September 2019 – Biostart Magazine

Navigating the modern marketing landscape

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

In this fractured, algorithmic, and multi-channel marketing environment, it can be tricky getting the right message to the right audience at the right time. Authentic communication enables us to navigate the changeable waters of modern marketing and avoid the pitfalls that have become so commonplace.

The road well-travelled

Marketing techniques such as branding, packaging and even advertising can be found as far back as the Greek and Roman empires. As a practice marketing remained a…

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Staying disruptive in a digital environment

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

David Guillebaud has experience in many different industries including oil, banking and aerospace. He also has lots of experience in start-ups from founding three companies, as a business angel and as a consultant where he advises CEOs and top management teams on strategy and transformation issues. In this article, he discusses how to stay disruptive in a digital environment.

As technological developments grow and became more exposed to digital transformations, I found myself in front of CEOs of top management teams, completely amazed by their inability to accept the fact that…

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Protecting your IP: Where to start?

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

The cultural difference between an academic openness and the need for privacy in early stages of a commercial enterprise are pronounced. If a patent portfolio is part of your company offering, then you will need to reconsider what you disclose publicly from now on.

We spoke with Adrian Tombling from Withers & Rogers to get his perspective as a patent attorney. With his own academic background in genetics, he has extensive experience representing biotech and pharma companies in patent applications.

There are two pieces of fundamental advice to consider regarding your start up.

Firstly, you must not disclose it publicly until you’ve considered whether you want to protect it via a patent. This is essential. Clients have said to me “I’ve got this great idea…I only disclosed this part”. But often what they…

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Sitting down with: Bent Jakobsen, Immunocore

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

Dr. Bent Jakobsen gained first-hand insight into the foundational discoveries of the life sciences during his PhD studies at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. At the LMB, not only was DNA structure, the genetic code and the invention of protein crystallography discovered, but also monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The work pioneered by Cesar Milstein and Greg Winter on mAbs, amongst others, was Bent’s inspiration for the idea that led to Immunocore, of which he is the scientific founder.

What does Immunocore do?

Immunocore uses human T cell receptors (TCRs) to generate novel types of drugs. TCRs are present on T cells, which are immune cells whose role is to destroy infected cells. TCRs have many similarities – and many differences – to antibodies. Like antibodies, TCRs are generated in humans in a repertoire of huge diversity and can be generated against cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. But unlike antibodies, TCRs can target intracellular proteins, which provides us with…

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The attack of founderitis and why not to forget your grandma

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

One of my heroes in life is my dad, a paediatric surgeon renowned for his abilities. He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, but if you challenged him to commercialize something, he would fail. I wouldn’t trust him to manage a dollar. I would trust him with my life, but I would not trust him with my start-up.

That’s not a criticism of him, but if you are that incredibly smart researcher, that person who’s able to do incredible discovery on the bench, that person that has incredible scientific ability, it’s important to be realistic. Some can deal well with the crossover and some of them…

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Essential considerations for hiring the right people

September 19, 2019 Jane 0

Resources are limited in the early stages of a start-up. The only way to survive is to roll up your sleeves and embrace the jobs that you have little or no experience of.

But, if you’re lucky, the time will come where you need to face facts; no matter your talent for multi-tasking and ‘turning your hand’, there’s only 24 hours in the day and a finite amount of attention you can give. It might be time to begin recruiting into your team, but how do you make sure you hire the right person, not only for the job, but to fit with the wider company objectives…

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