Building a Pharma career in a changed world
2022 NPC Spring webinar panelists discuss new approaches to hiring, training, and networking for careers in Pharma (430 words, 2.5 min)
“It’s an exciting time right now if you’re looking for a new job, and if you’re hiring, there’s a lot of interesting talent you may not have come across before,” said Danny Goldman, Head of Strategy and Portfolio Operations at Sanofi Canada. “I think a lot of people are looking for change.”
Speaking at the 2022 NPC Spring Webinar, Goldman and fellow panelists Peter Brenders, Jim Shea, and Leandra Wells (photos below) examined how hiring, training, and networking have adapted over the last two years.
“It’s been interesting trying to recruit remotely,” said Brenders, General Manager, Canada at BeiGene. “It’s been different building out, launching a company, launching a brand when you’re doing all your interviews over Zoom and only starting to see people sporadically, if at all. But I think engagement is the bigger question for us.”
“We all miss the in-person engagement,” Brenders said. “We’re trying to figure out how to do it well.”
Shea, General Manager of CCPE, agreed that engagement is crucial. “Let’s put it this way, it comes down to just leveraging technology now,” he said. “If you hadn’t been doing the right things as a manager prior to Covid, it’s pretty unlikely that you’re succeeding now.”
“At least in my business, face-to-face is still the most impactful,” said Wells, VP Respiratory at GSK. “It’s so important to check in with all of our people, all of our leaders and team members if we’re not seeing them in person.” She emphasized the risk of employee burnout from overscheduling and overwork when team members are working remotely.
Panelists also discussed the opportunities that remote work offers for career mobility. “In terms of employee retention and hiring and recruitment, we’re seeing that there’s a much bigger talent pool out there [now] that is very high quality,” Wells said.
Goldman added that he’d recently hired for a role and “had close to a hundred people apply, whereas last time it was maybe fifteen external people.”
“The applicants for the jobs we’ve been hiring for have been high quality and many,” Brenders agreed. “Maybe it’s because everyone can work virtually now. You don’t have to move to Boston or San Francisco or Toronto or Montreal. You can take on a global job or a more senior role living wherever as long as you have high-speed Internet.”
Wells noted, however, that networking has to be much more intentional now. “The key limitation to working remotely is you really have to put in effort when you want to highlight your strong talent or you want to help facilitate introductions to other leaders and potential hiring managers,” she said. “There’s no more water cooler in this environment.”
THIS WEEK 04/26/22
Merck announced that Health Canada has granted approval for KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), an anti-PD-1 therapy, for the treatment of adult patients with high-risk early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in combination with chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment and then continued as monotherapy as adjuvant treatment following surgery.
Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical announced that Health Canada has approved Tavneos (avacopan), a selective complement 5a receptor inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with severe active anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (granulomatosis with polyangiitis [GPA] and microscopic polyangiitis [MPA], in combination with standard background therapy including glucocorticoids.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced that Health Canada has granted Marketing Authorization for the expanded use of TRIKAFTA (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor) in children between six and 11 years of age who have at least one F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene.
Astellas Pharma Canada reported that Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) program will all now reimburse XOSPATA (gilteritinib), an oral once-daily therapy, for the treatment of relapsed or treatment-resistant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with an FLT3 mutation in adult patients.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Season Six of the NPC Podcast has concluded, an ongoing exploration of Pharma’s purpose, process, and people with a diverse list of guests across eight episodes.
Podcast co-hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain spoke with guests for various perspectives on career development, understanding cancer patient journeys, the impact of the pandemic on work in Pharma, and lessons from the vaccine rollout. Did you miss an episode? Catch up now!
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2013 Inductee
Mark Lievonen
Toronto
Editor’s Note: Mark is currently Chairman of the Board at Quest PharmaTech Inc. and was a Co-Chair for Canada’s Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force. You can catch up with Mark on the NPC Podcast by clicking here.
Finding the motivation to head into work or tackle the next big project is never hard to come by in the health business, according to a 30-year industry veteran and head of Canada's premier vaccine manufacturer. “I am able to play a small part in preventing disease and saving lives in Canada and all around the world,” says Mark Lievonen, President of Sanofi Pasteur Limited in Toronto.
“We make vaccines that prevent disease and save lives. Smallpox has been eradicated from the face of the earth, and polio could be. So every day, I come to work thinking about our end product and how it actually impacts human lives.
“We have a number of global products and R&D mandates. Our five-component acellular pertussis vaccine, which is our whooping cough vaccine, is the only billion-dollar biotech product developed, manufactured, and exported from Canada,” Lievonen says proudly.
Lievonen started in a finance role at Connaught Laboratories in 1983. Institut Mérieux acquired Connaught Biosciences in 1989, and Lievonen became Senior VP for Commercial Development and Administration in 1990, a role he held for roughly seven years. He was responsible for establishing the company’s Mexico affiliate as well as the cancer vaccine program, and in 1998 Lievonen was appointed acting president of what was then Aventis Pasteur. He was confirmed as president the following year.
The cancer vaccine program, which began in 1997, was a particularly exciting undertaking, Lievonen says. “Our company was very much involved with developing vaccines to prevent infectious diseases, and this was about developing vaccines for treating cancer,” he says. He and his team advocated that the project be located in Canada, and Aventis Pasteur committed $350 million in funding over 10 years, with a $60 million contribution from the Government of Canada.
“Because we had put the research and development infrastructure, capabilities and platforms in place in Toronto, we were able to evolve and maintain the R&D footprint in Canada. Now the Toronto site is the North American centre of excellence for Analytical and Bioprocessing R&D,” says Lievonen.
Lievonen says he has sought mentors and experience broadly across diverse fields. He holds the positions of Vice-chair, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; chair, Markham Stouffville Hospital Foundation; First Vice-chair, Rx&D; and more, past and present. Twenty years ago, he also spearheaded Canada's only mentored science competition, the Sanofi BioGeneius Challenge Canada (SBCC), to foster biotechnology talent in Canada among high school students.
He met Dr. John Evans, past president of the University of Toronto and founder of the Ontario Cancer Research Network, on Sanofi Pasteur’s Board of Directors. “John Evans was a real mentor, and working with him on various non-profit boards was a real learning experience,” says Lievonen. He says other mentors have included Joe Rotman; Dr. cal Stiller, currently chair of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; and Dr. Henry Friesen, the founder of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
NEXT WEEK
In the 05/03 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, more from the recent 2022 NPC Spring Webinar, New Career Skills for Pharma’s Post-Covid Era. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.