9 Biopharma CEOs On COVID-19 Induced Trend Opportunities

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

This year’s CEO outlook article in Life Science Leader’s annual outlook issue, published in December, has 15 CEOs taking part! Some members of this year’s CEO class were posed a question around what COVID-19 induced trends they envisioned sticking around well beyond the end of this pandemic. Taking part in this online Beyond The Printed Page exclusive are:

• Nancy Chang, Ph.D., CEO, Ansun Biopharma
• Doug Fambrough, III, Ph.D., CEO, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals
• Peter Heifetz, Ph.D., CEO, Orpro Therapeutics
• Emil Kakkis, M.D., Ph.D., CEO, Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals
• Albert Mitrani, CEO, Organicell Regenerative Medicine
• Rick Modi, CEO, Affinia Therapeutics
• Saundra Pelletier, CEO, Evofem Biosciences
• Adrian Rawcliffe, CEO, Adaptimmune
• Karen Zaderej, CEO, Axogen

Don’t miss out on getting your very own annual outlook issue by becoming a Life Science Leader subscriber today.

WHAT COVID-19-INDUCED TRENDS IMPACTING YOUR COMPANY'S OPERATIONS DO YOU ANTICIPATE CONTINUING WELL BEYOND THE END OF THE CURRENT PANDEMIC?

ALBERT MITRANI, CEO, ORGANICELL REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

Organicell, we operate as an R&D laboratory and manufacturing facility producing biologics for use in clinical research. Therefore, our operation always has focused on employee safety, maintenance of sanitized laboratories, qualification of biologic materials, employee training, and wellbeing. However, post COVID, we have incorporated several changes to comply with the guidelines set forth by the FDA for drug and biologics manufacturing, as well as the regulations imposed by our internal building management. These include the regular wearing of masks in public workspaces, virtual meetings, extra cleaning of laboratory benches, and monitoring of COVID-19 symptoms among staff. Regarding our biologics manufacturing, we have incorporated a COVID-19 screening questionnaire in the collection process of all biologic tissue used to manufacture our therapeutic and research projects. The pros of these additional guidelines include the assurance that our staff are healthy, the work environment is kept sanitized at all times, and that our work may continue uninterrupted while maintaining strict safety and regulatory guidelines. The cons include extra work time required to routinely sterilize common work areas, a heavy reliance on virtual meetings to share scientific developments, and group learnings. We anticipate continuing these operations throughout 2021 but will remain vigilant to monitor any changes or altered regulations set forth by scientific groups and agencies.

KAREN ZADEREJ, CEO, AXOGEN

We converted our professional surgeon education program to virtual platforms and launched an interactive webinar series during COVID-19, allowing us to continue providing clinical and educational experiences for surgeons. These virtual platform events have helped us engage with hundreds of surgeons on a range of nerve repair topics. We will continue to include virtual surgeon education opportunities post COVID-19 to augment in-person training events. We are confident we will provide high value educational offerings in both environments and reach more surgeons with these options.

We directed our sales team to enter healthcare facilities only when requested and necessary. Our sales representatives remained in frequent contact with our customers virtually and worked collaboratively to provide effective case support remotely. We will continue to provide an effective mix of in-person and virtual support to our customers and patients beyond COVID-19.

WHAT COVID-19-INDUCED TRENDS DIRECTLY IMPACTING YOU AS A BIOPHARMA LEADER WILL CONTINUE BEYOND 2021 AND WHY?

NANCY CHANG, PH.D., CEO, ANSUN BIOPHARMA

While operating virtually has many challenges on the operations side, we have seen a great increase of efficiency when it comes to partnerships and collaborations because of online meetings. Typically, team members would go for on-site visits and could only have one-on-on meetings with a specific partner or investor. Now, because of the universal acceptance of virtual meeting platforms like Zoom, we can meet with multiple partners, collaborators, or investors in a single day. Not only is our availability greater, but the availability of our partners and potential investors is also increased. Because of the acceptance of this new way of meeting, the speed of deal making has increased dramatically. The efficiency of being able to meet virtually saves time, money, and will definitely be a trend that will stick around after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

EMIL KAKKIS, M.D., PH.D., CEO, ULTRAGENYX PHARMACEUTICALS

Virtual investor conferences will start to become more common, and online portals for scientific conferences will likely become more routine. While the value of in-person team meetings won’t go away, the frequency of online meetings will increase. However, our expectation is that in-person promotion will not go away as the effectiveness of being in person, in terms of engagement, will be hard to substitute online.

SAUNDRA PELLETIER, CEO, EVOFEM BIOSCIENCES

Remote access trends that have supported virtual connectivity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to continue being used going forward. Video meetings are not just adequate, they are cost-effective, time saving, and still create a human connection. Also, investor conferences will continue to be remote, which allows access to a broader base of supporters.    

Telehealth is a useful tool that facilitates healthcare provider interactions that do not require in-person clinical examinations, such as contraceptive counseling, and enables access to care for remote patients who might otherwise face significant hurdles or be left wanting.

WHAT ISSUES CAUSED BY THE PANDEMIC PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BIOPHARMA NOW AND IN THE FUTURE?

DOUG FAMBROUGH, III, PH.D., CEO, DICERNA PHARMACEUTICALS

Some of the changes necessitated by the lockdown are likely to become permanent, including more flexible work arrangements, a greater share of employees being remote-based, and some of the changes to clinical trial protocols. Our company is headquartered in one of the most competitive markets for talent, so things like flexible work arrangements and our increased capacity for remote work may allow us to recruit from other parts of the country.

Affordable housing and transportation in the current biotech hubs have been becoming more and more of a problem. A larger percentage of remote work may take some of the pressure off housing prices and transportation networks. The “shock therapy” of COVID-19 to the industry’s operation may have the silver lining of showing us how to sustainably grow in our geographic areas of strength.

RICK MODI, CEO, AFFINIA THERAPEUTICS

For companies that are in the clinic, the inability of patients to travel safely has required finding solutions for how a therapy is administered, how patients are monitored, and ultimately, how data is collected and trial integrity maintained. For companies that are preclinical like ours, the impact has been about availability of equipment/supplies and the ability to operate on-site. In our case, we’re also a company that is in a formative and rapidly growing phase, so the pandemic also required active thinking on how to foster a culture of collaboration in a remote world. It has been remarkable to see how people have come together embracing safety measures when they come on-site for lab activities, and how creative they’ve been to build camaraderie in a virtual environment. A small example is how much more we connected with each other when we ran a virtual trivia game for team building, also inviting family members, including kids. It’s something that would not be typical in our previous “normal,” but was very natural now. We also have been opportunistic. For example, we were able to cost-effectively secure a much larger lab space much earlier than we would have in “normal” circumstances, selecting Waltham, MA, instead of the tight geographical hub of Cambridge and Boston.

PETER HEIFETZ, PH.D., CEO, ORPRO THERAPEUTICS

While lockdowns have hit many industries very hard, so far biopharma has been relatively less affected. Working at home is not really an option for laboratory scientists or executives who don’t want to lose the close connection to their teams. Consequently, laboratory space is at a premium today in many markets, even as office space goes begging. This is driving a wave of office-to-laboratory conversion in places like Cambridge, San Francisco, and San Diego. Rents are not declining as landlords see biopharma as one of the few opportunities for growth in the face of a coming tsunami of office downsizings as leases expire in 2021 and 2022. Incubator/accelerator spaces like J&J Innovation’s JLABS, BioLabs, and Alexandria’s GradLabs are at capacity, and graduating companies are finding it difficult to locate appropriate space at reasonable cost. On top of this, supply chain constraints and tariffs have increased the cost of lab supplies and equipment.

ADRIAN RAWCLIFFE, CEO, ADAPTIMMUNE

Throughout the pandemic, we have continued to have employees at our sites (ensuring they can be there safely) completing the activities essential to design and deliver our cell therapies for people with cancer. To mitigate supply chain risk, we began rapidly increasing our inventories of critical materials. This action, in conjunction with our secondary source planning, has enabled us to significantly increase our safety stock levels. We also have had to find creative ways to address patients’ needs and constraints at clinical sites, as well as manage how we conduct our clinical trials. In terms of impact on how we work, we could create a “best of both worlds” work environment — one that meets the increasing desire for flexibility and learning effectively outside a company facility, and at the same time, optimizes work space to enable those activities (e.g., collaboration, building relationships, complex problem solving, lab and manufacturing work) that can best done face-to-face. I believe face-to-face interactions are a much-needed component of innovation and collaboration that characterizes the biotech industry, and the hybrid model will allow this to happen.