EXECUTIVE INTERVIEWS

• Going Precommercial — From The Commercial World

  Nancy Lurker, a veteran Big-Pharma marketer, now runs a small biopharma. And she admits, “the business models are very, very different.”

• $4 Billion In 4 Years: The Story Of SpringWorks Therapeutics

  Saqib Islam was one of the five founding members of SpringWorks Therapeutics, which was spun out of Pfizer in 2017. An atypical startup, the company launched with the rights to four clinical-stage experimental therapies and grew quickly in the next few years.

• Becoming A Clinical-Stage Biotech

  A Q&A with Laura Indolfi, CEO and cofounder of PanTher Therapeutics, which recently closed its Series A funding round and is preparing for its first clinical trials.

• What’s It Like Being A First-Time Biopharma CEO?

  In this edited transcript of our June 2021 executive virtual roundtable, three first-time CEOs tell us their tales of the good, the bad, and the ugly related to being CEO.

• 35-Year Biopharma R&D Vet Takes On His Second Startup

  Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D., had a good job at Gilead where he had worked for nearly two decades. Then, out of the blue, he found out he was being considered for a CEO position at a small startup called Kronos Bio.

• A Q&A With A Biotech Founder/Entrepreneur

  Since cofounding Kymera Therapeutics, Nello Mainolfi, Ph.D., has served as CSO, CTO, and now is president and CEO. He helped Kymera bring the first ever targeted protein degrader to the clinic, go public in 2020, and land significant partnerships with the likes of GSK, Vertex, and Sanofi. 

• From Professor To Regenerative Medicine Company CEO

  Though she cofounded the company in 2004 and played an active role throughout its growth, until November 2020, Laura Niklason, M.D., Ph.D., had never held a c-level title within it.

• Coming Out Of Stealth Mode: What To Know And Do

  In Part two of this two-part series, we look at what companies should do to make the exit from stealth mode an effective exchange with the outside world — how to identify and reach investors, influencers, and stakeholders in a company’s pursuit of new treatments for diseases, from rare conditions to widespread medical challenges, some at the scale of public health.

• How A First-Time CEO Transformed Retrophin Into Travere Therapeutics

  Eric Dube, Ph.D., was dubious when an executive recruiter pitched him the CEO position at previously embattled Retrophin (remember Martin Shkreli?). But he took the job in January 2019 and now has guided the $1.5 billion biopharma as it has increased sales, implemented a new diverse and inclusive culture, advanced its pipeline, and adopted a new name (Travere).

• First-Time CEOs: Firsthand Tales Of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

  Since the CEO position comes with such high expectations and stress, we thought it would be interesting to speak with three first-time CEOs to hear their tales of the good, the bad, and the ugly. In this executive virtual roundtable (EVR), perspectives are provided by Roger Crystal, CEO, Opiant Pharmaceuticals; Frank Lee, CEO, Forma Therapeutics; and Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch, Ph.D., J.D., CEO, Vigil Neuroscience.

• Building A COVID-19 Vaccine Company In A Few Months

  Mei Mei Hu, J.D., and her husband Lou Reese know what it’s like to develop a drug during a pandemic. Nearly 20 years ago they helped develop a vaccine and antibody test for the SARS outbreak. But now they were considering starting a COVID-19 vaccine company — during 2020.

• Digital Technologies Will Continue To Drive Patient Outcomes

  While other companies scrambled to implement clinical trial-related technology to deal with the pandemic, Otsuka was an early adopter of tools such as eCRF and eConsent.  Christoph Koenen, EVP and chief medical officer at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.) explains how digital technologies will continue to drive patient outcomes.

• An All-Canada COVID-19 Vaccine Solution

  The story of how Providence Therapeutics, a Calgary, Ontario-based, emerging mRNA biopharma, came to achieve such notoriety is an interesting one that includes a pivot from its core therapeutic focus, the hiring of an American as company president, and the creation of a CDMO.

• The Placental Stem Cell Advantage

  As Celularity makes its most significant clinical progress to date, the company is putting theories born of 20 years of postpartum placental stem cell research into practice. Could the production platform it’s building be the key to accessible, affordable allogeneic cell therapy?