taggartmcgurrin

[taggartmcgurrin]

From Dollars to Data: Taggart McGurrin on Why Finance Leaders Are Flocking to Pharma Startups

America’s drug development pipeline needs help. As recent health scares like the COVID-19 pandemic have shown, the current model needs to be streamlined to create new, critically needed medicines quickly and efficiently. 

Enter the finance pros. 

While “Big Pharma” has long been dominated by MBAs, industry startups have traditionally been led by medical researchers or scientists. But, as new technologies like artificial intelligence and the pharmaceutical market become increasingly investor-driven, small companies need management at the top who understand how modern business is executed. 

Now, financially trained professionals like Tagg McGurrin, CPA, MBA, JD, are leading some of the most promising and innovative pharmaceutical startups, helping steer them through the rough waters of investor demands, regulatory changes, and market dynamics. 

The setup has created an exciting synergy. The biotech sector offers highly skilled business people the chance to use a wide portion of their skill sets in service of public good while freeing up medical specialists to concentrate on creating the very best solutions possible. 

It’s also just good business. 

“My background with finance, law, and accounting was very attractive to the team because they could get many people in one,” McGurrin said. “So, with capital being king in pharma, being able to pay one person what you otherwise  have to pay three or four people to do is required when you're in that small but high-growth startup space.” 

But does good business make for good drugs? 

A New Kind of Leader

The idea of medical companies being led by financial wizards can feel wrong to the public. Not long ago, some so-called “pharma bros” gave the practice a bad rap, thanks to conspicuously greedy and amoral actors like Martin Shkreli, who famously raised the price of a lifesaving antiparasitic drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill, and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who defrauded investors out of billions for a blood-testing product that never worked. (Both individuals were sentenced to years in prison for their actions.) 

But there’s an essential distinction between the pharma bros of the past and the new crop of professionals. The field has become more professionalized in light of those scandals, and investors have become more discerning. Today’s leaders aren’t solely drawn from a crop of young investment bankers but highly educated and passionate workers with motives beyond striking it rich and getting famous. 

For McGurrin, the impetus to change careers was his family. 

“I didn't plan to be in pharmaceuticals,” he said. “It was rather serendipitous that I could pursue something I felt very strongly about—the opioid epidemic. I had a family member who suffered from opioid use disorder. And so, going in there, I realized that not all that is complex has to be complicated, and there's no industry that I can think of that has all the various areas of risk and complexity that the pharmaceutical industry possesses. Think about financing, development, scientific, regulatory, and commercial risk. That's not even to mention the cultural risk you have with the teams you're building.”

Taggart McGurrin is not alone in his outlook. Other financial leaders have jumped to pharma in search of making a difference. 

Renee Aguiar-Lucander, who left Lehman Brothers to become CEO of a company that develops drugs that treat often overlooked conditions, told Outsourcing Pharma: “I am driven by making a genuine difference in patients’ lives. At Calliditas, we are committed to helping people with rare diseases by identifying treatments that enable these patients to live longer, better lives.”

Do Financial Pros Make it Better?  

It’s fair to wonder if even the most well-intentioned financial workers can deliver better patient outcomes than medical workers. After all, there’s a steep learning curve to medicine, and the values of the medical establishment can seem to be at odds with the ethos of startup culture. 

For leaders like Taggart McGurrin, however, it’s not about a clash of values but a meshing of culture. When executives come from outside the medical field, they need to rely on the expertise of researchers and practitioners and the brilliance of visionaries.

“Something I've always strived to do is to empower the teams to inform executive decision-making,” he said. “You just don't make decisions in a silo. You go in with your teams, and you pressure test your assumptions. You encourage them to identify blind spots, raise issues not yet addressed, or challenge underlying assumptions. I want to hear all the negative things that could happen based on a particular action. And that's honestly what makes the team so critical.”

He added that even when hard decisions must be made, high-quality executives never lose sight of the company’s purpose. 

In order to deliver for investors and patients, “You need to understand the amount of money that we need to raise or the capital we need to deploy to meet certain critical value inflection points for the company. 

How do we make the company more valuable? How do we progress the drugs to the best of our ability, especially as a small startup biotech company where you always need more cash?” McGurrin said. “But the point I wanted to make about a company's purpose , and I think this is something that is  often overlooked,  is the bottom line starts and ends with the human impact the pharmaceutical industry has on patients’  health and well-being.”

###

[taggartmcgurrin]

Threading the Needle: Taggart McGurrin on Navigating Profit and Ethics in Pharma and Biotech Startups

There are few sectors more complicated than pharmaceuticals—especially for new companies. To succeed, startups must master a complicated arithmetic that balances business decisions against the ethics of providing life-saving drugs.

Taggart (Tagg) McGurrin, a CFO/COO in the pharmaceutical space, compares leading a startup to managing air travel. Modern flight relies not only on skilled pilots, but on fully coordinated efforts of highly skilled people across various disciplines, who do everything from monitoring the weather to building reliable aircraft.

Like airlines, pharmaceutical startups often contend with last-minute changes that affect the journey, although not the destination. 

No matter what new government regulation, stakeholder concern, or market disruption occurs, new businesses must “understand the headwinds that you face and pivot seamlessly to continue flawlessly executing on the corporation’s goals and objectives,” McGurrin said.

Patients as a Priority

Typical startups worry about two concerns: connecting with clients and becoming profitable. Pharmaceutical businesses are different. Their success and failure predominantly depend on how well their medicine works.

And while a tech company can regularly update its product, pharmaceutical companies are bound by strict regulatory timelines and massive cash burn. As a result, high-growth start-ups can be a bit like building a plane while trying to fly it.

“The bottom line starts and ends with the human impact the pharmaceutical industry has on people—current and future patients,” he said. “Think about us when we were kids: My mother brought me in for vaccines and gave me medicine when I was sick. We entrusted other people to develop medications properly, the FDA to apply their regulatory authority to grant companies the approval to commercialize medications properly, and doctors to prescribe them. So, when you look at the human impact, you have to say, ‘Look, patients depend on and entrust pharmaceutical leaders with their health and well-being, just the same way they entrust doctors and nurses with their medical care and treatment.’”

Patient trust is sacred, McGurrin said, but it comes at a steep cost. Investors can grow impatient because of the tremendous cost of new drug development—from research to iteration to a long and complex approval process. It’s not unusual for pharmaceutical startups to feel constantly strapped for cash as they navigate a costly and lengthy journey toward drug approval.

McGurrin believes the key to keeping investors engaged throughout the process is to transparently identify and communicate developmental challenges, associated risk mitigation strategies, and long-term and impactful solutions to the hurdles.

“The industry allows me to do well by doing good. I like money because money is a great motivator. That's what gets many people out of bed in the morning,” he said. “But at the end of the day, is it clean money? Would you be proud to say that you earned it and did it by doing good and benefitting others?”

Yet, while patients are the ultimate priority, pharmaceutical CEOs can only make some decisions solely based on patient needs. The system forces them to consider investors' financial needs, and this balancing act is an ongoing challenge.

Balancing the Needs of All Stakeholders

The market doesn’t necessarily reward companies for making good medications. 

McGurrin emphasized that pharmaceutical companies operate within a for-profit model, which comes with its own pressures. 

“Pharmaceuticals are a for-profit business with two prongs,” McGurrin said. “One is that people expect to get a return from sizeable investment because developing a drug costs a ton of money. On the other hand, there are people who are investing in certain areas of the pharmaceutical industry or certain drugs because they have a connection to an unmet need. Perhaps it's something they or a family member have had to deal with from a health perspective, and they want to see certain drugs come forth to help in that area. And that might be a mission-driven investment for them. But nonetheless, their investment isn't a charitable contribution. People expect a return from investing in drug development, especially investors who make their livelihoods from deploying capital into highly risky development programs. They expect returns commensurate with the risk profile of their investments..”

This pressure becomes especially intense when development processes take longer or cost more than expected. Investors may push for speedier development and market access, but management often faces unexpected challenges. 

 “I think a time where the rubber meets the road with those two competing interests—returns for investors versus what you're doing to move things forward for the patients—what it really comes down to is how you're managing the overall timeline to approval,” he said.

For McGurrin, leadership must remain committed to the long-term efficacy and safety of the drug. In some cases, that means extending timelines or requesting additional funding rounds. 

“I think that people often want to take the path of least resistance, but that could result in lower returns for investors, a limited label for patients, or both. It’s critical to be transparent with investors and say, ‘Look, we spoke to the FDA and they requested additional data, or there is additional regulatory work required. As long as you approach investors with a revised plan and timeline, the relevant risks, and the capital required to execute, you can effectively address investors' concerns while preserving the integrity of the drug you are trying to deliver to patients,” McGurrin said.

Striking the Right Balance

Encountering turbulence is simply part of the journey for pharmaceutical startups. The industry offers attractive rewards for investors and amazing results for patients—but only so long as the dynamic path from research to market is managed with finesse. “If startups want to bring the most effective medication to market on a timeline that suits investors, the best tool for the job is constant, comprehensive, and transparent communication to all stakeholders,” McGurrin said. 

“You need to set realistic expectations and be very upfront and honest with your investors. As long as investors are fully informed, I truly believe management will be given the requisite support to deliver for both investors and patients.”

[taggartmcgurrin]

Taggart McGurrin Challenges Pharma's Approach to Pain: Is the Industry Learning from the Opioid Crisis?

The United States judicial system has found Big Pharma liable for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans and the addictions of millions more. The epidemic has burdened communities, destroyed families, and led to a nationwide economic burden of more than $1.02 trillion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With all the country's challenges in managing the crisis, can a new pharmaceutical company fix it? 

Tagg McGurrin likes to think so. 

Trained in law and finance, the pharmaceutical startup executive believes that a new kind of drug can upend the status quo that has already wrecked too many lives—including in his own family. 

His close ties to the realities of opioids initially led McGurrin to keep away from the sector. But when he realized he could use his skills to provide patients with another option for pain management, he joined the fight. The deeper he looked into the pain management business, the more opportunities he saw. 

“At first, I was like, no, opioids are awful. Because you see people becoming zombies when they're on narcotics, and it takes away their ability to function and live. And that's not the idea with pain. Pain has been around since the beginning of time. It's not going anywhere. And it should never have been something that became like, oh, we're going to eliminate all pain. That's not the human experience,” he says. “But, and I think this is something that I found profound as I started to do more research, you're trying to manage or treat the pain, not so that it goes away, but so that you can once again engage in activities you used to enjoy before this tremendous pain, whether it would be more acute or chronic. Which is a larger issue.” 

How We Got Here 

McGurrin provides a blunt critique of the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the opioid crisis, attributing much of the problem to bad actors.

“Initially, you're thinking opioids are bad because you hear the word, and it has a tarnished reputation,” he said. “And really, it comes down to what all bad things come down to - greed. You have greedy people within the industry with all different professional backgrounds and areas of discipline, doctors, salespeople, executives, etc..”

So far, the courts have fined companies like Purdue Pharma billions of dollars for their role in the opioid crisis. The funds have been put to use to fund addiction treatment centers and help families who lost loved ones. But many believe the punishments haven’t gone far enough. 

For McGurrin, the solution must involve a fundamental rethinking of pain itself. Opioids started to become widely used because they helped eliminate pain. But pain is an unavoidable part of life, and the goal of pharmaceuticals shouldn’t be to eliminate pain. The goal should be to manage it effectively.

“It's getting people back to what they like to do and what they need to do to feel that their lives are fulfilled,” he says. “And so I think that ultimately it's back to how do we develop pain medication that manages to what the individual's experiencing and what they want to get back to without stripping them of their cognitive abilities. It’s key to set the expectation that pain may be something you will experience from here onward. I've had chronic back pain for years and years now, but I’ve educated myself and understand how to manage the pain without cognitive impairment. The pharmaceutical industry, the doctors, you look at chiropractors, it's an amalgamation of things that can, relatively speaking, bring you back to where you were before the pain started.”

How Tagg McGurrin Moves Forward

McGurrin’s work has focused on developing non-opioid analgesics—drugs that manage pain without the addictive properties of opioids. But it’s not easy. Developing safe, effective alternatives requires navigating a sea of scientific, regulatory, and commercial challenges and piecing together a team with the expertise to manage it. 

Even once the team is in place and the development work begins, compelling pharmaceutical startups face another hurdle: managing investor expectations. 

“The pharmaceutical industry is extraordinarily complex. There are so many different facets to it. You need to have people there, 100% driven and onboard for the task at hand, and that's what investors would and should expect,” McGurrin says. “There's got to be a clear mission with annual goals and objectives. How does a startup company come up with annual goals and objectives? Just do it, however dynamic initially, and set a few goals that align with your next value inflection points. They may be the only goals you can come up with, but having structure and the ability to review progress and say, what is it that we're going for, and what time do we have to get there? What are the investors’ expectations? What promises can we make?”

Of course, paying too much attention to money is largely factored into the current opioid epidemic. But McGurrin believes that a new breed of financiers—many who, like himself, have seen the devastation of opioids —can accept a vision of drug development that prioritizes patient well-being over profits.

“The bottom line starts and ends with the pharmaceutical industry's human impact on current and future patients,” he says. “And think about us when we were kids. I mean, my mother was bringing me vaccines and giving me medicine when I was a child. We entrusted other people to develop the drugs properly, the FDA to apply their regulatory authority, people to properly commercialize, doctors to properly prescribe these medications, etc... So when you look at the human impact, you have to say, ‘Look, current and future patients depend on and entrust  pharmaceutical leaders with their health and wellbeing, just the same way they entrust doctors and nurses with their health and wellbeing.’ Ultimately, investors win when patients win.” 

[taggartmcgurrin]

Pharmaceutical Executive Taggart McGurrin Featured on Life Sciences 360 Podcast

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[New York, NY] October 29, 2024 — Tagg McGurrin, a pioneering executive in pharmaceutical innovation, recently appeared as a featured guest on Life Sciences 360, a leading podcast focused on developments in the life sciences industry. During the episode, McGurrin shared his insights on revolutionizing pain management and creating responsible alternatives to opioid medications.

Drawing from both personal knowledge and professional expertise, McGurrin discussed his mission to develop non-addictive pain management solutions. The conversation covered high-growth pharmaceutical startup' challenges and the importance of prioritizing patient well-being in drug development.

"We're working to manage pain without stripping people of their cognitive abilities," McGurrin shared during the podcast. "It's about getting people back to what they like to do and what they need to do in order to feel that their lives are fulfilled."

The full episode of Life Sciences 360 featuring Tagg McGurrin is now available for listening on all major podcast platforms.

About Taggart "Tagg" McGurrin

Taggart "Tagg" McGurrin is a distinguished pharmaceutical executive whose multifaceted expertise spans finance, law, and biotechnology. His unique combination of skills enables him to navigate the complex landscape of drug development and commercialization with both precision and vision. McGurrin's academic achievements include completing a dual BS/MBA in accounting in just four years, followed by earning his CPA certification during his tenure at Bank of America. He further expanded his expertise by obtaining a law degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Since joining the pharmaceutical industry in 2017, McGurrin has held several key leadership positions, including President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, focusing on driving biotech innovation and addressing critical healthcare challenges.

###

[taggartmcgurrin]

Taggart McGurrin Warns: AI in Pharma Isn't a Silver Bullet for Drug Pricing Woes

Experts have theorized that artificial intelligence will fundamentally alter the pharmaceutical sector by increasing the efficiency of drug development and lowering costs. And while its potential is exciting, the current AI models have a long way to go before they disrupt medicine, according to pharmaceutical executive Taggart McGurrin. 

That doesn’t mean AI won’t contribute to drug development. But it probably won’t create a revolution. At least not yet, McGurrin said. 

McGurrin has helped lead innovative startups in the pharmaceutical space. But beyond his experience in the field, his training as a CFO/ COO and strategic executive has made him uniquely qualified to understand the industry from various important and often-overlooked angles. 

When he thinks about the future of drug development, he doesn’t just consider the mechanisms that may improve the efficiency of the research and patient trials but the entire process that begins with the kernel of an idea and ends with new medicine hitting the market. 

For fans of next-generation technology, the recent maturation of artificial intelligence has been a cause for celebration. Futurists predict that by harnessing the ability of AI software to comb through gigabytes of data meticulously, pharmaceutical companies could invent and test future medicine at a fraction of the cost of the current drug discovery model. All that’s missing is the right program. 

But the pharmaceutical industry is complex. It requires rigorous, precise testing. Current AI models are prone to making mistakes or “hallucinating” false information, which could be truly dangerous in medicine. 

Is it possible to make more innovative, more vigilant artificial intelligence programs that can be trusted to take the safety of human lives into account when they operate—or will AI be just the next step in technology, advancing the industry inch by inch? 

How AI Can Help

While McGurrin urges caution about the world-flipping power of today’s AI platforms for drug development, he acknowledges its potential. Even the current artificial intelligence models can deliver big benefits to companies in the pharmaceutical industry, he said. 

“It's far from the first time AI has consumed headlines, but now you have LLMs [Large Language Models] and generative AI, both of which can fit squarely within the pharmaceutical industry so it can be more efficient and effective in drug development processes, thereby decreasing cost and time, eventually making it easier to bring down drug pricing,” McGurrin said. 

AI tools have already shown the capacity to streamline and improve existing workflows, such as document management, in pharmaceutical companies.. What’s more exciting, however, is how artificial intelligence could play a role in reducing the inefficiencies within the drug development process, McGurrin said. 

For example, the current systems for testing new drugs could be significantly improved by employing AI’s ability to manage large chunks of data. Before the federal government can approve new drugs, they must go through rigorous rounds of testing. Artificial intelligence could aid that process by sorting through data about potential patients and identifying those likely to experience complications or side effects from a new drug based on their health histories or current medications.

In addition, AI has the potential to reduce the time scientists spend theorizing how new compounds will interact with the human body. The same kind of technology that can distill vast troves of information into readable synopses could predict how new drugs will affect human biological systems. 

It could also be a huge boon to research, helping scientists worldwide more quickly and easily find, translate, and understand the latest findings from cutting-edge papers across medical disciplines. 

The Drawbacks of AI

But despite its potential, artificial intelligence may not significantly alter the pace of new drug development for a long time, McGurrin cautioned. 

Even if generative AI programs can help medical researchers predict animal and human drug testing outcomes, identify more suitable patient populations for tests, and expand access to the latest research, the medical establishment will still move slowly. And that’s for a good reason. 

“People think, okay, we’ll just get generative AI, and then prices will come down. But it's more complicated than that,” McGurrin said. “The process is still costly, and there’s pressure to meet high standards—AI won’t just erase those expenses.”

It will be many years before humans take the word of artificial intelligence programs without doing much confirmation work. The stakes need to be lowered to leave to a yet-unproven technology. 

In addition, the process that drugs need to go through to be labeled safe for consumers is necessarily long. Medical researchers must understand how a drug will work in the body over a lengthy period before they feel comfortable letting doctors prescribe it. It may be possible that side effects don’t show up until a few months of continuous use, meaning that drug trials (especially in phases II and III) need a long timeline to complete. 

Modern pharmaceutical startups already work around the clock to bring drugs to market quickly, and it still takes a long time. “While AI could shave time off certain aspects, there simply aren’t enough areas to improve to speed up the overall process significantly,” McGurrin said. 

“There’s an enormous demand to get drugs through the pipeline quickly, especially in biotech startups,” he said. “The cost of capital and the drive to deliver fast returns increases pricing pressure.”

Although he envisions a future where AI enhances the industry’s ability to address patient needs affordably, he stressed that we are “not there yet.” For McGurrin, AI will be transformative, but only if the pharmaceutical industry—and its investors and regulators—accept that it is just one part of a complex solution.

###