Crowley: The Untold Story
On March 15, NewsOK and reporter Steve Lackmeyer presented a highly interesting article on the background and events that ended up as a bestselling book and presently a movie under production: We’re talking Crowley.
According to NewsOK and Lackmeyer, the importance of the biotech hub in Oklahoma City and Dr. William Canfield is downplayed in Geeta Anand’s bestselling book and in the upcoming movie — and the article indicates that the reason may be a due to strained relations and a 2005 split between John Crowley and the media shy Dr. William Canfield. The picture left shows the real life John Crowley and Dr. William Canfield and the photograph was shot by The Oklahoman’s Doug Hoke in Oklahoma City in 2000.
Oklahoma City, biotech venture Novazyme and Dr. William Canfield in was where and who John Crowley turned to for the development of a potential cure for the fatal genetic disorder Pompe disease, which had struck his children. Crowley raised capital, became a partner of Novazyme and Dr. Canfield developed a promising drug.
Novazyme was sold to biotech giant Genzyme in 2001. According to NewsOK, Crowley and Canfield went on to do another local venture — Cytovance Biologics. Construction of a facility boosted by local tax incentives had started when Crowley pulled out and took over as chief executive officer at Amicus Therepeutics in New Jersey (in 2005). Dr. William Canfield formed an investor group, took over Cytovance with a $9 million cash infusion and rescued it from near bankruptcy. Besides ramaining a N.J based biotech executive, John Crowley has also gone on to persue a successful political career in New Jersey.
According to NewsOK, the Oklahoma City and William Canfield contributions to the Crowley story have been systematically downplayed on Wikipedia and in Geeta Anand’s bestseller and they are still being downplayed in the upcoming movie. Neither Oklahoma City nor Dr. William Canfield exist in the latter version.
Brendan Fraser will portray the character "John Crowley" in the movie. Dr. William Canfield is fictionalized to "Dr. Robert Stonehill" and the character will be played by Harrison Ford. Ford also serves as the movie’s executive producer. Other cast members: Keri Russell (as "Aileen Crowley"), Patrick Bauchau (as "Jurgen Axelsson"), J.P. Byrne (as "Dr. Preston") and Meredith Droeger (as "Megan Crowley"). CBS Films has released a statement to The Oklahoman, which confirms that the tale is fictionalized:
"Our movie is inspired by the Crowley family’s journey to save their children,” producers said. "Their story spanned several years and included countless individuals, companies and researchers. In the process of bringing their story to the big screen, timelines were compressed, and characters and events were changed or otherwise fictionalized for dramatic purposes.”
Mike Anderson, president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park, which incubated Novazyme when it was started up by Canfield, says:
"It’s a lost opportunity. Unfortunately, the person creating the story, John Crowley, is not based here and his home is Princeton, N.J., and his contacts are on the Eastern Seaboard. This story was produced in his own environment"
.He added:
"We are fully aware of the scientific basis of the true discovery of a response to Pompe disease, and it’s due to one of the leading glycobiologists in the world, and that is Dr. William Canfield. People in the scientific world know the accomplishments of Bill Canfield and pay due respect. We are also aware of the Hollywood propensity when doing a historic novel to be more novel than historic.”
Read the full article from NewsOK [ here ].
