Guiding a startup through the Covid-19 pandemic
The coronavirus has forced pharma execs to adjust their business models to adapt to changing times. Inagene Tx's Nancy White explains (5 min. read)
NPC Healthbiz Weekly is presented to you in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions
Leading a startup through the uncertain times presented by Covid-19 has forced Nancy White to pivot her business model at Inagene Diagnostics. Thankfully, she has nearly two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to draw on for guidance.
White, the president & CEO at Inagene, joined the startup nearly two years ago after spending much of her career in Big Pharma launching products and bringing treatments to patients.
Now she guiding Inagene, which specializes in personal genetics, through a number of obstacles as a result of the global pandemic.
“We certainly were hit with multiple challenges when Covid-19 arrived on the scene,” said White (photo above) on a recent episode of the “NPC Podcast,” a program for pharma executives hosted by Peter Brenders, founder and president of Kontollo Health. (Listen to the episode here.)
“We had to [adjust] our business model and some of the tactics we were wanting to employ,” White continued. “We also had to change our key targets for business-to-business partnerships, because with everyone grappling with Covid-19, it is difficult to not only build your business but also to sustain your business. We have definitely had to pivot, but through the course of it we have uncovered new opportunities and having that resilience, that flexibility and agility to change the strategy very rapidly.”
While Inagene has had to pivot and make changes to their business model in the wake of Covid-19, the ongoing pandemic has also presented opportunities for White and her team.
Studies have shown a rise in mental health issues resulting from Covid-19, but with the rise in mental health issues has come more awareness.
The mental health crisis put Inagene in a position to help patients.
“Our tests that we offer specifically speaks to the medications that are prescribed in the area of pain and mental health,” White explained. “So, a number of opportunities, including partnerships, that we forged over this period during Covid-19 are really focused on supporting individuals with mental health challenges.”
Though navigating through the Covid-19 pandemic as a startup hasn’t been an easy road, White believes Inagene is now better positioned for the future.
“We had this strategy [of helping patients with mental health conditions] before Covid-19, but through the course of Covid-19, the emergence of the themes really have supported our core value proposition and have positioned us perhaps even stronger than we might have been before the pandemic,” she said.
The takeaway: For those in the Pharma industry considering the move to a startup, White’s advice is simple: “If you have the desire, the willingness and curiosity, absolutely go for it.” She adds it is important to conduct proper research on the company and to temper expectations.
Further reading: Pharma isn’t the only industry where startups are feeling the effects of Covid-19. Forbes has a breakdown of the virus’ impact on startups as well as which industries are thriving and which sectors are struggling during the pandemic. Story here.
YOUR HEALTHBIZ WEEK 09/15/20
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is confident the U.S. will have a Covid-19 vaccine ready for the public before the end of the year. Bourla told CBS on the weekend he is “quite comfortable” that the vaccine Pfizer is developing in partnership with BioNTech SE is safe and will be available to Americans before 2021, contingent on an approval from the U.S. FDA. In a statement on Saturday Pfizer said they expect to enroll the 30,000 patients they originally sought for its final-phase clinical trial this week.
AstraZeneca announced a woman who received an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed severe neurological symptoms causing the drugmaker to pause testing. A participant in late-stage testing reported symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammation of the spinal cord, according to an AstraZeneca spokesperson. An independent committee is reviewing the study’s safety data before a decision is made on whether the research can continue.
British drugmaker Amryt Pharma announced its topical therapeutic gel Filsuvez has demonstrated an increased speed in wound healing for the skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa in a late-stage trial. Amryt said U.S. submissions were already underway with the FDA and a EU regulatory submission is also planned.
The cancer testing startup Grail Inc. has filed for a U.S. initial public offering. Grail, which has received funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is developing a blood test to identify early-stage cancers. The U.S.-based company has set a placeholder amount of $100 million for the IPO, without disclosing the size of its offering.
14th ANNUAL NATIONAL PHARMA CONGRESS UPDATE
Chronicle Companies is honoured to host the 14th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress, a virtual series of weekly webinars. As Canada's largest stage for leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, the Congress presents industry reflections, ideas, and innovations. The Congress has been attended by more than 200 delegates every year and is an opportunity to learn and reflect with the industry's most prominent thought leaders and visionaries. Organized in cooperation with Pangaea Consultants. (Hot tip: NPC Healthbiz Weekly readers get an additional 20% discount on registration fees by using the code NPC20. Just $319 plus HST for the three-day series. Bursariesmay be available for students, retirees and transitioning executives. Contact us for details.)
This scheduled agenda
Wednesday 10/21 11:00 am to 1:00 pm EST
Session 1: Career Advice in the Post-Covid Life Science
Sponsored by ImpresSession 2: Industry Role and Partnerships: Have They Changed Through Covid-19
Sponsored by Digital Partners
Wednesday 10/28 11:00 am to 1:00 pm EST
Session 1: Future External Deployments, Structures and Skill Sets
Sponsored by Shoppers Specialty RxSession 2: Patient Centricity: What Does It Mean in Action?Sponsored by McKesson Canada
Wednesday 11/04 11:00 am to 1:00 pm EST
Session 1: How Do We Launch Products Post Covid-19
Sponsored by Bayshore HealthcareSession 2: Inclusion and Diversity in a Virtual and Real-Life World
Sponsored by Ashfield Healthcare Canada
This scheduled speakers
Pamela Fralick, Innovative Medicines Canada
Andrew Casey, BIOTECanada
Jason Field, Life Sciences Ontario
Ronnie Miller, Hoffmann-La Roche
Brian Bloom, Bloom Burton
Jayne Paterson, GSK
Danielle Portnik, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
Marissa Poole, Sanofi Genzyme
Eileen McMahon, Torys
Paul Petrelli, Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Jim Hall, Covis Pharma
Carol Stiff, Santen Pharmaceuticals
Zal Press, CADTH
Brian Canestraro, Intercept Pharmaceuticals
Sylvie Pilon, Emergent Biosolutions
Peter Brenders, Kontollo Health
David Renwick, Emergent Biosolutions
others to be announced
Profits from the 2020 National Pharmaceutical Congress support Sandi’s Fund for Camp Liberté. More than $50,000 has been raised for Canadian health charities through the National Pharmaceutical Congress.
Watch a “greatest hits” encore presentation from a past NPC event
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 avocation and are an inspiration to others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. They stand for, in the view of the selection committee, 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.
2009 Inductee
Sharon Henderson
Stiefel Canada Inc.
Montreal
Editor’s note: Since her 2009 induction, Sharon Henderson has moved to Bausch Health Canada.
Sharon Henderson, Senior Director, Marketing at Montreal-based Stiefel Canada Inc., knew her calling was not to study medicine or to work in a laboratory doing research. She chose to take it easy immediately after graduation from the University of Toronto, where she earned a Bachelors of Science, with a specialization in genetics.
“I was playing a lot of tennis, friends of mine were working, and by the fall, my father indicated that it might be a good idea to start looking for a job,” says Henderson, who completed her degree in 1982. “Everyone asked me at a family dinner what I planned to do with my life.”
Henderson’s uncle, a physician, proposed the idea of pursuing sales in the pharmaceutical industry as an attractive career, because it would mean an opportunity to put her science knowledge to use and to interact socially.
She wrote her first resume and applied for a sales position. Within a week, she put down her tennis racquet and was travelling to the Sunshine State on official business.
“I dropped off a resume on Wednesday, interviewed for a position on Thursday, was interviewed again on Friday, then I was offered the position. On Sunday, I was off to a national sales meeting in Florida,” reminisces Henderson. “It all happened really quickly.”
After her initial sales job at Allen & Hanburys, a division of Glaxo, and then a stint in sales at Pfizer Canada Inc., Henderson joined Lederle Laboratories in Toronto, where she started in sales training, and then moved up the Marketing and Sales ladder to national management positions. She was responsible for ethical therapeutic categories with a focus in dermatology, including Minocin. “I had a strong interest in staying in dermatology,” she remembers.
That interest sparked a move to Stiefel on a consultancy basis in 1995. Henderson later joined the Stiefel family on a full-time basis in 1996. Henderson’s focus has been on the marketing of dermatology products at Stiefel, such as Clindoxyl, the juggernaut of topical acne therapies.
“As much as things change, they stay the same,” observes Henderson. “I don’t think that the industry has changed so much from the point of view of relationship building and selling.”
The huge wealth of data from clinical studies, the availability of market information and analysis, and the advances in technology have rendered marketing and selling to the dermatologist a more sophisticated, as well as a dynamic endeavor.
“There are many more clinical studies being done,” explains Henderson. “Time is more precious nowadays, and there is a greater expectation of professionalism and information.”
There is a greater need for sales representatives to be trained to bring to light the most up-to-date, evidence-based clinical information to general physicians, adds Henderson.
A career highlight that Henderson underlines is the achievement of extraordinary Clindoxyl sales that Stiefel has enjoyed nationally and internationally, as well as the awards that the marketing and advertising campaigns for the product have earned, which she sees as a recognition of excellence.
“It is the most prescribed topical acne product in Canada,” notes Henderson, adding that Canada was the first country to launch the product and many other countries emulated Stiefel Canada’s marketing and advertising strategies. “Many of the programs and efforts behind it were groundbreaking in Canada.” She attributes the marketing success to strong leadership and teamwork at Stiefel.
NEXT WEEK
The 09/15 edition of NPC Healthbiz Weekly will feature Christine Lennon of Incyte Biosciences on the experience of joining a startup in the middle of a global pandemic. Subscribe and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 am sharp.
Stay safe and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next Tuesday.