Harold Punnett, DMD 1984, is a dentist, entrepreneur and co-founder of the biotech company NervGen Pharma. We connected with Dr. Punnett to learn about his time at UBC Dentistry, and how his skills as a dentist helped him develop a drug that could have a profound impact on people living with central nervous system damage.
What first got you interested in a career in dentistry?
I was always in the basement building things as a kid, and I especially enjoyed building radio-controlled airplanes. My grandfather lived next door, and he was a very skilled cabinet maker, so I did a lot of woodworking projects with him. At a young age, it was clear I would do something with my hands, and that my temperament meant I had to work for myself—I’ve never liked being told what to do!
I thought about a lot of different professions—I might be one of the only people you know who wrote the LSAT for law school, the MCAT for medical school and the DAT for dentistry. I decided to go with dentistry because it felt like the best overall fit for me, and I really liked the entrepreneurship element.
What do you appreciate most about your time spent at UBC Dentistry?
Back then, the first two years of dental school were spent with medical students, and I absolutely loved that. I enjoyed all the medical classes, and they helped me tremendously in terms of getting me to where I am today. After graduating from dental school, I had a very good skillset, courtesy of UBC, which I’ve always been grateful for.
What do you love most about the dental profession?
I love that you can transform someone’s appearance. Early in my career, I improved a young man’s smile. When he looked in the mirror, he burst into tears and said he hadn’t smiled since he was 14 years old. That’s pretty cool and shows how impactful this profession is.
Tell us a bit about NervGen Pharma, the company you co-founded and direct.
In 2016, my daughter-in-law fell and became paraplegic, meaning she has no movement below her belly button. This prompted me to start doing research—I was reading publications and calling people around the world—as currently, there are no drugs on the market that repair nervous system damage.
I came across a 2015 Nature paper by the late researcher Dr. Jerry Silver, which was different than anything else I had read. His paper clearly showed why the nervous system had little ability to repair itself after damage. After a spinal cord injury there is a break in the blood brain barrier, and bleeding into the spinal cord causes a lot of inflammation. Mother Nature’s job is to seal this blood brain barrier which is done using a barrier molecule called chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, which becomes part of the glial scar. Unfortunately, these molecules also bind to a cellular receptor on the growing nerves, turning on this receptor. When this receptor is on, it initiates anti-repair mechanisms throughout the central nervous system, so the nerves don’t grow or repair.
Jerry Silver developed a drug that targets this receptor, in effect turning it off. This is the normal state of the receptor in a non-injured spinal cord, allowing multiple mechanisms of repair to occur. The old adage that our central nervous system has limited or no ability to repair itself is wrong.
Our biotech company is called NervGen Pharma, and we’re currently about to start a Phase 3 FDA clinical trial. So far, our drug has been tested on 80 patients with no adverse effects seen. The majority of people in our Phase 2 trial regained some mobility after being paralyzed, and it will be tested on 150 more in the next and final phase. Our Phase 2 trial also saw an 825 per cent increase in hand function in the drug group compared to the placebo group.
If this drug gets approved—and I feel confident that it will—it will have a huge impact on patients around the world suffering from central nervous system damage, whether it’s traumatic injury like spinal cord injury, or damage from disease such as multiple sclerosis, ALS or Alzheimer’s.
How did your skills as a dentist prepare you for drug development?
Dentistry has provided me with a lot of financial stability, which has allowed me to explore other ventures, and I had an excellent education in medicine and biology from my time in dental school.
I have also been investing in start-up companies for a long time, including a dentistry biotech company back in the 90s.
What advice would you give to current students?
First, join a study club because it’s the best way to learn. Second, you don’t know what you don’t know. Be open to advice, whether it’s clinical or business. Having an open mind will help you throughout your career. And sometimes less is better—you should always make sure you are competent before taking on something more difficult.
I would also say that if you own a practice, hire staff you truly like and who complement your personality. And finally, be bold and follow your heart. If you have any inkling at all that you have a passion for something, you’ve got to follow that. Ask yourself what truly makes you happy and do it.