In the past year or so, we've completed a significant number
of assignments in clinical sciences, both in big and small companies. Demand
continues to be quite high. Roles include very early-stage, translational
clinical development experts to late-stage, monitoring and medical affairs
profiles. I have a (rather simplistic) theory about why we’ve seen such high
demand in recent years.
Back in 2008, when the bottom fell out of the overall
economy, early-stage life sciences were not spared the axe. Many companies with
very risky technology propositions, or with shaky or unproven management teams,
were not able to find funding of any kind to advance their plans. In economic
downturns, or what many like to glibly call “a correction,” the purging of
entrepreneurs with less than compelling stories is often viewed as a necessary
(and welcome) consequence of the belt tightening. But in 2008, even established,
development-stage companies felt the impact. Companies with robust clinical
plans and pipelines were suddenly finding it very difficult to raise supplemental
funding to advance their nascent programs, even those that were backed by
leading life sciences investors.
If you’re the CEO of a technology company, the last thing
you want to do is cut R&D. So in the face of the spigot turning off, and
the need to make cuts, you will be much more likely to leave R&D
(relatively) intact and cut the more commercial functions. I propose that this
is what happened in the wake of the economic crisis. Over the following years,
the R&D engines in these companies kept chugging along albeit, perhaps, at
a slightly throttled back pace. Many clinical programs that had been in early
development, and in anticipation of additional support, were mothballed.
Fast forward to today. While many are currently sounding the
death knell of the most recent of the biotech booms, one can’t argue that over
the past few years, venture rounds and IPOs for life sciences companies have
become routine, almost mundane, announcements in the trade press. Whether or
not it’s the end of the run, a lot of
money has flowed into the sector in the past recent years. Those mothballed
projects? And the output of the R&D engines? Well somebody has to now take
them into the clinic.
We’ve been seeing demand in both big companies and small.
Big companies, which had made significant reductions in clinical staff during
the recession, are now eager to restock the pond. Since most big pharmas are
looking over their shoulders with envy at the others with advanced programs in
immuno-oncology, the demand in that disease area is by far the strongest.
However, since many small companies are also chasing that grail, and are drawing
experienced drug developers out of big companies, it leaves pharma with a
gaping talent vacuum. But big companies are far better places to learn the
trade – maybe not with formal training programs, but simply being part of an
organization with multiple clinical development programs, all at various stages
of registration. Thus, they are more willing to take medics out of academia,
without direct industry experience, but with knowledge of the process through
participation as a trial site. Small companies don’t have that luxury. They
need to recruit people who have already experienced the range of possibilities
one sees in big companies, and who have seen some failures as well as
successes.
My prediction is that the next wave will be for more
commercial roles. We’re already starting to see this, but the demand for great
medics is still quite high. Whether or not you think the end of the world has
come in terms of life sciences funding, there’s no question that financings and
public offerings have slowed. In the coming years, I expect to see a return to
a more rational funding environment, and a consequent tapering of investment in
clinical programs, but an increase in demand for people experienced at taking
those products to market. In any case, it has been great fun being part of the
latest biotech boom. Those of us with some grey hair have been through a number
of these periods of financing booms and busts, so we’re girding for the ebbing
that is sure to come. But while we’re in the relative boom, it’s exhilarating
to be part of the building of the next generation of great companies.
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