Hiring A Chief Medical Officer May Sound Good, But…

By Ed Miseta, Chief Editor, Clinical Leader

Laurie Halloran has had the opportunity to work with many small companies in the life sciences industry. As the president and founder of Halloran Consulting Group, she has seen many firms succeed where others have failed. She will tell you she started her company after speaking to many executives about how to grow their companies, get funding, make it through clinical testing, and finally going commercial.

“I felt like I was talking to a lot of small life science companies that were basically two individuals,” says Halloran. “One generally had a deep background in the sciences, while the other had a business or pharma/biotech background. The first thing these companies need to do is raise money, but in order to do that they need a plan detailing how they will get their molecule into and through clinical development. Unfortunately, this is where many of them come up short. And without that plan, they may be doomed to failure.”

This situation is not a problem for larger companies, which generally have multidisciplinary teams in place. These companies are always making cost/benefit decisions that may kill off a product before it even gets to the later stages. Big Pharma companies have a large enough portfolio that they can afford to do this. If you are a small company, making the right moves can be a life or death decision for the business. If you do not put your baby in the best possible hands, it’s possible you will not have another.   

Hiring A CMO May Not Be The Right Solution