Empty spaces.
What are we living for?
Abandoned places.
I guess we know the score…
Over the past few months, our industry has been thrust in a variety of different and unprecedented directions. To name a few:
– Shifts in drug/vaccine and diagnostic product development (and funding) towards coronavirus / COVID-19
– Changes in work flows due to work-from-home policies which, for some companies, are completely new and evolving quickly
– Financial markets wiping out recent valuation gains
– Venture capitalists reneging on investment agreements due to LP cold feet and/or unavailable capital
– Delays in clinical trial recruitment
Another area of our industry that is changing rapidly is the partnering conference circuit.
A number of scientific and partnering conferences have already been cancelled, with more cancellations undoubtably coming in April and May.
Some conferences, like DCAT, were cancelled. Others, like BIO-Europe Spring and BioTrinity, are forging a new path forward by converting their live partnering events into digital events.
As of this writing, we do not know what BIO will do with their enormous partnering conference in June. Will they postpone until Fall? Go digital? Cancel entirely?
We simply cannot say, as there are viable arguments for all three scenarios, to wit:
Postpone – Reserves the option to have a nearly-full convention, and preserves ability to run BIO 2021 as scheduled
Digital – Do they have the capacity to run these many online video meetings?
Cancel – And lose the income?
What about CPhI in Milan in October?
What about BIO-Europe in November?
At least they have the experience from the digital version BIO-Europe Spring, so it is clearly a viable option for the organizer.
Can we imagine a 100% digital JPMorgan week?
Importantly, what about the long term? What happens with partnering in 2021 and beyond?
And what are the implications for both licensees and licensors (and their investors)?
Further, what should companies be doing now to prepare for partnering during a pandemic-driven virtual partnering environment?
Is this even a valid question?
We think so.
Why?
New Habits
There are some companies (and their executives) who prefer a command and control style. They want to see all of the offices occupied by 800 am, and remain occupied at 6 pm (or later). They are the ones who send out emails on weekends and at very odd hours. We have all worked for people or companies like this.
But coronavirus is shifting this balance.
Many employees are demonstrating for the first time in their career that they can remain as effective (or even more so) from a work athome (WAH) environment. Increased efficiency from folks working from home will be a strong incentive for companies to maintain a flexible perspective.
Once this crisis is over, we expect companies to be content with their employees spending the bulk of their time working from home, with in-office work performed once or twice a week. Companies (and their employees) will become increasingly comfortable and willing to arrange their own video conference calls from home. Security issues may arise, but these will likely be dealt with over time.
Conversely, many companies already have fairly good policies and procedures (and technologies) for occasional WAH. Video tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting and others were already part of the working environment before the current crisis. Bandwidth and related issues may crop up. But companies with a pre-existing liberal WAH culture will likely experience minimal reductions in workflow efficiency and productivity.
But we need to make a distinction between a work at home environment and a distributed work environment. WAH environments are typically designed for occasional use, like on Fridays, or when personal errands and demands occur during the workday. These environments (and supporting technologies) are now being pushed like ever before.
Importantly, people new to daily WAH environments are realizing how important the impromptu hallway meetings and the “Hey, can I ask you a quick question?” moments can be. These moments are now starting as a text/direct message, and frequently followed by a phone or video call (sometimes scheduled). This introduces inefficiencies that will sort out over time.
Distributed work environments are designed to be virtual from the beginning. Companies which follow this model have minimal or no corporate headquarter staff. Many supportive functions, such as accounting and payroll, are subtracted to service providers. Companies which follow this model tend to exist more so in the technology and related sectors.
Importantly, companies that follow a distributed work model already have systems, hardware, software, and all the necessary tools to make this model work as efficiently as possible. If you still don’t think this is important, just look at what is happening to our election cycle.
Normally, Presidential candidates would be traveling across the country, making speeches, shaking hands, and kissing babies. Today, candidates are struggling to effectively campaign from basement studios with dodgy internet connections.
Presidential candidates are not alone. It is imperative that companies seeking licensing partners have access to excellent internet connections, solid home video conference set ups, and so forth. Companies cannot risk losing an opportunity to have a detailed meeting with a Big Pharma licensing partner simply because screen sharing does not work.
So now is the time to ensure at-home hardware (laptops, routers, cameras, microphones, etc.) and software are at peak performance and upgraded if needed.
Do we envision pharma and biotech companies of the future following the distributed model? Probably not. But there is quite a bit of academic literature and case studies examining these environments. Senior executives forced to establish WAH workflows may gain some insights from examining this subject further.
A year ago, we wrote a piece entitled Digital Scouting. In hindsight, much of what we said then is now much more important and relevant in an era where licensing and lockdown co-exist.
From the out-licensing side, the keys to digital scouting is twofold.
First, making every effort to market your company and your drug candidates in order to increase the probability of being found by a human or digital scout. But what does this mean?
Web site – Provide as much non-confidential information as possible in different formats (text, video) and distribute it across LinkedIn (both individual and company feeds).
Note that presentations and videos geared towards licensing partners and investors will be different. So it should be made clear which document is for which audience.
Press Releases – We propose increasing the frequency of press releases, again with broad distribution. This, of course, implies that you actually have something to say, which is another matter entirely.
Databases – Check with the leading pipeline databases (BioMedTracker, GlobalData, ADIS, etc.) and make sure the information there is accurate and up to date. Contact their sales representatives to discuss this point with them.
Networking – How many business cards do we collect in a given year from partnering conferences? 50? 100? Admittedly very few of those result in near-term transactions. But many do become career-long, solid relationships. But in the current environment, these numbers will be reduced substantially.
So what is the solution?
Obviously, online networking via LinkedIn is the solution. But not the spammy, “You have an impressive profile. Let’s connect!” kind of networking. Successful networking on LinkedIn requires:
- Demonstration of value…you have to show (and quickly) that connecting with you provides the other person some value (i.e., an investment opportunity, a service, even entertainment).
- Relevance to your industry or market.
- No sales pitch. Just connect. Pitch later.
- Greater openness to receiving invitations. This includes ensuring that LinkedIn email flows into your Inbox, and an increased willingness to connect. You can always block folks who decide to spam.
Improved Videos and Presentations – All of us will have to improve our on-camera presentation skills. In addition, the pre-recorded videos we create to present our companies and asset will also have to improve. Consider using tools such as Loom and Soapbox to bring a more personal perspective to your pre-recorded presentations.
We are facing a global crisis that is unprecedented. Comparisons to world wars are not too far off, especially when one considers the potential rates of morbidity and mortality in the coming months.
The worry and anxiety we are all experiencing is causing a reduction in productivity.
But, the show must indeed go on.
Now is not the time to stop in- or out-licensing processes. Instead, those of us in BD should adjust and develop new habits in our current WAH model.
This may take a little time. But once that happens, we believe things will evolve into a new normal that will keep innovation flowing in our industry.
Lyrics by Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, and Brian May.
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