Ethan Perlstein acknowledged up front that Perlara, "as the first biotech PBC," is "a different type" of C corporation but not – as some have surmised – a not-for-profit entity. That said, Perlstein – who founded and serves as CEO of Perlara, previously Perlstein Lab, following his postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University's Lewis-Sigler Institute – wanted the 2014 startup to be "180 degrees different in every regard" from the typical biopharma, from its scientific approach to its branding and business model. The PBC, or public benefit corporation, provided a structure to define social and environmental missions that were aligned with venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship and to create a footprint for drug discovery that regarded patients as true partners rather than volunteers for clinical trials.