Making it in the biotech business
Virginia Gewin1
- Virginia Gewin is a freelance science writer based in Portland, Oregon.
For comments, or story ideas, please contact Naturejobs at naturejobseditor@naturedc.com
Abstract
Being good at research isn't enough for success in the biotech business. Virgina Gewin finds out where to get the other skills you need.
Biotech is big business these days, and record numbers of PhDs are trading the ivory tower for industry. The 1,500 biotech companies in the United States alone have combined revenues exceeding $40 billion, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization — and they need skilled management to keep growing.
But a science education and experience in an academic lab don't provide many chances to learn about business. You may be an expert in recombinant DNA, but the business world is about making a return on investment. Although the thought of more study is less than appealing to most new PhDs, understanding business jargon and a businessperson's view of the world are critical in making the transition.
Ivory Tower to Office Tower
"Scientists often underestimate the importance of business skills," says Hamid Bouchikhi, chairman of the Entrepreneurship Innovation and Small Business Network at the ESSEC Business School in Paris, France. Unfortunately, good ideas don't necessarily translate into good business. "There are plenty of stories about scientists going on to lead successful companies, but nobody talks about the many companies that failed because scientists didn't make good managers," says Shreefal Mehta, research assistant professor of biotechnology management at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Indeed, leaders of this nascent industry bemoan the lack of basic skills for leadership, competitive analysis and budgeting. Not surprisingly, industry grumblings have been answered by business-school programmes located near biotech hubs such as Cambridge, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California.
"Over 95% of new PhDs stay in the life-sciences industry," says Gail Naughton, dean of San Diego State University's College of Business Administration. With funding from companies such as Invitrogen, the university started the first joint life-sciences PhD/MBA. The business models aren't as good as the scientific ideas flowing from the community, says Greg Lucier, chief executive of Invitrogen. One of the biggest problems? Scientists in industry don't understand what customers want to buy. To gain practical business experience, Invitrogen is providing programme participants with internships.
The short course is another route. The Extension Servce at the University of California, San Diego offers a six-month leadership and management programme. Employees no longer interested in a pure technology role come one day a week to learn the skills necessary to become team leaders or managers.
Even if a scientist has no wish to be an entrepreneur, understanding business will be valuable. "I can guarantee with 100% certainty that today's scientist will be involved at some level with a venture-backed company," says David Anthony, a partner in the venture-capital firm 21 Ventures in New York. Anthony has established a short course — taught at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and at the New York Academy of Sciences — and a one-year accelerated MBA programme for graduates in the life sciences, which will begin at the University of Alabama later this year. The core of the course is traditional business, replete with financing and marketing, but Anthony admits that teaching business vision is difficult. "I've found it most effective to bring in outside people — entrepreneurs — to relay their own experience," he says.
These programmes serve postdocs, but others help industry scientists switch gear to management relatively early in their careers. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers the Biomedical Enterprise Program — a joint collaboration between its Sloan School of Management and the Harvard−MIT division of health sciences and technology. The programme only accepts those with substantial work experience and is attracting a wide range of people — including undergraduates seeking advice on how to set themselves up for later.
Input and support from the local business community is a hallmark of biotech-focused programmes at Simon Frasier University in Vancouver, Canada, as well as Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. In addition to basic business skills, including business development and good manufacturing practices, Simon Frasier offers courses, such as one on bioethics, that reflect the current needs of industry.
"Our programme is a delicate balancing act between what you need to know tomorrow and 20 years from now," says Michael Parent, the university's academic director of MBA programmes. The philosophy is that management cannot be taught from scratch, so the courses only take people with work experience.
Why get an MBA if you are already working in industry? "The MBA is an objective signifier of a person's ability to work hard and get along with others," says Parent. Mehta agrees, adding that following the technical track up the ladder from project management to group management is also a viable option. Although biotech-focused MBAs are not yet available in Europe, some of the finest business schools in the world — including ESSEC, the London Business School and IMD International in Lausanne, Switzerland — are options for those seeking core business skills that will be transferable to any industry.
Beating the Competition
For those ready to unleash the inner entrepreneur, Britain's Biotechnology Young Entrepreneur scheme, organized jointly by the University of Nottingham and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has trained about 1,000 postgraduates in its ten-year history. Participants in the three-day competition develop business plans for imaginary biotech companies, which are judged by a panel of experts. "It's a quick hit experiential learning for postgraduates and postdocs in the biological sciences," says Simon Mosey, lecturer in enterprise and innovation at the University of Nottingham. For some 25 people, it was the beginning of their business. British researchers can also test the industrial waters through one-year Medici fellowships offered to scientists from the 15 participating universities.
Lack of leadership skills is holding back biotech in mainland Europe too. Carl Johan Sundberg, co-founder of the Karolinska Investment Fund and acting president of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, fills the void with short courses on topics ranging from creating a business idea to starting a venture. "At Stockholm, we're mostly focused on earlier-stage people, but want to train those people with good ideas, such as ideas to patent, but don't know how to proceed," he says. He hopes to turn the short courses into a MBA degree in the near future.
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE
Networking is essential says Carl Johan Sundberg (top). Evening classes at the Karolinska provide the opportunity.
Large drug companies remain the biggest life-sciences employers in Europe and offer an alternative route to biotech. "Big pharma is a good training ground and way into biotech industry," says Michael Saunders, chief operating officer at 4 AZA Bioscience in Leuven, Belgium. Saunders' time spent working in pharma inspired him to get an MBA.
Get Networking
Bouchikhi describes a vicious circle of a management vacuum discouraging venture capitalists. "Venture capitalists complain that projects are not mature in terms of marketing or financial planning, which keeps them from investing," he says. The Paris Biotech Incubator, in which ESSEC is involved, is one of a number of start-up support schemes existing in Europe's biotech hubs. These are most suited to people with ideas at an advanced state who need to network for the few available start-up dollars. And by offering internships as entry into the business world, start-ups can attract students who believe in the company's products and will continue with it in the hope of cashing in on its future success.
Networking is a prime motive behind US industry organizations such as the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council or San Diego's Biocom. These have a vested interest in maintaining links with potential employees. A predicted 64% increase in demand for biotech workers in Massachusetts alone over the next decade will require researchers and clinicians as well as manufacturers. MassBioEd, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council's non-profit foundation, is actively educating scientists in the relevant business areas through three-day short courses.
There are many paths from lab bench towards the boardroom. All offer an individual their own way to combine scientific sense with business acumen.
