Corporate Strategy
A seed-stage biotech company discovered a novel protein that could be used as a risk-stratification biomarker as well as a therapeutic target for breast cancer. However, the company struggled to attract funding due to its lack of a coherent corporate strategy
I worked with the founders to develop a corporate strategy that would prioritize diagnostic development in the near term and use the revenue from diagnostics to fund its medium-term therapeutic development. Subsequently, I helped the founders develop a pitch deck for its fund raise and joined them for investor presentations
The company secured a $2M bridge loan within 4 months, which led to its subsequent VC funding
Portfolio Prioritization
A VC-backed platform technology company was pursuing too many programs at the same time and resources were spread too thin to make significant progress on a single program. The board and the investment community were beginning to question its ability to execute
I worked with the company’s leadership team to first clarify the strategic goals related to its portfolio, and then aligned on the key criteria to evaluate each program. Subsequently I led a cross-functional team to gather the data and facilitated a workshop to assign each program a priority tier
Based on the priority tiering, the company was able to trim its portfolio by two thirds and focus on a few programs that really aligned with the company’s near-term strategic priorities
Target ID & Evaluation
A VC-backed platform technology company set out to identify high-value targets with clinical proof-of-concept (POC) in a large therapeutic area, where it could leverage its platform to generated highly differentiated molecules
I first helped the company narrow down to a few disease areas where it already had some active programs so that there could be some synergy. Then I used a large pipeline data base to pull an initial list of targets with clinical POC in the selected disease areas. I subsequently conducted a quick triage based on a few simple criteria. Lastly, I conducted in-depth research against a set of parameters
I recommended only a few high-value targets for the company to further assess whether they were technically feasible for the platform, before it initiated hit identification campaign
Indication Prioritization
A VC-backed biotech company was developing an inhibitor against a protein in a key cytokine signaling pathway. Because of multiple potential indications the target was implicated in, the team was struggling to decide on the primary indication to pursue
I first helped the scientists develop a framework to rank order the various indications based on the scientific rationale, and investigated the indications being pursued by the competitors and the clinical evidence generated. Subsequently, I collaborated with the project team to develop a framework to evaluate different indications and a scoring system that were relevant for a preclinical-stage company
After analyzing all the data gathered, the team was able to put all its resources behind one indication. The focus allowed the team to shorten its time-to-development-candidate timeline by a year
TPP Development
A large pharma was developing an asset for a disease that the company had never worked on before. To guide clinical development and valuate the asset, the company needed to develop a TPP
I first conducted secondary research to help the company understand the patient segmentation, treatment paradigm, competitive landscape, and unmet needs. Then, I profiled all the key approved drugs and pipeline assets with Ph2b/Ph3 data. Using these data as benchmarks, I created an initial draft TPP, and subsequently tested it with KOLs and made revisions based on their feedback
With the TPP, the company gained much needed clarity around the commercial value of the asset, target patient population, most important endpoints, and efficacy needed to be commercially viable
BD Support
In the past 12 years, I have supported multiple BD deals in different capacities, including:
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Two out-licensing deals with Eli Lilly and Takeda with $100M+ upfront payments at AstraZeneca
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5+ commercial assessments for potential in-licensing deals at Gilead
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A multi-target research collaboration deal with Sanofi with a $20M upfront at Atomwise
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Multiple due-diligence projects for small- and mid-sized biotechs as a consultant
Different clients might have different needs in BD support. Below is the menu of services I provide:
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BD strategy
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Pitch deck development / refinement
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Commercial assessment, including market research, forecasting, valuation
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Target company identification
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Target company outreach / introduction
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Guidance / feedback on deal structure