Celebrating 50 years of Talentmark

In this interview with business journalist Roger Trapp, David Nolan, Chief Executive of the executive recruitment arm of Talentmark, discusses trends and issues in the life sciences industry and the role that Talentmark has played in helping companies bring innovative treatments to market over the past 50 years.

Talentmark recently celebrated its 50th anniversary – what’s the secret of your success?

We have been committed to being a purpose-led company for more than 50 years. Over this time, we have built very, very long relationships with people who know they have a trusted partner that they can confide in for advice and input on specific challenges.

The testament to our commitment is that we have worked with people for 20, 30, 40 years. We don’t tend to lose clients, albeit they might transform and do different things. I think we have stood the test of time because we do the right thing and put our principles at the fore.

Our area of focus is largely around innovation, and innovation at its core is original and so new. This may require new skills, or combinations of skills which have not yet been put in a job description. So, the principle of consulting very closely with partners to figure out what they need and when, to ensure that there is the right fit – at a cultural level, an ethos level, as well as at the skills level, is essential.

Ultimately, it’s about helping the industry develop great products. So we sit very comfortably on the same side of the fence as our customers. We lift part of the heavy stone they are trying to put in as a foundational block to their businesses. We pick up one end and they pick up the other and we bring it across the line. That’s very much how the team sees it.

Talentmark is currently expanding – please tell us more?

It’s probably good to wind back. About seven years ago, Talentmark started providing a more holistic capability, building solutions for clients. This was very much for specialised roles. We were building teams in manufacturing, regulatory market access, clinical development and clinical operations in addition to our Board and C-Suite work. But unlike a normal RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) solution, we were focusing on key areas that we knew very well – offering more of a search-led approach rather than trying to fill very generic roles.

What we have seen, as our clients’ talent acquisition models have developed, is that we are getting more and more requests to deliver managed projects that focus on capability building rather than transactional search. Having a broader group of people to work within the wider Talentmark business gives us the opportunity to expand this capability. The newly expanded business will also strengthen our international capacity, as well as the breadth and depth of the services we can offer.

What are your thoughts on how diversity in life sciences can be improved?

It’s a major issue that is on our desk every day of every week. But there’s no short-term fix. It needs commitment plus investment. It goes right back to what we’re teaching in schools. There isn’t enough focus on promoting science and engineering at a broader, more diverse level. We need to take a closer look at how the curriculums are set up, how that flows into undergraduate degrees and ultimately into careers and leadership development.

We also have to be clear about what we mean by diversity. It’s not just about gender or race. We also have to take much more seriously disability and cognitive differences and to include these people in the conversation, not least because it would be helpful to have on board individuals with personal experience of some of the conditions that organisations are seeking to treat.

I truly believe that diversity brings new viewpoints and makes organisations better, but we’ve got to get it right from the start – very early on. It’s also positive to see the “old boys’ networks breaking down that have existed in life sciences for years.

Do you envisage a greater need for improved governance and ethics policies in life sciences?

Developments in technology have created a whole new landscape of compliance and governance that we haven’t fully navigated yet. Clearly, great care needs to be taken with safety and ethical considerations in this time of rapid growth.

This is far more complex than the standard level of drug authorisation and how to get a product approved. There is much more that will have to be done to address such areas as how information is communicated via social media and so on. It’s not about managing or controlling technology, but ensuring that it is enabled with the right ethical and moral considerations.

And it is not just technology. There has been growing interest in using substances such as cannabis and psychedelics in treatments and incorporating tech to make these solutions safe and effective. Talentmark worked very closely on the first cannabinoid for childhood epilepsy. It took 13 years to get that product to market and mountains of data to change the public’s historic impression of such compounds. Modern computing power allowed us to produce enough data to convince regulators and governments objectively that this is actually very safe and effective. If you can cross-reference that with the efficacy of the drug in patients, I think some sound and ethical decisions have been taken.

As for whether there is rising demand for regulatory professionals, well, you can never get enough good regulatory professionals! This has been a challenge for all the 22 years I have been in life sciences recruitment.

I think the digital and ethical aspects of how we’re approaching drug development will give rise to a lot of new roles that we haven’t even heard of yet. Chief Ethical Officer, Chief Patient Officer are examples of positions that we will see more of because ensuring that the boardroom has a view on the issue will require new functional roles.

Finally, what are your predictions for biotech growth over the next five years?

Biotech is always cyclical. You have times when funding is easy to access and you’ve got great investment going into new innovations – then it cools off for a while before it comes back. We have seen this go full circle several times in our 50 years. But there’s no doubt that we’re seeing a step-change in how technology is enabling product development and this will continue to grow over the next five years, as will the opportunities in biotech start-ups.

I also think we will see more and more emphasis on not just better quality of treatments for patients, but more affordable treatments for patients. Some of the latest oncology and cell & gene therapy treatments, for example, are very expensive and we have seen direct evidence that some healthcare systems will just not be able to pay for them. So, the innovation needs to make treatments accessible for everyone as well as solving a patient need.