List of biotech founders and drug hunters who were unlikely to succeed (and yet they did)

Robert Swanson (Genentech)

VC who got kicked out of his job, was almost never in touch with science. Started Genentech at 28.
Started a company in a climate where the government constantly wanted to shut them down
Cold-mailed Boyer to be his co-founder before there was any such thing as academia-industry collaboration
Genentech had no scientific management for years, and yet got therapy from the bench to an approved drug in a total of 4 years
After a number of high-profile labs figured that cloning is not as dangerous as they thought and started catching up, he still outcompeted them all

Robert Duggan (Pharmacyclics)

Scientologist who only had experience with some tech and developing a recipe for Mcdonalds' cookies
Started buying out stock of a biotech company that was literally about to get delisted
It didn't have anything viable in the pipeline and had no cash to develop new things
Got first-in-class drug approved years later (Imbruvica), selling the company for $21 billion to AbbVie

Larry Bock (Illumina)

Was legally blind by the age of 29
Founded, co-founded & backed more than 50 companies that have achieved a cumulative market capitalization of over $100 billion

Frederick Banting (Insulin)

Had a very slow start to his career. Failed his first degree. Got rejected from being a medic in the army twice
After reading a 1920 scientific paper describing an experiment in which the pancreatic duct was tied off, became interested in isolating insulin
Never managed to get a research position himself
He was the first person to isolate medicine from an animal. No precedent before
The youngest person to ever get a Nobel prize

James Black (first beta blocker)

Was in huge debts by the time he graduated
Had to take a teaching job to make ends meet
Discovered the first beta blocker, propranolol, "the first agent to reduce blood pressure without diuretic effects"

Katalin Kariko (mRNA vaccines)

Was demoted from the University because she couldn't get funding for her research
The paper on nucleoside modifications she received Nobel Prize for got rejected by all major journals

Russel Earl Marker (progesterone synthesis)

Dropped out of grad school
Developed his own method to produce semi-synthetic progesterone from Mexican yams
Was rejected by every single American pharma when he pitched his process
Founded Syntex, S.A.. Left it 2 years later because he was bored

Marianna Rothblatt (United Tx)

Underwent gender transition in the mid-1990s
Motivated by her daughter Jenesis's diagnosis with pulmonary arterial hypertension, founded United Therapeutics in 1996
Ended up bringing to market several treatments for PAH
A huge company today

Arthur Kuan (CG Oncology)