February 16, 2022 | From the Trenches

Recapturing Our Resilience

For anyone that’s part of a fast paced, growing organization, resilience is the key to thriving. It supports our audacity, ability to tune out the naysayers, and ultimately possess the stamina to prevail. These days, though, it feels increasingly like everything taxes our resilience more than ever before. As organizations, formerly simple things like having an office party draw on our resilience, and already complex things like coordinating global operations certainly do during the pandemic. As individuals, simple things like sending kids to school test our resilience in new ways. Now more than ever, leadership teams need to think about how to cultivate resilience as an organization to be ready for the long journey of fulfilling the mission. This piece shares a few thoughts that our teams and I’ve collected while building organizations that have been resilient to the curveballs the world has thrown our way.

By Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC

February 16, 2022 | In the News

Third Harmonic Bio launches with $155m to develop pill for chronic hives

Third Harmonic Bio has launched from stealth mode with $155 million to develop a single therapy that the Cambridge startup hopes can treat multiple diseases caused by severe allergies and inflammation.

February 7, 2022 | From the Trenches

Heads Up And Eyes Wide Open

When your team’s priority is to execute a well-formed plan, then a “heads down” focus is critical. We all recognize this situation, using it to drive project management, accountability, and collaboration.

By Rene Russo, CEO of Xilio Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches features of LifeSciVC

January 24, 2022 | From the Trenches

A Tale of Two Biotech Programs

From the first time I heard the story of the American chestnut, I was fascinated. It is a story with threads from history, ecology, conservation and biotechnology- it was difficult for a scientist who loves the outdoors not to get sucked in.

By Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.

January 6, 2022 | From the Trenches

How Early Is Too Early To Establish A Commercial Function In Biotech?

After close to 20 years at Genentech (GNE) shaping and directing marketing and commercialization efforts for novel oncology therapies, I finally took the plunge leaving big Biotech to join a smaller early-stage biotech company called Replimune. Interestingly, several people (both internal and external) have asked me “why do you need a CCO or commercial function” at this stage? As I have been mapping out the first year of the commercial plan and road to launch for Replimune it’s become clear that you really can’t have a commercial seat at the table early enough. This was true at GNE/Roche where the organization worked hard over many years to include commercial perspectives for early assets beyond just a few words in the target product profile.

By Sush Patel, CCO of Replimune as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.