Rick Murdock founded CellPro Inc. to develop new cancer treatments. The company’s first project was a process to separate, purify, and concentrate stem cells from bone marrow that could then be transferred into patients to treat lymphoma, breast cancer, and multiple myeloma. Unexpectedly, Murdock developed a type of cancer that CellPro’s product could treat. At about the same time, the process the company developed ran into a patent dispute with several large biotechnology companies, and CellPro ultimately went bankrupt.

Here, CellPro CEO Rick Murdock stands by a railing some months after being treated for cancer.

Caption information source: “CellPro chief fights for life on two fronts: Murdock fights cancer to face patent challenge,” by Carol Smith, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 23, 1997, pages B5, B8.
Caption information source: “Company’s work helped save its chief exec’s life,” by Carol Smith, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 11, 1998, page A6.
Caption information source: “CellPro: a biotech disaster,” by Carol Smith, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 11, 1998, pages A1, A6.