9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Chris Anderson: So I guess[br]what we're going to do is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we're going to talk about your life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and using some pictures[br]that you shared with me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I think we should start[br]right here with this one. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, now who is this? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Martine Rothblatt: This is me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with our oldest son Eli. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was about age five. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is taken in Nigeria 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 right after having taken[br]the Washington, DC bar exam. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: Okay. But this doesn't[br]really look like a Martine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Right. That was myself as a male, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the way I was brought up, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 before I transitioned 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from male to female and Martin to Martine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: You were brought up Martin Rothblatt. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Correct. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And about a year after this picture, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you married a beautiful woman. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Was this love at first sight?[br]What happened there? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: It was love at the first sight. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I saw Bina at a discotheque[br]in Los Angeles, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we later began living together, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but the moment I saw her,[br]I saw just an aura of energy around her. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I asked her to dance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She said she saw an aura[br]of energy around me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was a single male parent.[br]She was a single female parent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We showed each other[br]our kids' pictures, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we've been happily married[br]for a third of a century now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And at the time, you were[br]kind of this hotshot entrepreneur, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 working with satellites. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think you had two successful companies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then you started[br]addressing this problem 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of how could you use satellites 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to revolutionize radio. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Tell us about that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Right. I always[br]loved space technology, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and satellites, to me, are sort of[br]like the canoes that our ancestors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 first pushed out into the water. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So it was exciting for me[br]to be part of the navigation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the oceans of the sky, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and as I developed different types[br]of satellite communication systems, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the main thing I did was to launch 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 bigger and more powerful satellites, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the consequence was that[br]the receiving antennas 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could be smaller and smaller, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and after going through[br]direct television broadcasting, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had the idea that if we could make 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a more powerful satellite, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the receiving dish could be so small 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that it would just be a section[br]of a parabolic dish, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a flap of a plate embedded[br]into the roof of an automobile, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it would be possible to have[br]nationwide satellite radio, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that's SiriusXM today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: Wow. So who here has used Sirius? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Thank you for[br]your monthly subscriptions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: So that succeeded despite[br]all predictions at the time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was a huge commercial success, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but soon after this, in the early 1990s, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there was this big transition in your life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you became Martine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Correct.[br]CA: So tell me, how did that happen? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: It happened in consultation with Bina 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and our four beautiful children, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I discussed with each of them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I felt my soul was always female, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and as a woman, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I was afraid people would laugh at me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if I expressed it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I always kept it bottled up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and just showed my male side. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And each of them[br]had a different take on this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Bina said that I love your soul 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and whether the outside[br]is Martin and Martine, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it doesn't it matter to me,[br]I love your soul. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My son said, if you become a woman,[br]will you still be my father? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I said yes,[br]I'll always be your father, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm still his father today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My youngest daughter did an absolutely[br]brilliant five-year old thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She told people, "I love my dad[br]and she loves me." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So she had no problem[br]with a gender blending whatsoever. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And a couple years after this,[br]you published this book: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Apartheid of Sex. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What was your thesis in this book? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: My thesis in this book is that there[br]are seven billion people in the world, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and actually, seven billion unique ways[br]to express one's gender. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And while people may have[br]the genitals of a male or a female, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the genitals don't determine your gender 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or even really your sexual identity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's just a matter of anatomy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and reproductive tracts, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and people could choose[br]whatever gender they want 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if they weren't forced by society 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into categories of either male or female 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the way South Africa used to force people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into categories of black or white. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We know from anthropological science 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that race is fiction, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even though racism is very, very real, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we now know from cultural studies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that separate male or female genders 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is a constructed fiction. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The reality is a gender fluidity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that crosses the entire continuum[br]from male to female. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: You yourself don't always[br]feel 100 percent female. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Correct. I would say in some ways 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I change my gender about as often[br]as I change my hairstyle. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: (Laughs) Okay, now, this is[br]your gorgeous daughter, Genesis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I guess she was about this age 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when something pretty terrible happened. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Yes, she was finding herself[br]unable to walk up the stairs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in our house to her bedroom, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and after several months of doctors, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she was diagnosed to have a rare, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 almost invariably fatal disease 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 called pulmonary arterial hypertension. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: So how did you respond to that? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Well, we first tried to get her[br]to the best doctors we could. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We ended up at Children's[br]National Medical Center in Washington, DC. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The head of pediatric cardiology 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 told us that he was going to refer her[br]to get a lung transplant, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but not to hold out any hope, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because there are[br]very few lungs available, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 especially for children. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He said that all people[br]with this illness die, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if any of you have seen[br]the film "Lorenzo's Oil," 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there's a scene when the protagonist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 kind of rolls down the stairway[br]crying and bemoaning the fate of his son, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that's exactly[br]how we felt about Genesis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: But you didn't accept that[br]as the limit of what you could do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You started trying to research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and see if you could find a cure somehow. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Correct. She was in intensive[br]care ward for weeks at a time, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and Bina and I would tag team[br]to stay at the hospital 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while the other watched[br]the rest of the kids, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and when I was in the hospital[br]and she was sleeping, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I went to the hospital library. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I read every article that I could find[br]on pulmonary hypertension. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had not taken any biology,[br]even in college, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I had to go from a biology textbook 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to a college-level textbook 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then medical textbook[br]and the journal articles, back and forth, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and eventually I knew enough to think[br]that it might be possible 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that somebody could find a cure. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we started a nonprofit foundation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wrote a description 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 asking people to submit grants 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we would pay for medical research. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I became an expert on the condition.[br]Doctors said to me, Martine, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we really appreciate all the funding[br]you've provided us, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we are not going to be able[br]to find a cure in time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to save your daughter. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, there is a medicine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that was developed at the[br]Borroughs Wellcome Trust Company 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that could halt the progression[br]of the disease, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but Borroughs Wellcome has just[br]been acquired by Glaxo Wellcome. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They made a decision not to develop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 any medicines for rare[br]and orphan diseases, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and maybe you could use your expertise[br]in satellite communications 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to develop this cure[br]for pulmonary hypertension. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: So how on earth did you get[br]access to this drug? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: I went to Glaxo Wellcome 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and after three times being rejected[br]and having the door slammed in my face 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because they weren't going[br]to out-license the drug 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to a satellite communications expert, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they weren't going to send the drug[br]out to anybody at all, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they thought[br]I didn't have the expertise, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 finally I was able to persuade[br]a small team of people to work with me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and develop enough credibility. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wore down their resistance, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they had no hope this drug[br]would even work, by the way, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they tried to tell me,[br]"You're just wasting your time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We're sorry about your daughter." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But finally, for 25,000 dollars 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and agreement to pay 10 percent[br]of any revenues we might ever get, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they agreed to give me[br]worldwide rights to this drug. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And so you put this drug on the market 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in a really brilliant way, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by basically charging what it would take[br]to make the economics work. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Oh yes, Chris, but this really wasn't[br]a drug that I ended up,[br] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 after I wrote the check for 25,000, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I said, "Okay, where's[br]the medicine for Genesis?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they said, "Oh, Martine,[br]there's no medicine for Genesis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is just something we tried in rats." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And they gave me, like,[br]a little plastic Ziploc bag 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a small amount of powder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They said, "Don't give it to any human," 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they gave me a piece of paper[br]which said it was a patent, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and from that, we had to figure out[br]a way to make this medicine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A hundred chemists in the U.S.[br]at the top universities 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all swore that little patent[br]could never be turned into a medicine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If it was turned into a medicine,[br]it could never be delivered 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it had a half life[br]of only 45 minutes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And yet, a year or two later,[br]you were there with the medicine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that worked for Genesis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Chris, the astonishing thing[br]is that this absolutely worthless 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 piece of powder 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that had the sparkle of a promise[br]of hope for Genesis 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is not only keeping Genesis[br]and other people alive today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but produces almost a billion[br]and a half dollars a year in revenue. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: So here you go. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So you took this company public, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And made an absolute fortune. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And how much have you paid Glaxo,[br]by the way, after that 25,000? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Yeah, well every year we pay them[br]10 percent of 1.5 billion,, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 150 million dollars,[br]last year a hundred million dollars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The best return on an investment[br]they ever received. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: And the best news of all, I guess, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mr: Yes. Genesis is an absolutely[br]brilliant young lady. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She's alive, healthy today at 30. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You see me, Bina, and Genesis there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She's, the most amazing[br]thing about Genesis 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that while she could do[br]anything with her life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and believe me, if you grew up[br]your whole life with people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in your face saying[br]that you've got a fatal disease, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I would probably run to Tahiti and just[br]not want to run into anybody again. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But instead she chooses to work[br]in United Therapeutics. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She says she wants to do all she can[br]to help other people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with orphan diseases get medicines, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and today, she's our project leader[br]for all telepresence activities, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where she helps digitally unite[br]the entire company to work together 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to find cures for pulmonary hypertension. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: But not everyone who has this disease[br]has been so fortunate. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are still many people dying, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you are tackling that too. How? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 MR: Exactly, Chris. There's some 3,000[br]people a year in the United States alone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 perhaps ten times that number worldwide, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who continue to die of this illness 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because the medicines[br]slow down the progression 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but they don't halt it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The only cure for pulmonary hypertension,[br]pulmonary fibrosis, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 cystic fibrosis, emphysema, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 COPD, what Leonard Nimoy just died of, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is a lung transplant, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but sadly, there are only enough[br]available lungs for 2,000 people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the U.S. a year[br]to get a young transplant, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whereas nearly a half[br]million people a year 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 die of end stage lung failure. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 CA: So how can you address that?