by Frank Spada, Published April 29, 2009
Given the impact of the current economic crisis on the life sciences industry, the BayBio 2009 conference was appropriately titled, “Navigating the Storm.” Here is a summary of the key issues and trends presented at the conference:
Find creative ways to raise capital. Seek out non-dilutive financing alternatives and alliances: Government grants and contracts, private foundation contracts, corporate alliances, academia/industry alliances, and stimulus package funding via the NIH and California.
Preserve your human capital. Anticipate and plan ahead for potential crises and reductions. Retain and engage top talent. Tune-up compensation and performance systems to motivate employees and maintain morale.
Outsource. Beyond controlling cost, outsourcing has been embraced by executives and investors as a means to more efficiently and flexibly staff projects. Biotechs are turning to CROs across all disciplines – preclinical R&D, clinical development, manufacturing, and even HR – with the promise of de-risking and accelerating their drug development programs by engaging experts in their respective fields. Given the dismal state of the capital markets, emerging biotech companies must do more with less, on time, on budget, and right the first time. For all of these reasons, the next generation of biotech startups are turning to CROs and operating as virtual companies. These companies will remain much leaner than traditional fully integrated biopharmaceutical companies (FIBCO).
So what does outsourcing and the emergence of the virtually integrated biopharmaceutical company (VIBCO) mean for HR? For one, the virtual model will place more demands on leadership to select the right CROs, manage projects across virtual teams, communicate goals and expectations, and travel often to CRO sites to keep teams aligned and motivated. Does all this sound familiar? HR is ideally positioned to help meet these new challenges by developing staff and applying our expertise in selecting and engaging employees to managing virtual teams and partner organizations. Secondly, HR can partner with management to assess in-house versus outsourced staffing scenarios, and to determine the appropriate time to supplement CROs with internal staff or bring those functions in-house. Lastly, HR can help acclimate employees to working across virtual teams and foster a culture that embraces this new kind of collaboration.
Note, BayBio has posted many of the presentations from the conference here, and specific presentation sources are linked above.
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