Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> May 29, 2000

Endre Balazs – Biomatrix Inc (bxm)

DR. ENDRE A. BALAZS is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Biomatrix, Inc. and the Malcolm P. Aldrich Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (New York). He received his medical degree from the University of Budapest (Hungary) where he also started his research career. He continued his research for four years at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, after which he moved to the US and accepted a position at the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard University, where his research interests included the structure and function of the intercellular matrix and glycosaminoglycans, as well as the effect of hyaluronan, heparin and other polysaccharides on cellular growth and differentiation. In 1970, Dr. Balazs co-founded the Retina Foundation and the Boston Biomedical Research Institute (Boston, MA), where his research led to the discovery of the broad therapeutic uses of elastoviscous solutions of hyaluronan. He co-founded Biomatrix, Inc. in 1981 to develop cross-linked hyaluronan derivatives (hylans) for medical applications and for skin care. He has published more than 300 scientific articles, books and patents. Profile
TWST: Give us a short background summary on Biomatrix. Then describe

what you see as your business and company today.

Dr. Balazs: My colleague, Dr. Janet Denlinger, and I founded Biomatrix

in