Health Tech: Roger DuMoulin White Of Theralase Technologies Inc On How Their Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With David Leichner

Practice Makes Perfect — If I look back on my career, there were many times that I wasn’t good at something or failed to achieve something. I would always sit back and analyze my failures. What could I have done better? How I could I be better prepared next time? What choice of words would have led to a better outcome? I would then fix what needed fixing, get a good night sleep and get up the next morning and try again. As my mother, who was an accomplished pianist used to say to me and her mother before her, my grandmother, a concert-level pianist used, to say, “Try, try and try again and when you fail, try another time.”

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. DuMoulin-White.

Mr. DuMoulin-White is the President, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Theralase® Technologies Inc. (TSXV: TLT / OTCQB: TLTFF).

He has been actively involved in the research, design, development and commercialization of laser systems used to decrease nerve, muscle and joint pain and to activate light sensitive molecules called photodynamic compounds to destroy cancer, bacteria and viruses.

Mr. DuMoulin-White is the inventor / co-inventor of dozens of international patents for drug and laser technologies, as well as the author / co-author of numerous publications on phototherapy and light-tissue interactions.

Prior to founding Theralase®, Mr. DuMoulin-White was a senior manager in charge of production, maintenance, engineering, quality control and scheduling of a $CAN 30 million a year, three shift, high-speed surface mount manufacturing operation for Ford Electronics Manufacturing Corporation.

Mr. DuMoulin-White graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1986 and has been a registered professional engineer since 1989. He was the recipient of the Canadian Award for Business Excellence in 1994 and the Popular Mechanics Innovation Award in 2010.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

Absolutely. I grew up in a small town of around 6,000 people in Tillsonburg, Ontario. The major economy of the area was farming with a focus on tobacco farming, as the sandy loam soil was particularly well suited to growing tobacco. Most of my friends lived on farms, where their parents grew tobacco. As a contrast, my parents were jewelers by trade, so I grew up learning how to sell fine jewelry at the retail level, such as gold and diamonds in my dad’s jewelry store. In addition, my father was a trained gemologist and watchmaker, so I learned how to repair watches and clocks for customers. My father also had a small jewelry manufacturing plant in the basement of the store, where I learned how to cast and stamp fine gold jewelry, such as charms, bracelets and rings. In the process, I learned how to become a tool and die maker during the summers and after school, while I was in high school, so I had a strong mechanical background. This was the late 70s and I became enthralled with the introduction of personal computers and how electronics worked and decided to pursue a career in engineering at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, majoring in robotics. I graduated as an electrical engineer in 1986 and moved to Toronto, Ontario in the fall to start my career as an engineer with Ford Electronics Manufacturing Corporation, the electronics division of Ford Motor Company. I quickly rose up through the ranks being promoted annually until I became a Product Team Manager, responsible for a $CAN 30 million a year 3 shift, high speed surface mount printed circuit board operation, with over 400 people reporting to me. I made Ford a lot of money during my 8-year tenure there and I knew that if I wanted to make money for myself, I would need to run my own company. My father introduced me to an acquaintance of his in Belgium, who had developed one of the world’s first therapeutic laser systems. These therapeutic laser systems were designed to heal injured tissue and I became fascinated with the technology. I ended up flying to Belgium to negotiate the world-wide exclusive rights to the technology and set about redesigning the technology for commercialization in Canada and the United States. This was 1994 and the beginning of Theralase® Inc. After a reverse take-over in 2003, with a public shell, Theralase® Inc. became Theralase® Technologies Inc. (TSXV: TLT, OTCQB: TLTFF)

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I was reading a one paragraph obscure article in a 1999 edition of Laser Focus World and it described a chemistry professor from Virginia Polytechnical University, Dr. Karen Brewer, who had just started developing light sensitive molecules, called Photo Dynamic Compounds (“PDCs”), in conjunction with a biology professor, Dr. Brenda Winkel, that had an affinity for cancer cells and could be light-activated to destroy the cancer cells. I became fascinated with this technology, and I wrote her a letter that I was interested in her research. She sent me her latest peer-reviewed publications and I couldn’t believe how complicated the science was. The chemical names for these PDCs were 20 to 30 characters in length and I barely understood any of it. I endeavoured to research the subject and to make myself an expert in the field. In 2003, I flew to Blacksburg, Virginia and negotiated a license for the world-wide exclusive rights to her technology. For the next 7 years, myself, Karen and a physicist, Dr. Lothar Lilge, from Princess Margaret Cancer Center, a renowned cancer institute in Toronto, Ontario, worked to develop this technology. Karen developed the PDCs, I developed the laser systems to activate them, and Lothar performed the non-clinical experiments to validate the technology. The technology proved to be very good, but did not meet the standards, I believed, that were required to achieve commercial success. In September 2010, Karen, Brenda and I received a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (Hearst Publications, New York, New York) for “One of the Top 20 Bold Ideas That Will Change the World”. I flew to New York to accept the award and there was quite a bit of publicity and notoriety about the award. Coincidently, another chemistry professor from Acadia University (Wolfsville, Nova Scotia), Dr. Sherri McFarland, heard about our award and contacted me, as she was in the process of developing PDCs for cancer targets, as well. Needless to say, by this time I was well versed in the science and after reviewing her research, in 2011, Theralase® in-licensed the worldwide exclusive rights to her technology, which included two platforms; a Ruthenium-based platform and an Osmium-based platform. I had just recently hired a Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Arkady Mandel, and Arkady, Sherri, myself and Lothar commenced research and development into these two platforms of PDCs. In 2013, we chose a lead molecule, which we called TLD-1433 and set about to commercialize this technology for Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (“NMIBC”). We took this molecule from drug discovery, through extensive non-clinical testing, through toxicology, a successful Phase Ib clinical study in humans and we are now 60% of the way through a Phase II registration clinical study in Canada and the United States, with the hope to commercialize this technology in 2025/2026.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are numerous individuals that I have been lucky enough to have as a role model in my life. I think throughout my life, I have tried to choose a role model to learn from and advance my understanding on any particular subject. From my father, to my brother, to my sisters, to my friends, to my high school football coach, to the numerous bosses that I have had in my life, to the dedicated researchers and doctors that I have worked with throughout my career, the list is long and illustrious. To choose one is difficult, but if I had to choose one who helped me to get to where I am today, I would choose my high school football coach, Mr. Arnold Stover, who believed in me when I was a 110 pound dripping wet, Grade 10 student, who brought me on the high school football team and taught me how to work hard both academically and in sports, how to have fun, how to win with dignity and to how to lose with honor. These are all skills, I still carry forward with me today.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite Life Lesson Quote is, “Never stop trying to achieve what you really want in life.” The line often credited to the American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson is, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” This is a statement that resonates with me. If you want something, then you have to get up early every morning and work hard to achieve it. So often in my career I was dealt failure or rejection, but I used this opportunity to learn from my mistakes, fix what needed fixing and then to try again. Sometimes, I failed again, but I never stopped trying. I firmly believe that “If you don’t fail, then you don’t learn anything new.”

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Thirst for Knowledge — Throughout my career, I have always had a burning desire to understand how things worked and why they worked. I guess this is what led me down the career path of engineering. When I was a boy, I wanted to know how my bicycle worked, so I grabbed some of my dad’s tools and started taking it apart. Needless to say, the ball bearings from the friction joints scattered all over the floor and I lost most of them. I had to go to my dad, with my tail between my legs and explain that my bicycle was no longer able to be ridden. He yelled at me at first, but then he thanked me for being honest and took my bicycle to the bike shop to be repaired. I never lost that thirst for knowledge, and I never lost my second character trait of asking for help when you really need it.
2. Asking for Help — Throughout my career, I have strived to be self-sufficient and to try things first before asking for help, but when I was really stuck and I had no chance of achieving an objective, I was never too proud to ask for help. To my surprise, most people are honoured that you have asked them for their help and give of their time freely, as long as you have done your best to achieve your objectives on your own first; otherwise, they feel you are just trying to pawn off your work on them.
3. Active Listening Skills — I was always an active listener. When someone was explaining something to me, I always was engaged and actively try to understand and comprehend what they were trying to teach me. Once I understood, what they were trying to teach me, I could now explain that concept and teach someone else. I have always tried to follow the line made famous by Stephen Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, where he states, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the technology or medical devices that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (“NMIBC”). Bladder cancer is the 10th most common cancer in the world (6th in men, 17th in women). The standard of care is a bacteria therapy named Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (“BCG”) developed over 100 years ago, originally for the prevention of tuberculosis. It is now used intravesically to treat NMIBC, which has a 75% success rate; unfortunately, it doesn’t have a strong duration of response and within one year, up to 50% of the patients that originally benefited from BCG will relapse and their NMIBC will recur. This patient population is now known as BCG-Unresponsive and being counselled to have their bladder removed, through a very invasive surgical procedure, known as a radical cystectomy.

How do you think your technology can address this?

According to the FDA Guidance to Industry for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (“BCG”)-Unresponsive NMIBC, the FDA has stated that patients presenting with Carcinoma In-Situ (“CIS”), a rare high-grade version of NMIBC, are able to be treated in a single arm study (no control arm) and a Phase II clinical study, if successful, in safety and efficacy, is able to be granted marketing approval and commercialized, without resorting to an expensive and time consuming Phase III clinical study.

Theralase®’s technology uses TLD-1433 solution intravesically instilled into the patient’s bladder for one hour via catheter to allow the bladder cancer cells to absorb the drug. The patient is then taken to the operating room where they are placed under general anesthetic, their bladder is voided and rinsed with sterile water. The uro-oncologist then inserts a rigid cystoscope through the patient’s urethra to gain access to the bladder. The bladder is filled with sterile water and a fiber optic assembly is placed in the bladder. The laser system is activated, illuminating the drug for approximately 1 to 1.5 hours, the bladder cancer is destroyed, and the dead bladder cancer cells are voided. The entire procedure takes less than 3 hours to complete.

The interim clinical data to date has been very strong with 66% of patients treated with our therapy receiving a complete response (negative cystoscopy — no cancer in their bladder and negative urine cytology — no bladder cancer cells in their urine) at any point n time and 33% of patients treated maintain this complete response for 12 months after their initial complete response diagnosis. In addition, the treatment is very safe, with no serious adverse events being directly associated with the drug or laser device that activates it.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

As I mentioned previously, my father was a jeweler, gemologist and watchmaker, so he was always very technical. I believe I inherited that technical gene from my father. My mother was a nurse and her father, my grandfather, was a surgeon and the mayor of Fort William, Ontario back in the early 1920s. I believed I inherited the medical gene from my grandfather and mother. I knew at a young age that I either wanted to be a doctor or an engineer and decided on the engineering path, but as fate holds, I ended up drifting back into the medical space anyways, combining both my technical and medical inherited genes to develop technology to treat serious life-threatening conditions. I have always strived to do my best and thought that the human body is the most complicated machine ever developed and one of the greatest threats to that “machine” is cancer, so I set my sights on working for the cure for cancer.

How do you think this might change the world?

Well, I believe if you can provide a cure for cancer, then I think that you have significantly benefited mankind.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

No, I don’t believe so. The Photo Dynamic Therapy (“PDT”) we are discussing (PDC activated by laser light) happens within a few hours to destroy the cancer, so the human body doesn’t have time to build up defenses or have negative long-term side effects associated with the treatment.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

1. Be Visionary — When I first launched Theralase® Inc. and introduced therapeutic lasers to the Canadian and US markets, no one had ever heard of them. The reason for this is that I thought decades (probably 2 decades) down the road as to what would be beneficial for patients suffering from musculoskeletal pain and what technology would be best to alleviate that pain. I then set out to develop that technology, knowing that it would take me years or decades to develop, which it did. I was now perfectly positioned to take advantage of the opportunity, when it finally presented itself. I did the same thing with cancer treatments. I postulated, “What technology would be the most safe and effective in destroying this disease?”, knowing full well it would take me one to two decades to bring that technology to market. I often think of Wayne Gretzky’s famous quote, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” In other words, if some technology is beneficial to a certain condition today, by the time, you research, develop and commercialize it, the opportunity has long since expired. Think much further down the road to give yourself time to prepare for the opportunity, unless you have unlimited financial resources and personnel to bring it to market sooner, which I did not.
2. Fill an Unmet Need — As the old saying goes, “Don’t reinvent the wheel”. I would never endeavour to build a better burger franchise chain that McDonalds. I would never try to build a better car company that Ford, General Motors, Mercedes Benz or Toyota. These organizations have filled a need, whether it be fast-food or transportation and trying to compete head-to-head with a much larger, more ingrained, better financed organization will just be a lesson in futility. If on the other hand you envisioned, electric cars two decades ago, like Tesla did in 2001, then you would have had a good chance at building a company, like Tesla did, making Elon Musk the richest man in the world. Find an opportunity that no one has thought of (or few people have thought of, as there is always competition) that won’t come into vogue for 1 to 2 decades and work on that. With a little luck, you might just be at the right place at the right time.
3. Do Your Homework — When you get involved in an opportunity, you need to understand everything about that opportunity, What are the challenges? What are the risks? How do I mitigate those risks? How do I finance the research and development of my opportunity? Who do I trust? Who don’t I trust? How do I work on my opportunity full-time and still provide for myself and my family? There is never a shortage to the planning and action plans that you need to complete to meet your objectives. From a classical Chinese Taoist text written between the 4th and 6th century BC, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It takes a lot of steps in the right direction to complete your thousand mile journey, get started and plan well and as the old adage goes, “If you reach for the stars and get halfway there, then you have accomplished a great thing.”
4. Build from the Ground Up — When I first started Theralase® Inc. in 1994, there was one employee, me. I was responsible for every aspect of the business: Marketing, Sales, Engineering, Production, Finance, Accounting, Legal, you name it, there was only one employee working on it, me. I made a promise to myself , to not waste my time and every working day, I would accomplish at least one important task. It didn’t matter in which field, just as long as I completed (or started) one important task. By doing this, I knew that I would complete at least 200 to 250 tasks per year that would further me to my objectives. As I built my sales and finance of the Company, I could now outsource objectives or hire employees to complete objectives. I focused on what I was good at and tried to find organizations and employees who were good at what they did to help complete tasks to further the company to achieve its strategic objectives.
5. Practice Makes Perfect — If I look back on my career, there were many times that I wasn’t good at something or failed to achieve something. I would always sit back and analyze my failures. What could I have done better? How I could I be better prepared next time? What choice of words would have led to a better outcome? I would then fix what needed fixing, get a good night sleep and get up the next morning and try again. As my mother, who was an accomplished pianist used to say to me and her mother before her, my grandmother, a concert-level pianist used, to say, “Try, try and try again and when you fail, try another time.”

Can you share a few best practices that you recommend to safeguard your technology or medical devices from hackers?

1. Pursue patents for your technology in the countries that you plan to do business. Patent submission and prosecution is expensive, so choose competent patent legal counsel and focus on the patent protection you need, not just what would be nice to have, as you will go broke trying to patent in every country of the world.
2. Obtain signed Confidentiality Agreements any time you plan to share your technology or ideas, that is not in the public market, with other parties and organizations that may use your information for their benefit or another parties benefit, to protect yourself.
3. Keep trade secrets to yourself and to those you implicitly trust in you organization. According to Ziad Abdelnour in Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics “Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three.” Be careful who you trust, as many people have hidden agendas, they don’t reveal to you until it is often too late.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

If you truly wish to be happy, material wealth in and of itself will not make you happy. It will buy you a lot of things, but in the end your wealth won’t bring you true happiness. Now don’t get me wrong, you need money to achieve your strategic objectives and to survive, but it is not mutually exclusive for you to generate wealth and at the same time, give some of your time to other people, by improving their lives, helping them to achieve their goals or objectives or helping them to overcome their adversities or conditions, this will help bring you true happiness, just by the smile on their face. Try it and see if you can’t help but smile back.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I have always had a great deal of respect for former President Barack Obama. I think he had a tough position and did a great job through the toughest economic recession the world has ever seen. I believe he is intelligent, articulate and a true gentleman. I would enjoy having a private breakfast or lunch with him.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Theralase® Technologies Inc. website — www.theralase.com , they can e-mail me at rwhite@theralase.com or follow me on LinkedIn.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

About The Interviewer: David Leichner is a veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry with significant experience in the areas of cyber and security, enterprise software and communications. At Cybellum, a leading provider of Product Security Lifecycle Management, David is responsible for creating and executing the marketing strategy and managing the global marketing team that forms the foundation for Cybellum’s product and market penetration. Prior to Cybellum, David was CMO at SQream and VP Sales and Marketing at endpoint protection vendor, Cynet. David is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Technology College. He holds a BA in Information Systems Management and an MBA in International Business from the City University of New York.