What COVID-19-Induced Trends Impacting Your Company's Operations Do You Anticipate Continuing Well Beyond The End Of The Current Pandemic?

1. PERMANENCY OF REMOTE WORK FORCE FOR NON-LAB PERSONNEL. Competition for skilled non-lab-bound professionals in biotech is extremely high – think clinical, regulatory, CMC, all G&A (general and administrative) functions. The current environment is leading to an increased amount of personnel poaching where location previously would have been a knockout prerequisite.

2. TRAVEL WILL BE GREATLY REDUCED, PUSHED BY THE NEED OF PROFESSIONALS RATHER THAN PULLED BY PREVIOUS FORCE. With platforms like Zoom, I can be in San Francisco and look someone in Cambridge, MA in the eye. And it takes 30 minutes and no cost instead of three days including airfare, hotels, meals, missing kids’ games. I can attend a conference and get just as much content (admittedly with far less networking) and spend a day vs. the above costs. Business travel is not dead, but it will never reach its previous level.

JIM SCIBETTA is CEO of Maverick Therapeutics.