Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search

Biotech's best-kept secret? MedNous (Evernow Publishing Ltd) is a rare beast. A tightly controlled circulation (senior decision makers in European Life Sciences), still in print and paid for through a subscription (amazing when most content moved online for free), a fiercely independent and eternally curious Editor and publisher (Victoria English) with peer-review provided by industry luminaries including amongst others Thomas Lönngren, Edwin Moses and Chris Mason. Research teams at Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search use MedNous as part of their armamentarium to help determine which technologies and people are truly moving the dial in Life Sciences. Sean Morgan-Jones has provided the commentary for MedNous on the annual set-piece investor partnering event J.P. Morgan Private Bank Healthcare Conference for the last three years and is delighted to make that four in a row with the January 2025 conference commentary that will featured in the February 2025 issue. In times of tumultuous and rapid change for the Life Sciences industry, MedNous provides cool-headed, well-observed, and unbiased editorial content that shares real insights - no flim-flam or puffery. Victoria English was recently named Editor of the Year at the Association of British Science Writers (see  https://lnkd.in/dZkrMqyH)

Biotech's best-kept secret? MedNous (Evernow Publishing Ltd) is a rare beast. A tightly controlled circulation (senior decision makers in European Life Sciences), still in print and paid for through a subscription (amazing when most content moved online for free), a fiercely independent and eternally curious Editor and publisher (Victoria English) with peer-review provided by industry luminaries including amongst others Thomas Lönngren, Edwin Moses and Chris Mason. Research teams at Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search use MedNous as part of their armamentarium to help determine which technologies and people are truly moving the dial in Life Sciences. Sean Morgan-Jones has provided the commentary for MedNous on the annual set-piece investor partnering event J.P. Morgan Private Bank Healthcare Conference for the last three years and is delighted to make that four in a row with the January 2025 conference commentary that will featured in the February 2025 issue. In times of tumultuous and rapid change for the Life Sciences industry, MedNous provides cool-headed, well-observed, and unbiased editorial content that shares real insights - no flim-flam or puffery. Victoria English was recently named Editor of the Year at the Association of British Science Writers (see  https://lnkd.in/dZkrMqyH)

Top tip to build a top team........hire top people! As a search professional at Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search, my focus is helping life sciences organisations build great teams. To identify capability gaps, understand basic phenotypes and help people figure out the team that's going to take the organisation to the next level. In my previous incarnation as 'Head of Fun and Games' at global media and publishing organisation PharmaTimes Media Ltd I had the pleasure of sharing a stage with Prime Minister Keir Starmer latest top pick Sir Partick Vallance, a top person for sure and newly appointed Minister of State for Science. As former Global President of R&D GSK, Sir Patrick 'gets' Life Sciences and so we have someone who understands what needs to be done to attract, retain and build the UK Life Sciences industry. I texted to congratulate him on his appointment, not expecting a response........he came straight back! Brilliant and a mark of the man..........a top person for sure and a great hire.

Do your board meetings look a bit like this? A very senior Biotech industry operator recently asked me to share my thoughts on what makes a great board in preparation for a panel session she was joining on this topic. Thought I would share my 'brain dump' and am starting with what makes a terrible board and working back! Afficiananados of the hit US series 'Succession' will understand the trials and tribulations of the Roy family and the aging CEO and father of the family Logan Roy. It's a wonderfully compelling and toxic culture and an exemplar of how not to constitute boards. So what makes a great board? The Role of the Chair is key. They need to act as both a confidante to the CEO and a conduit between the investors and the board. 'Fingers out brains in' is a much-vaunted mantra. Diversity is critical. Not just gender/race etc but diversity of thought - people who come from different backgrounds and so have different life experiences and expectations. Nasdaq Exchange insists on diversity as a prerequisite to listing. The Board needs to understand its role. Boards do strategy, not operations and so if a CEO is asking the board how to run the company, that is a red flag. Kind of operational, but do the time zones make sense for the board? Teams get you so far but a heavy-hitting board member based in SD is not going to be jumping a plane every 5 weeks for board meetings in London (or Zug) - the same applies to traveling from Europe to the US. Does each board member fill clearly defined capability gaps and inform strategy from a base of deep experience whether that been translation, clinical development, commercial launch, or investor relations - you may need a formalized diagnostic approach to figure out where those gaps lie. The board has to make tough decisions so should not be too cozy with the CEO/Executive Management Team. They will decide if the CEO is the right person to lead the company through its next stage of development. By no means an exhaustive list and be very interested to hear your comments/observations but if you would like a no-obligation view based on years of experience in putting Biotech boards together then I would be delighted to help.

Do your board meetings look a bit like this? A very senior Biotech industry operator recently asked me to share my thoughts on what makes a great board in preparation for a panel session she was joining on this topic. Thought I would share my 'brain dump' and am starting with what makes a terrible board and working back! Afficiananados of the hit US series 'Succession' will understand the trials and tribulations of the Roy family and the aging CEO and father of the family Logan Roy. It's a wonderfully compelling and toxic culture and an exemplar of how not to constitute boards. So what makes a great board? The Role of the Chair is key. They need to act as both a confidante to the CEO and a conduit between the investors and the board. 'Fingers out brains in' is a much-vaunted mantra. Diversity is critical. Not just gender/race etc but diversity of thought - people who come from different backgrounds and so have different life experiences and expectations. Nasdaq Exchange insists on diversity as a prerequisite to listing. The Board needs to understand its role. Boards do strategy, not operations and so if a CEO is asking the board how to run the company, that is a red flag. Kind of operational, but do the time zones make sense for the board? Teams get you so far but a heavy-hitting board member based in SD is not going to be jumping a plane every 5 weeks for board meetings in London (or Zug) - the same applies to traveling from Europe to the US. Does each board member fill clearly defined capability gaps and inform strategy from a base of deep experience whether that been translation, clinical development, commercial launch, or investor relations - you may need a formalized diagnostic approach to figure out where those gaps lie. The board has to make tough decisions so should not be too cozy with the CEO/Executive Management Team. They will decide if the CEO is the right person to lead the company through its next stage of development. By no means an exhaustive list and be very interested to hear your comments/observations but if you would like a no-obligation view based on years of experience in putting Biotech boards together then I would be delighted to help.

5 Top Tips to Attract Investment Dollars Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Private Bank is a cool cat. Joining his fireside chat, it struck me how 'normal' he appeared.....until I bumped into his entourage leaving the auditorium surrounded by security, various bag carriers, and other acolytes, then I realized he wasn't normal at all. The role of Chairman and CEO is rarely combined so JP is an outlier in that sense, but the constitution and dynamics of how the C-Suite and Board are put together really matter to investors. J.P. Morgan Private Bank just announced it closed out its first biotech venture capital fund at $500m and intends to focus on early-stage companies. They are not writing $100m tickets but looking at $10m to $30m and how the top team is set up, really matters to investors....great science needs great people but the teams need to be set up correctly. Here are 5 top tips drawn from recent investor panels on how to 'rise above the noise' and attract those scarce investment dollars. 1 Independent Board Members. Rachel Mears of JEITO at the recent BioEquity emphasized the importance of truly independent board members who can bring discrete skill sets, whether that be capital allocation or commercial execution. It should be clear to investors what they are bringing to the party. 2 The Role of the Board. Roel Bulthuis of Syncona Limited observes the board needs to understand its role. ‘The Board doesn’t do operations it does strategy’ so if a CEO is asking a board how to run the company - that is a red flag for an investor. The board needs to understand where the capability gaps are and at some point that may include replacing the founding CEO. 3 The Chairman. 'Fingers out, brains in' is a much vaunted mantra for what makes a great chair. Rachel Mears points out the relationship between the Chair and CEO is pivotal and there needs to be a good fit in terms of styles. (Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search routinely uses psychometric profiling to provide an evidence base for 'cultural fit'). 4. Alignment as evidenced at every level in the organisation. Fiona MacLaughlin from Johnson & Johnson Innovation JJDC Inc stressed the importance from a 'Big Pharma' perspective of seeing everyone (board/senior management....office junior) singing from the same hymn sheet - total alignment and clarity of the mission/purpose. 5 European Boards seeking US dollars need US board members. Naveed Siddiqi of Novo Holdings points out that European boards benefit from US board members if they are seeking investment from the US...all roads lead to the US (and Nasdaq). Naveed points out there are stereotypes unfairly applied to the approach of European Boards (conservative...) v US (smash it out of the park). I'm interested in getting your top tips for attracting investment dollars.....markets are easing so more out there to attract and if you need an informal chat about your board/C-Suite, be happy to help.

Would your compensation and reward policy pass the red face test? The Life Sciences HR Directors Forum (a Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search initiative) is Europe's largest Life Sciences Biotech HR affiliation group. Now in the seventh year since its inception, the forum is meeting in London on 20 June 2024 to discuss the wide-ranging implications of the forthcoming European Directive 2023/970. This specially convened international summit will discuss the importance for Employers to have a clear Compensation and Reward Philosophy in readiness for the directive, which mandates amongst other things: - Pay rates must be explicit in any job advert ('competitive package' won't cut it anymore) - Employers can no longer compel employees to keep pay confidential in employment contracts - Employers must be transparent on how pay and rewards are set The Compensation Philosophy Summit is being chaired by Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search Chief Commercial Officer, Sean Morgan-Jones, and hosted by founder member company Achilles Therapeutics plc. The Forum is delighted to welcome world experts on Pay, Reward Human Capital, MCR Consulting with the keynote provided by the practice lead on Reward and Compensation, Annelyse Fournier. Members include Achilles Therapeutics plc, PTC Therapeutics, Inc., CHARM Therapeutics, Shionogi Europe, Avillion LLP, Insmed Incorporated, Evox Therapeutics Ltd, UCB, OMass Therapeutics, LabGenius, Oxford Biomedica, Calliditas Therapeutics, Inflexion, Mereo BioPharma, Sitryx, SynOx Therapeutics, Agenus, M:M Bio, LifeArc, Resolution Therapeutics, Purespring Therapeutics, Theolytics with more member companies on the runway for 2024. If you are interested in hearing more about The Life Sciences HR Directors Forum and are at the right level of seniority (CPO/VP HR/Senior Finance with significant HR responsibilities) currently working in a Biotech organisation then please drop me a note and I would be delighted to tell you more.

Part of the modus operandi at Morgan Prestwich - Life Science & Healthcare Executive Search is attending the main investor partnering rounds in various locations around the world. The kick off meeting in January is the J.P. Morgan Private Bank Healthcare Conference hosted for over 40 years in San Francisco (you might be interested to see my take as featured in February issue of MedNous (Evernow Publishing Ltd)..signs of green shoots? Roll on to San Sebastian for BioEquity Europe with McKinsey & Company providing their view of the world.........'the market is entering a period of stability'....kind of encouraging I guess, but you can be a patient in ICU and be stable. Then to Jefferies in New York and EY take on things....more positive for sure. Key take homes: - Expectation of lower interest rates in US second half of 2024. Whoop! - Companies with later stage assets having less challenge in raising finance - Patent cliff for Big Pharma humungous next 5 years, particularly those in biologics and/or following major Covid play - Record levels in Big Pharma 'war chests' for M&A circa US $I trillion - AI........Generative AI and Machine Learning front left and centre and potential market disrupter for clinical research and clinical development Not wishing to get all Churchillian (again) but to quote the great man...' Now this is not the end. It's not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning'. After a very sticky 2 years lets all hope so.

Simon Felton is #hiring. Know anyone who might be interested?

I watched a very interesting programme on the story of Viagra Tablets and like all the best inventions, one of the greatest blockbusters in history came about almost by accident. But make no mistake, Pfizer are brilliant marketeers, firstly in re-positioning impotence (dictionary definition ' lack of power') as 'erectile dysfunction' and then expanding the market exponentially.....show me a man who completely happy with the state of play in that department and I will show you a liar! It got me thinking about Novo Nordisk and the runaway success that is Wegovy. What are Novo to do? A very traditional Danish diabetes house, with a wizzy life style drug and a holding a tiger by the tail. It's a real marketing conundrum but to follow Pfizer's lead....reposition 'obesity' to VFAD syndrome........'visceral fat accumulation disorder syndrome', expand the market (pardon the pun) and spin out a whole new life style business. The Novo Nordisk Foundation who provides the basis of commercial and research activities for Novo Nordisk was cited as the wealthiest charitable foundation in the world with a net worth of circa $107b in 2022 (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation circa $70b). Happy Days at the Foundation and a wonderful example of how doing things right and more importantly doing the right thing, is paying dividends for a terrific organisation.