolds as Senior Vice President of Research, leading a team of professionals specializing in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Armen received a PhD in Biochemistry from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He was then appointed Research Fellow at Brookhaven National Laboratories on Long Island, where his work centered on the fields of photosynthesis and energy production. Profile
TWST: We'd like to begin with a brief historical sketch of

Antigenics and an overview of things as they are now.

Dr. Armen: I founded the company along with Pramod Srivastava,

who is the