Building a Biotech Company with 15 years of expert insights and lessons learned
Hemab is a clinical-stage biotech company developing prophylactic therapeutics for serious, underserved bleeding and thrombotic disorders.
What is your motivation to go into the biotech & pharma industry and start Hemab?
My passion for medical innovation started while I was a medical student. The studies were certainly exciting, however the really fire and passion came when I started getting involved in research and development. That sparked a curiosity and dedication to discover and bring new treatment options to people suffering for high unmet need medical conditions. Already as a medical student I invented new ways to diagnose and treatment people living with blood clotting disorders. Those discoveries lead to a combined track of MD and PhD. It further triggered early international exposure to a vast network of experts – many of whom became mentors and certainly inspiration for learning more and aiming higher. During the thousands of hours spend researching for new ways to diagnose and treat blood clotting disorders started a dream of one day building a biotech company aimed to bring innovation to all those people without good treatment. The ultimate motivation were people – people living difficult lives because they don’t have treatment to live a full spontaneous life and people being passionate and dedicated to bring such new treatment options to life. Following many years of experience eventually the time was right to start Hemab and live the dream that started early in my professional career. 100% focused on people, science, passion, perseverance and lots of conviction we will be successful!
How did you learn about the biotech & pharma industry to become an expert in it?
The journey towards biotech has been about 15 years in the making. The idea / interest in biotech started as a medical student. However, as I researched more and listened senior experts who had been successful it became clear that there are lots to see, try, learn to set yourself up for success. My exposure to biotech/pharma started when I was practice clinical/scientific medicine. After several years I eventually joined a pharma company (Baxter Healthcare) with the main purpose to learn as much as absolutely possible and see/listen and talk to as many experts as possible. From a large pharma like Baxter I joined an up and coming biotech called Alnylam pharmaceuticals where I was employee number 115. The Alnylam experience was transformational – here I got to work with world class leaders who gladly shared their knowledge and expertise – here I got to experience what it means to build a biotech company through ups and downs. Standing on the shoulders of giants I eventually become more and more confident and knowledgeable that I could start, build and lead my own biotech company one day.
What would have done differently if you would start Hemab again with zero experience and knowledge about the biotech & pharma industry?
I do not recommend anyone starting biotech with zero experience and knowledge! (… and honestly today, there are no investors who will finance someone with zero knowledge and experience). Drug development is probably the hardest business you can imagine with sooooooo many difficulties and challenges along the way. It is probably no more than 1-2 out of 10 drug development projects that eventually succeed – and that’s with journey and challenges being lead by highly experienced and skilled leaders. Even to the most enthusiastic and passionate biotech entrepreneur I highly recommend go do some apprenticeship, get some hands on experience, see/listen/talk to lots of people who have been there / done that before and thereby get prepared for the journey. Building biotech and developing drugs is the toughest business ride you can imagine. However, when (often if) you succeed it can also be the biggest gratitude you can imagine – helping people get new treatment to live a fuller life with less worry and burden.
What is your motivation to go into the biotech & pharma industry and start Hemab?
My passion for medical innovation started while I was a medical student. The studies were certainly exciting, however the really fire and passion came when I started getting involved in research and development. That sparked a curiosity and dedication to discover and bring new treatment options to people suffering for high unmet need medical conditions. Already as a medical student I invented new ways to diagnose and treatment people living with blood clotting disorders. Those discoveries lead to a combined track of MD and PhD. It further triggered early international exposure to a vast network of experts – many of whom became mentors and certainly inspiration for learning more and aiming higher. During the thousands of hours spend researching for new ways to diagnose and treat blood clotting disorders started a dream of one day building a biotech company aimed to bring innovation to all those people without good treatment. The ultimate motivation were people – people living difficult lives because they don’t have treatment to live a full spontaneous life and people being passionate and dedicated to bring such new treatment options to life. Following many years of experience eventually the time was right to start Hemab and live the dream that started early in my professional career. 100% focused on people, science, passion, perseverance and lots of conviction we will be successful!
How did you learn about the biotech & pharma industry to become an expert in it?
The journey towards biotech has been about 15 years in the making. The idea / interest in biotech started as a medical student. However, as I researched more and listened senior experts who had been successful it became clear that there are lots to see, try, learn to set yourself up for success. My exposure to biotech/pharma started when I was practice clinical/scientific medicine. After several years I eventually joined a pharma company (Baxter Healthcare) with the main purpose to learn as much as absolutely possible and see/listen and talk to as many experts as possible. From a large pharma like Baxter I joined an up and coming biotech called Alnylam pharmaceuticals where I was employee number 115. The Alnylam experience was transformational – here I got to work with world class leaders who gladly shared their knowledge and expertise – here I got to experience what it means to build a biotech company through ups and downs. Standing on the shoulders of giants I eventually become more and more confident and knowledgeable that I could start, build and lead my own biotech company one day.
What would have done differently if you would start Hemab again with zero experience and knowledge about the biotech & pharma industry?
I do not recommend anyone starting biotech with zero experience and knowledge! (… and honestly today, there are no investors who will finance someone with zero knowledge and experience). Drug development is probably the hardest business you can imagine with sooooooo many difficulties and challenges along the way. It is probably no more than 1-2 out of 10 drug development projects that eventually succeed – and that’s with journey and challenges being lead by highly experienced and skilled leaders. Even to the most enthusiastic and passionate biotech entrepreneur I highly recommend go do some apprenticeship, get some hands on experience, see/listen/talk to lots of people who have been there / done that before and thereby get prepared for the journey. Building biotech and developing drugs is the toughest business ride you can imagine. However, when (often if) you succeed it can also be the biggest gratitude you can imagine – helping people get new treatment to live a fuller life with less worry and burden.
What is your motivation to go into the biotech & pharma industry and start Hemab?
My passion for medical innovation started while I was a medical student. The studies were certainly exciting, however the really fire and passion came when I started getting involved in research and development. That sparked a curiosity and dedication to discover and bring new treatment options to people suffering for high unmet need medical conditions. Already as a medical student I invented new ways to diagnose and treatment people living with blood clotting disorders. Those discoveries lead to a combined track of MD and PhD. It further triggered early international exposure to a vast network of experts – many of whom became mentors and certainly inspiration for learning more and aiming higher. During the thousands of hours spend researching for new ways to diagnose and treat blood clotting disorders started a dream of one day building a biotech company aimed to bring innovation to all those people without good treatment. The ultimate motivation were people – people living difficult lives because they don’t have treatment to live a full spontaneous life and people being passionate and dedicated to bring such new treatment options to life. Following many years of experience eventually the time was right to start Hemab and live the dream that started early in my professional career. 100% focused on people, science, passion, perseverance and lots of conviction we will be successful!
How did you learn about the biotech & pharma industry to become an expert in it?
The journey towards biotech has been about 15 years in the making. The idea / interest in biotech started as a medical student. However, as I researched more and listened senior experts who had been successful it became clear that there are lots to see, try, learn to set yourself up for success. My exposure to biotech/pharma started when I was practice clinical/scientific medicine. After several years I eventually joined a pharma company (Baxter Healthcare) with the main purpose to learn as much as absolutely possible and see/listen and talk to as many experts as possible. From a large pharma like Baxter I joined an up and coming biotech called Alnylam pharmaceuticals where I was employee number 115. The Alnylam experience was transformational – here I got to work with world class leaders who gladly shared their knowledge and expertise – here I got to experience what it means to build a biotech company through ups and downs. Standing on the shoulders of giants I eventually become more and more confident and knowledgeable that I could start, build and lead my own biotech company one day.
What would have done differently if you would start Hemab again with zero experience and knowledge about the biotech & pharma industry?
I do not recommend anyone starting biotech with zero experience and knowledge! (… and honestly today, there are no investors who will finance someone with zero knowledge and experience). Drug development is probably the hardest business you can imagine with sooooooo many difficulties and challenges along the way. It is probably no more than 1-2 out of 10 drug development projects that eventually succeed – and that’s with journey and challenges being lead by highly experienced and skilled leaders. Even to the most enthusiastic and passionate biotech entrepreneur I highly recommend go do some apprenticeship, get some hands on experience, see/listen/talk to lots of people who have been there / done that before and thereby get prepared for the journey. Building biotech and developing drugs is the toughest business ride you can imagine. However, when (often if) you succeed it can also be the biggest gratitude you can imagine – helping people get new treatment to live a fuller life with less worry and burden.
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