Sophie Kornowski sold Boston Pharmaceuticals to GSK for up to $2 billion. @daphnezohar interviewed Sophie for @BiotechTV. It's PACKED with wisdom on deal-making, partnerships, leadership, and CEO excellence. 16 bullet points from my notes: 1. You have to create an asset that's valuable to patients. If it's valuable to patients, it'll be valuable to pharma. 2. You always have to think about differentiation. There are only two avenues: best in class or 1st in class. There is nothing else. 3. You don't do something because you have a little bit of money and you have a drug. You gotta be very careful when you go into that direction, when you don't have a story behind your asset. 4. You wanna talk to pharma at the right time, in the right way, but you can never bet on a deal happening. You can, however, bet on your molecule to be truly differentiated in patients who really need it, on physicians who are really excited about it, as well as KOLs who really guide you to the right development path. 5. CEOs have to listen to pharma; you learn a ton from interacting with your future acquirer or at least a potential customer. 6. Investors guide you on what can differentiate your asset or what to be careful about. 7. It's a business of people. You acquire an asset, but you mostly acquire the people who have been built into this asset. So you want to make sure that you interact with people you are aligned with philosophically and ethically. 8. The deal is only the beginning. You sign the deal, everybody's excited. But now what about the drug? 9. You are here not to sell but to listen. You are here to tell the story of your molecule, explain why you thought the way you thought, and absorb feedback so that you can incorporate it., 10. This is a dialogue, just the same way it continues to be a dialogue in some ways, even after a deal, because there are always things to talk about. 11. I talk about the healthcare professionals who are going to use the drug for the patients. If you listen to the healthcare professional, the opinion leader and understand what your competition is working on, chances are you will really put yourself into the best possible position to take your asset where you should. 12. Not everything is always possible with a molecule. And sometimes you have to realise... this is not gonna work at this stage. It's not differentiated enough, it's too late... 13. If you are sticking to what this is for, it's about saving people's lives. It's about improving people's lives. It's about giving them a bridge to the next treatment. If you understand this well enough, chances are you will design the right development plan,the right path for access, the right path for approval, and the right path for potential deal-making. 14. We had to have parallel paths, which is often what CEOs do, creating another layer of complexity. You don't stop anything. You just prioritize a little bit. Then, you have to have very clear milestones. If this is not happening by then, we're gonna do something else. You should never hope right into data. What signal am I getting with the data? That allows me to make a decision. You have to be analytical from the start of your process to the end of your process. You cannot just have open prayers—they are not going to make it. You gotta be analytical. 15. There are the patients, the team, and investors, and you have to focus on the three of them because they all have to be served, and they all deserve your attention. Before you're in deal mode, the patients and team go way first—of course, the investor as well, but you are building something so that you can fight a bit more for what you need for your asset. When you're going to deal mode, respect for your investor is an absolute priority. You still want to do right by everyone, but you're not on your own anymore, running the company at this stage. 16. When you're fighting for what's best for the asset for the company. I think that's when you're most compelling. Sometimes people are fighting for themselves or their ego. And that's when I think they're less compelling and less persuasive.

We’ve entered into an agreement to acquire Vicebio. This brings an early-stage combination vaccine candidate for RSV and hMPV, both respiratory viruses, and expands capabilities in vaccine design and development with ‘Molecular Clamp’ technology. Read more ⬇️

Mancano pochi giorni all'apertura della XII edizione della #BiotechWeek (24.09/1.10). Oltre 90 gli appuntamenti nel calendario nazionale, tutti ad accesso gratuito. Scopri nell'articolo gli eventi organizzati dall'associazione e dalle imprese associate: bit.ly/4gzdb6G