A Candid Discussion With An Entrepreneur Drug Developer

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By  Rob Wright

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a person who was intimately involved in the development of Zithromax (azithromycin) — one of the world’s bestselling antibiotics. Having worked for a company which had several products in direct competition with Zithromax, I was curious to get his take on a few things, and I was not disappointed.
As we discussed the marketing brilliance behind the Zithromax Z-Pak, he drops this bombshell, “We [industry] have done more to induce resistance than we have to understand resistance intrinsically.” He doesn’t regret developing the drug as it has certainly saved countless lives. But, questions linger as to the ethics behind some of the marketing activities. Casting that aside, he sees drug development as the ultimate team sport. “From the development of that “ah-ha” moment of transforming an idea into a drug truly takes hundreds of people to make it happen,” he explains.

Starting His Own Company
Having spent a career at a variety of midsize to large pharma companies with much success, I asked what prompted him to leave and start his own business. He explained that is was a confluence of things – the realization that the current drug development process was broken, the passion to make a difference, and the desire to do so in a place he wanted to live. He described for me the point when he had this moment of clarity. Slogging through snow at an East Coast airport to attend a meeting on the West Coast, schlepping his clothes, gloves and scarf he thought “God, I hate this.” Arriving in San Diego in February, with a temperature of 75, he went to have lunch at George’s in La Joya, CA. As he overlooked the shimmering Pacific Ocean — shirt collar unbuttoned, tie loosened — from the restaurant’s deck, he decided on that day he was going to do something, somehow to get to this part of the world to run his business. So quality of life became the driver for the where. But what was the driver for the what?

Is It The Money Or The Magic
“One thing that was clear to me was how much I love the idea of making an impact by discovering things and helping to convert that into a real drug that benefits all of us,” he explains. As he began the process for formulating what he wanted to do, he asked himself, “Do I want to do something that, not necessarily bigger in the sense of the organization, not higher profile in terms of corporate structure or the way people view you, or do I want to do something bigger in terms of looking at where we are as an industry and moving to the edge of where I think the wave is going to take us?” In the early 2000s, it became really clear to him that if he wanted the opportunity to affect, in a positive way, outcomes in human health, he needed to have an organization that was a little more responsive to his ideas, i.e., his own company. To make it cost effective and productive, he needed to build it lean. Elaborating he states, “I really believed we needed to go a different way in terms of the diseases we were looking at. How we pull together information. How rapidly we do that. How efficiently we do that.” He believed this could be accomplished more effectively via a small/virtual model. “Everything I have done now comes from the decision, personally, to want to change my life and then ultimately, professionally commit to make more impact, to have my fingers in more opportunity to make a difference in the outcomes of human health,” he states. That being said, he still wants to put some money in the bank. “It’s a business opportunity because the hope at the end of the day is there’s a check with your name on it,” he elaborates. “I am optimistic that if you still find things that have unique pharmacology, and you have a plan, and can convince yourself that the plan has some relevance to treating disease, you will be successful.” One more piece of advice, just show up. “If you just try, just show up, there is a chance you’ll have success,” he states. “Because you’re showing up, some door will open. You have to get up, and you have to go to the door. It’s opened for you, but you have to go to the door. Something will open for you, or you’ll open a door that will reveal something about yourself, about your career possibilities that you didn’t really understand.” When opportunity knocks, answer the door, most likely, you will be enlightened and enriched by it.