Fiona Yu, author of The Success Code of Pharmaceutical Giants is setting up UnogenBio

FENGCLUB

For many colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry, The Success Code of Pharmaceutical Giants is a highly popular book in recent years. With vivid writing style, this book analyzes the development history, business strategy and pipeline layout of 20 pharmaceutical giants in the world in simple terms. We have many curiosity and questions about Fiona Yu, the author of this book. Although she does not have a professional background in a multinational pharmaceutical company in her resume, she knows a lot about the global pharmaceutical industry and has done profound research. Her writing style is so sophisticated. What kind of road and valley did she go through in the past years to make her life experience so rich?

Recently, it was heard that Fiona would prepare to establish a biotechnology company called UnogenBio with several senior scientists in the industry. Therefore, eMedClub and Fiona had an in-depth interview. When we met, her clear and bright eyes impressed us again. We were a little surprised when we learned that the owner of the eyes was over 40 years old, and we naturally started the interview.

The Success Code of Pharmaceutical Giants took Fiona nearly ten years of research

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eMedClub: Fiona, when did you start accumulating knowledge for this book?

Fiona : When I was studying at MIT where I majored in corporate strategy, and our strategy course teacher was Professor Arnold Hex, who built the "Delta Model". I was very interested in pharmaceutical enterprises at that time, but Professor Arnold Hex told me that it was not easy to study in this direction, because the strategies of an pharmaceutical enterprise were always closely related to its scientific and technological direction, and that if I wanted to study this direction thoroughly, I must first have a deep understanding of the inheritance and future of pharmaceutical technology.

Fortunately, MIT, my alma mater, itself is one of the strongest incubators of biotechnology in the world. In addition to Bob Langer Lab or Whitehead Lab, many of our outstanding alumni are founders of top emerging technologies. By contacting with and making friends with them, I gradually understand this industry.

Besides, we can also take a large number of other courses at Harvard, and I was lucky enough to make a good friend who was a global vice president at a well-known biotech company and happened to be enrolled in Harvard's corresponding management program. He often flew around the world to evaluate new projects. He not only has a broad and long-term vision of the whole industry, but also has nuanced insight. His guidance and help to me is clairvoyant.

It seems that my book was written within one year, but in fact, I spent nearly ten years to study relevant materials of the industry and got advices from many masters in the industry. Only by constantly learning, studying and integrating can I successfully accomplish this "small goal" in my life in 2019.

Core members of UnogenBio:

Mark Anderson, Kenneth Kwong,

Chungchow Chan, Wu Bin, Fiona Yu

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eMedClub: Are your friends in the industry helpful to the founding of UnogenBio?

Fiona: Of course, they help a lot. Because of their support, in the process of construction, UnogenBio not only has four independent pipeline assets, but also has sufficient confidence to be a pioneer in the industry, rather than just a follower. Our technical direction is derived from the unmet therapeutic needs in the tumor field. For example, we have a drug for gastrointestinal cancer, one of the most common cancers in China, that could be a breakthrough therapy in the future.

In addition, how to transform "cold tumor" into "hot tumor" is an urgent development direction of the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, and three new drugs in our pipeline are all aimed at the immune regulation mechanism. According to their pharmacological mechanism, they have great potential to elevate the efficacy of current IO drugs to a higher level.

In order to ensure the implementation of UnogenBio's vision, we have invited world-class scientists to control the overall R&D process. In the history of FDA, only one new anti-tumor drug, i.e. EGFR/cMet double antibody of JNJ, was approved on the base of phase I clinical data. Our CSO is Dr. Mark Anderson, who was in charge of the R&D of the drug at that time. He also presided over a new platform for the R&D of double antibody at JNJ, and has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Our CMO Dr. Kenneth Kwong has a deep background as a senior officer of FDA and an executive of large pharmaceutical enterprises. Our senior vice president of science and technology operation Dr. Chungchow Chan is an expert of CMC. His books are among the top three sellers in John Wiley Publishing's history for their authority and technical nature. Wu Bin has many years of experience in BD, sales and marketing in the industry. I can get to know them because of MIT's strong alumni network, which has helped me undertake many enterprise consulting projects over the years.

Working together on these projects has assured us that we share the same scientific and business views. As a result, the entire core team of UnogenBio was formed almost immediately. We work together. Each performs its own functions. I am responsible for strategy, external communication, finance and other daily operations in UnogenBio, and they are responsible for technical details.

MIT "has opened my G overnor and C onception vessels and almost reorganized my DNA"

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eMedClub: Except bridging you to the world's leading biotechnology field, what other benefits did your MIT education bring to you?

Fiona: In terms of knowledge and ability, this period of education has opened my G overnor and C onception vessels, and almost reorganized my DNA. It has improved me from two aspects: First, it has improved my comprehensive and profound insight into business management; Second, it reminds me that MIT graduates should always have the ambition to lead mankind to make breakthroughs in technology and business.

The first lecture I ever heard was given by Dr. Robert S. Langer, who showed us how biotechnology has changed our lives and health. He also stressed that technology alone is not enough, and a business system for incubating these technologies is also required.

MIT's magic weapon in business management is "System Dynamics", which is well-known for a representative book The Fifth Discipline and a famous business simulation training Beer Game . Their creators, Professor Peter M. Senge and Professor Jay Forester, taught us how to establish a positive and circulatory business operation system in the classroom by means of words and examples, such as Starbucks and other practical operation and management examples.

MIT has many world-renowned professors and profound knowledge, such as Simon Johnson, a professor in MIT's department of international finance, who was then the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. We desperately want to learn more every day until we are exhausted.

I remember that my classmates organized a lunch with Buffett. Unfortunately, my schedule was already full of courses of other famous professors. Even if it was a free lunch face-to-face with Buffett, I couldn't really squeeze in more time for a flight. There is a joke among MIT students that learning here is like drinking water with a fire hydrant. The amount of knowledge you can absorb is so great that you will choke if you are not careful.

eMedClub: Did you have the confidence and plan at that time to establish a biotech company in the future?

Fiona: I didn't have a clear goal at that time, but MIT really strengthened my confidence. I have a female classmate who is more than ten years older. By the time she graduated, she had reached the age when women usually retire to play their grandchildren. Instead, she started her entrepreneurial career with a Nano Vehicle technology from MIT Langer Lab.

When it started in 2010, the project won only $50,000 from MIT's Entrepreneurship Award. Seven years later, the project has come a long way. At the beginning of 2017, she received the "National Medal on Technology and Innovation" from President Barack Obama before he left office at the White House. Another of my classmates started a business based on a technology of "cell phone component voltage". Thanks to the contribution of this technology, we are now able to extend the battery life of our phones.

Although MIT has only about 2000 graduates each year, the annual income of the company founded by our alumni is equivalent to the GDP of the world's seventh largest economy. Now, I am one of these alumni.

"I firmly believe that my future lies in participating in the economic development of the country, not just recording the economic activities of others"

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eMedClub: Unlike most pharmaceutical people, you have been engaged in many different jobs in the past, such as TV anchor and executive in the financial leasing industry. Are all these jumps from your own interests?

Fiona: Both interests and responsibilities. In fact, there is too much concentration and effort behind my seemingly unrestrained transformation. I'm used to working every day when I open my eyes. I don't fall asleep until I'm too tired to open my eyes. I am also a person who can endure loneliness. If I stay alone for more than 30 days, I also can enjoy myself. But this is unacceptable to most people.

When I graduated from college, several TV stations competed to hire me as an anchor, and I stayed on for four years. In this process, the programs I presided over won national awards, and I also visited a series of celebrities such as Chu Shijian. This experience as a media person allowed me to have a broader vision of the whole society as a young person, and also let me learn how to easily face people of different classes.

However, I firmly believe that my future lies in participating in the economic construction of the country, not just recording the economic activities of others , so I resolutely gave up this special halo and ostentatious display of luxury in my life and returned to the miserable student life. In 2009, after I entered MIT Sloan as desired, I had the real strength to transfer to the biotechnology industry, which I was willing to work for my whole life.

The most difficult part of starting a business is how to establish the team's internal and external trust

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eMedClub: The challenge for UnogenBio to bring its four new anti-tumor drugs to the clinic as soon as possible and to continue to open up new R&D pipelines is enormous. What is the biggest challenge you have experienced in the process of starting a business?

Fiona: I think the most difficult thing is how to build trust in the team, both internally and externally. Most biotech companies have been burning cash for years. Only by gaining the full trust of investors can a company get the necessary financial support.

Within the company, only with absolute mutual trust can colleagues overcome the challenges and setbacks in the process of R&D and operation, and finally make the company bigger and stronger. As Mencius once said, honesty is the way of the world; Mozi also said that dishonest words will not lead to good results; even Buffett has said that he would not cooperate with people who lack integrity, which shows the importance of trust in life and business.

"Biopharmaceutical is a hardcore industry.

No diamond cutter, don't try to mend porcelain wares"

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eMedClub: Have you experienced similar challenges in your previous career? What unique skills do you have to help people build this trust more quickly?

Fiona: There have been too many such experiences. In fact, the growth experience of any person or even an enterprise is constantly built on the public's trust in the individual or company. In 2005, I joined Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation (CFSC) to manage one of its financial leasing services. At that time, CFSC had 200 agents all over China. At the beginning, the business in China was chaotic that the management system could not even pinpoint exactly where the tens of millions of dollars that had been put into the market were.

In order to sort out the business as soon as possible, my team and I reorganized the entire organizational structure, introduced a strict reward and punishment plan, and conducted intensive training and promotion. It is precisely by down-to-earth communication with "deeds" that the entire team can gain trust and support from each other. 12 months later, the business had achieved some of the best performance in the financial leasing industry in China that year, and its profit margin had risen from a heavy loss to the No. 1 position in CFSC China. This experience has taught me that the core of the way to do business is "trust".

Biopharmaceutical is a hardcore industry. No diamond cutter, don't try to mend porcelain wares, and the time between planting trees and picking fruits is quite long. However, as long as we have the strength, we will develop very well in the future.

Moderna, for example, didn't have a drug in the clinical stage until two years ago, and the industry was skeptical of the company and its leading mRNA technology. After the outbreak of Covid19, its technology has become a pillar of stability in the chaotic world, and has ignited the global investment community's attention and commitment to mRNA. Moderna is now valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, more than even the centuries-old pharmaceutical giant GSK.

The vision of UnogenBio is to change the position of most Chinese biotech companies from "follower" to "leader" in relevant R&D. However, we need some time to accumulate before we can gain full trust and play in the industry. In this regard, we are full of confidence and patience. For me, even if there is a lot of trouble ahead, and if UnogenBio develops an innovative drug that can truly meet the unmet medical needs of some cancer patients, no matter how difficult it is, my life and that of my colleagues will be incomparably harmonious and complete.

Afterword: Our interview is over. Every sentence of Fiona's conversation is filled with encouraging warmth, which is not the passion of a beginner, but the calm of a wise man who has read all his life. eMedClub wishes Fiona and UnogenBio co-founded by her and several other entrepreneurial partners all the best. As they wish, they can bring new drugs and good drugs to cancer patients one after another in the future, so as to help them alleviate their pain and regain their health.