BIOPHARMA
doing business, and approached
Kirshenbaum and Bond, which
was renowned for its innovative
and sometimes brash thinking
that radically changed business
for its clients. Jon Bond, agency
leader, had a number of other clients, fashion designers like Isaac
Mizrahi, who were looking for
funding. Kirshenbaum and Bond
put the two together, introducing
high fashion names to a discount
retailer, which gave Target a sustainable positioning and business
that is still viable today.
Today, Bond, now founder and
leader of TomorroLLC, a virtual
holding company that operates
as a consultancy, gave this perspective on what often happens
when companies bring in outside
“innovators like his company:
“Nothing-- the underlying reward
structure doesn’t support innovation in most companies. So you
end up being just a shiny object.”
What does this have to do with
biopharma, and why should a
biopharma company care about
restoring the spirit of innovation? There are different reasons
for a company to support efforts
to restart innovative thinking and
support their development into
new products or services. Many
companies feel that building innovative thinking is a necessity,
and will help keep the company
competitive, while others feel it is a
part of its core values and a means
to attract and retain the best talent.
“While promotion may
win quarters, innovation wins decades.”
former P&G CEO Bob
McDonald, as quoted in
Harvard Business Review, June, 2011.
SOME SCENARIOS WHERE
INNOVATIVE THINKING
WOULD BE NEEDED:
• The market landscape has
changed: your company is faced
with new and increased competition, regulatory constraints or
technological advances that present challenges to the core business
or to the commercialization of
products in development
• The company’s business changes,
which would merit a reevaluation
of priorities and how the organization will work. Through business development or acquisitions,
a company may transition from
a one-molecule or one-disease-state company to a multi-product
or multi-disease category entity.
Or simply through the process of
product development, a company
may change from an early stage
company to a company with product in phase III or ready to launch
• A company’s leadership has
changed (due to mergers, turnover, or retirement of founders or
other key individuals), resulting in
a change of the vision, direction,
culture and operating principles.
This can leave uncertainty about
how the new organization will
function and can potentially in-
crease fear of being open with new
ideas, or challenging the status quo
TO WHAT EXTENT ARE
LEADING BIOPHARMA
COMPANIES COMMITTING
TO INNOVATIVE THINKING?
We conducted a small survey
among 17 pharma managers, (with
13 respondents) from multiple
biopharma companies in functions
including marketing, regulatory,
medical and clinical development. We found that despite the
biopharma companies’ indication
that they are interested in promoting innovative thinking, most have
not made strong organizational
commitments –such as resources,
channels, and official rewards and
recognition programs for innovative thinking.
HOW CAN BIOPHARMA
COMPANIES CONTINUE
TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE
THINKING?
They can start by asking three
questions:
1. How are we thinking differ-
ently?
Individuals across all functions,
from the bench to product marketing, should take the time to look
at their business from a different
perspective or vantage point. This
could encourage them to offer
alternative solutions, and challenge
the status quo, which can be essential to meet challenges such as a
failed trial or a new competitor.
An oft-cited case study of thinking differently is the development of Allegra, fexofenadine.
Fexofenadine was the active
metabolite of terfenadine, mar-