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Alumna Award 2001

Congratulations Anne-Marie Corner!

Wharton Women in Business is privileged to award the 2001 Kathleen McDonald Distinguished Alumna Award to Anne-Marie Corner.

Upon graduating from the Wharton Business School, Anne-Marie Corner founded Biosyn, Inc., a biotechnology company in Philadelphia, focused on developing novel targeted-delivery pharmaceutical products for the prevention and treatment of infectious disease.  For eleven years Ms. Corner has overseen all corporate functional areas including finance, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, and business development.  As President, Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors, Ms. Corner has progressed two of Biosyn’s major AIDS-related drugs from discovery through to human clinical trials.  Included among these is SAVVYÒ, a vaginal microbicide designed for women to prevent the transmission of HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases including chlamydia and gonorrhea.  The other leading product, ORAMEDÒ, is an oral rinse for treatment of one of the most common infections associated with AIDS. 

 Thus far, Ms. Corner has also raised over $30 million in financing for Biosyn in the form of equity investments, grants, and contracts.  Anne-Marie Corner’s accomplishments in business were recently acknowledged by her selection as Entrepreneur of the Year for the Life Sciences category in the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Program.  Previously Ms. Corner received the “Woman of Distinction” award from the Philadelphia Business Journal, “Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year” given by the Committee of 200, an international organization of the world’s preeminent businesswomen, “50 Best Businesswomen in Pennsylvania” in 1997, included in the Honor Roll of Businesswomen in Philadelphia by the Philadelphia Business Journal, “Woman to Watch” and “Company to Watch” by Business Philadelphia Magazine, and has been profiled in a series of articles by the Wall Street Journal on entrepreneurship. 
 
Anne-Marie Corner has also been committed to the growth of other women led businesses as co-founder, past President, and Member of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Investment Network (WIN).  WIN’s mission is fourfold - to educate entrepreneurs on financing their businesses, to provide a forum for networking, to mentor other female entrepreneurs and to expand their access to capital.  Ms. Corner was an invited speaker to the Women’s Economic Summit in Washington, D.C. in 1998, where she led a two-day session on finance for the entrepreneur and also spoke to the Summit about WIN as a model for other organizations on a national level.  Ms. Corner is also a vocal advocate for small businesses in the health care arena, and regularly testifies on issues that help small entrepreneurial companies access government funding.  

In recognition of her dedication to AIDS prevention and treatment, Ms. Corner has been an invited speaker at the White House Conference on AIDS, has testified several times before the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS on the status of AIDS prevention drug development, and has met with previous Vice President Al Gore in a private meeting with leaders in the pharmaceutical industry to identify means of expediting AIDS drug development.  She is a Member of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Microbicide Development, an international organization focused on the development of microbicides to prevent STD transmission. Presently, Anne-Marie Corner is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Eastern Technology Council.
 
In balance with her successful career and community involvement, Ms. Corner is married with two daughters, ages eight and six.