Episode 85: Building Biotech Together – Funding, Strategy, and the Power of Ecosystems with BIOS Innovation Circle

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Serving the entire Gulf South, but recorded in the heart of New Orleans. Welcome back to BIO From the Bayou. I'm your host, Dr. Elaine Hamm, the executive-in-residence at Tulane University School of Medicine. And today I have a new guest with me. Today's guest is Zizi Emmatorbebe. She is the CEO and managing partners at BIOS Health Group, a strategic advisory company that provides solutions to alleviate some of the key setbacks faced by biopharmaceutical and healthcare companies. And boy, I'm sure there's a lot of those kind of setbacks happening right now. So I'm very excited to have you on the show, Zizi.

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Elaine. I'm looking forward to our talk.

Well, before we dive into your company, I'd like to let our listeners get to know you a little bit more. You've had a fascinating career in biotech and healthcare innovation. So let's talk a little bit about you and your career journey and what led you to BioCell.

Yeah, absolutely. My journey began in the biopharmaceutical industry probably over 30 years ago. Where I've spent a lot of time working in clinical development, commercial strategy, and business development as well. I've worked with assets from, you know, very early stage up onto commercialization. I've also worked across different types, so biotech, life science, medical device. And so this is all I've done in my career for over 35-plus years now. I have also led leadership roles in both large pharma companies and healthcare companies as well. And this perspective has really taught me a lot about the common challenges that companies face at every stage of growth because I've worked in just so many different stages myself. And so usually when I'm meeting with executives or CEOs, for example, they appreciate the fact that I've worn the shoes, like I like to say. totally understand the pain that they're probably facing because this is things that I've also had to face myself. So BioHealth Group was born out of that desire to close the critical gaps for the early-stage biotech companies and even clinical-stage biotech companies. You know, fundraising is often a challenge, raising capital, as well as being prepared, obviously, from a clinical development point to regulatory strategy and being able to align. with investors. And I saw that, you know, many brilliant innovations were stalling, not because the science wasn't strong, but because the pathway to commercialization wasn't as clear or wasn't as straightforward. So BIOS is really about solving for those types of gaps and helping, you know, innovative science reach patients.

I love that. Well, and I appreciate your background too of just like being on all sides of the table. That's been a lot of my career as well. And I always wish I could go back to the job before, you know, the next job, understanding like, hey, I know this better. I would've done things so differently had I walked, you know, a mile. And, you know, when I was on the venture capital side, I wish I had known what it was like to be an entrepreneur because I would've done things differently. And so, I think your background of having been on different sides of the table is such an important piece of being able to help provide feedback and strategy advice. I mean, it's hard to do it otherwise, you know?

Yep, absolutely.

Well, well, you guys are really focused on providing strategy, driving innovation in biotech, but in general, biotech is hard and startups are even harder. And right now it's probably the toughest I've seen it in quite some time. So what are you seeing in terms of the challenges for the biotech I mean, I know my challenge right now is raising money, but it always is raising money if you're an entrepreneur. So that's not anything new, but I mean, are there different challenges these days or is it just a new approach to how we're dealing with the challenges?

No, you're absolutely right. You know, the path to biotech innovation is rarely linear, right? And today's environment is really tough. Startups are facing a tighter funding landscape. Longer timelines to raise capital, and just a lot of increasing scrutiny from investors. You know, the investors themselves are overwhelmed, frankly, with the number of pitch decks unsolicited that they receive. So for early-stage companies and tech transfer offices, that means there is more pressure to make sure that those assets are de-risked early and they can clearly communicate value. You know, many times, you know, what I see, especially many early-stage companies, even very, very early clinical stage, The science is all very interesting, but the value is not properly communicated, at least not properly communicated in a way to an investor that makes them want to stop and say, yes, you know what? I can clearly see the value that you're bringing. Your unique value proposition is superior. You totally understand not just the total addressable market, but the market that you can realistically capture based on your capabilities. And that's very, very important, right? So at BIOS, we help companies bridge that gap. You know, we provide capital raising support. You know, it's like I said, it's a very, very challenging environment right now. Strategic positioning, you know, how do you position yourself and how do you show that you're de-risking your assets to make your assets and your company more attractive to an investor? Because again, they're overwhelmed with a number of—

Mm-hmm.

pitch decks that they are receiving. And then also optimizing your pitch, right? How do you optimize your pitch so that you're communicating? You know, I'm a trained scientist, so I understand, obviously, coming from the scientific point of view, that sometimes, you know, scientists, we love our science. You know, we're very, we're very enamored by our science. We're like, can you not see this?

Yeah, this is brilliant. How do you not see this?

How do you not see this? You know, at the end of the day, you know, it's really not about the science. It's important, but you have to be able to get that asset to a point where a payer wants to pay for it, right?

Yeah.

That they see the value. And that involves a lot of things. And really, I talk about de-risking assets, but that also is also very involved with looking at integrating your development very early on so that you're not just concerned about the clinical development aspect of it, but you're also looking at commercial even very early on, right? So we also conduct thorough due diligence on pitch decks. And so we help them pinpoint the areas that might be a challenge from an investor point of view. That's really, really important, you know. So we have that second pair of eyes where we say, you know what, this might be something that you would need to explain. This is something that you need to do because sometimes you only get one shot, right?

Yep.

And so we want to make sure that the one shot that you're getting is a good shot, right? Because you are answering the questions, showing how de-risked you are, and you're providing your material or your information in a way that the investors will perceive the value. And then also making sure that we can strengthen your story. Okay. The other challenge we find with biotech at early stage is that many times they're in the early stages of raising money and they can't afford a full-time CEO or a full-time chief business officer.

I do.

or a full-time, you know, chief medical officer. So we understand that, you know, they usually have to run very, very lean. And so one of the things that we've, we've also brought to the table to help them is to provide them with fractional C-suite support, you know, especially if these companies are coming from academia.

Yeah.

Maybe they are tied to a tech transfer office or innovation center at a university or something like that. So most of these professors or founders really still want to stay in academia, right? They kind of want to do both, but they don't have the bandwidth or the focus or even the training really to be a CEO or to be able to put everything together strategically. They're very brilliant because they understand the science. They can bring the technologies and things together, but they usually need a lot of fractional support. And we hear that a lot from a lot of tech transfer offices, a lot of innovation centers, that one of the biggest needs is We need fractional executives who can come and support our founders and help them with business development and help them as a CEO with strategy and planning and, you know, planning the development or as a chief medical officer. Once they start raising money, maybe they need support from a chief financial officer. So that's a huge need, you know, in the— in this space as well.

Well, so one part that I wanted to dive into a little bit is in BIOS Health is the BIOS Innovation Circle. Tell me a little bit about that because I know that it's a bit of a venture studio, but there's a network piece of it. Talk to me about the Innovation Circle a bit.

Yeah, the BIOS Innovation Circle is a strategic network and venture hub that contains— it connects high-potential biotech and life science companies with a curated group of investors, industry advisors, and development partners, right? So it's more than just a network, it's an ecosystem. And so as part of this ecosystem, members will gain access to our active investors because we'll have— we have active investors that are looking in specific areas, right? They're interested in specific types of technologies, etc., specific stages of development. So they're looking for that kind of IP. And then we have strategic partners, some that are interested in doing co-development or licensing deals, things like that. Then we have bridge financing for those who are looking more for debt financing or, you know, who need bridge capital to help them get to the next step. And then again, we've got a team that helps, as I mentioned, with the fractional service. So it's an ecosystem that's specifically designed for biotech companies. The beauty of the BioInnovation Circle is that It doesn't take equity because most biotech companies or life science companies, you know, if they're looking for help, they have to go to an accelerator and that accelerator might take half of their equity. So before they get out of the gate, their equity is gone. But we do expect them that they should have been able to raise some kinds of capital, right, to be able to demonstrate that proof. And then we're going to be able to help them with services and the solutions the partnerships and the connections, funding and things like that that they need.

That's great, especially—

Yes.

You have to have that. I mean, it takes a village, right? I mean, when you're—

Yes.

It's hard what we're trying to do, whether you're trying to develop a new device or a diagnostic or a new drug. I mean, that in and of itself is hard, but if you're going at it alone, that makes it even more challenging. And so having an ecosystem that can help in a variety of different ways, especially at the early stages when you have a lean team, And, you know, having access to people that, that can help sort of, you know, fill that Venn diagram, as it were, of a community can be so, so helpful. And I'm sure you've seen a lot of success stories at both the BIOS Health Group and probably within Innovation Circle as well. But do you have anything that, one that particularly stands out to you that you can share with us?

Sure, absolutely. One that stands out is a biotech company that we supported. They had a first-in-class therapeutic for glioblastoma, which is a very challenging indication, and it's also very competitive because there are lots of assets in development, frankly, for glioblastoma. So it is also very challenging. But they had very promising early clinical data, but they were really struggling to articulate their value to investors, right? So this great asset, but very, very difficult in terms of articulating value. So we helped them refine the pitch, refine their value proposition, identify key strategic partners, and then also introduced them to several of our Innovation Center investors, and they were able to secure term sheets and launch a strong fundraising campaign. So this is really good, and they're on their way to hopefully getting the funds that they need. And this is a more recent one. So it's a true example of how you can tell the right story to the right audience at the right time, how it changes everything. But also, I would say the willingness of the team to be able to say, we need help. On the converse, I have also had people who have come to us, they want us to help them do, but they've had their pitch deck maybe done for them or they did it themselves. And I tell them that, you know, we, we are on your side. And if, for example, we don't see the value, right, if we're not excited about it, because we see so many, you know, we may get 50 or 60 a month, we see so many. If we don't see the value and we can't be excited about it and be your advocate, then chances are the investors are not going to be interested as well, right?

Yeah.

And so sometimes Some people are open to saying, yes, please, I need help. But again, it's that mentality of the intelligent scientists and think, oh, I don't need this help. They have all this scientific information on there, and guess what? The investor doesn't read it, and then they go back. We had one that we worked with, and we started to work with them, and we're advising them, you're going to need to change this and this and this. You need this to show this. But they said, oh no, this is fine. Our scientific board thinks it's fine.

Yeah.

But, you know, lo and behold, when we present exactly what we— I mean, it was almost like we planned it, but we didn't. That's exactly what happened, right? And so they didn't get any funding. And so that happens too.

Yeah.

Again, it's a very competitive space right now, and especially in today's world with all the changes and different things that we're all facing, it's really important that you're polished, that you stand out, especially if you're trying to raise capital, and that you get the help that you need. Make the investment to get the help that you need. It's going to help you to be even that much sharper and that much better.

Yeah. And I think that that can be such a struggle. I mean, I think there's also a lot of assumptions on either a scientist or entrepreneur's perspective of that, oh, people are going to understand. Well, one, you have a nice value proposition, cure brain cancer. I mean, that's so much easier than, you know, an app or anything like that on the consumer side. You have a very clear value proposition, but in a competitive landscape, You have to really refine that, and you can't take for granted that people understand that there's still a problem. I was shocked when I first started pitching our MS drug. I thought people understood that there was this huge need to help prevent disability. There's a lot of MS drugs out there already, and people just kind of took that as, oh, well, we've got this. It's already, it's taken care of. There's things out there for MS patients, and yet MS patients were still ending up in wheelchairs. And I pitched to doctors that said, oh, well, this isn't a huge problem. And I was shocked by that. I had a misconception that everyone understood that this was a, was a problem.

Right.

And they didn't understand that perspective. But yeah, I mean, even a medical doctor didn't get that. So you have to really zoom out and understand that there's a bias and people have perceptions of different disease indications as well that you have to be able to navigate. And if you're so, if you get the value proposition, it doesn't mean that everyone else Everyone gets it.

Exactly. Exactly.

Well, okay. So how would a new entrepreneur, one of our listeners or scientists, how would they become a member of the BioInnovation Circle? And what do you look for in a company?

Sure. So we're looking for science with a clear potential for impact, right? So whether it's a novel mechanism of action, strong clinical data, or a repurposed asset with new promise, you know, we evaluate the IP, the regulatory path, the market differentiation, and the strength of the team. So that's important. So to be invited means that companies usually go through an intake process where we assess the technology very early on to see if this is a good fit. Again, because, you know, we have investors that are looking for specific areas as well, we try to narrow what we do to where we already have a need. Otherwise, we will be overwhelmed ourselves, right?

Yeah.

And so we have to first see, does this fit, you know, what we're seeing from our investors, what their needs are, et cetera. We're typically interested in areas like in oncology, depending on the oncology, frankly, because there's a lot of oncology going on. But again, we want breakthrough assets in oncology, in immunology, neuroscience, and metabolic disorders. That's a big one for us. We also look at oral drug delivery innovations.

Yeah.

And we will look at minimally invasive surgical tools and select devices if they already have their regulatory clearances and they're close to commercialization or ready to go into the market. We are also very, more recently now, looking to partner with tech transfer offices because we're talking with them all the time, right, to help them identify their spinouts that are in need of clinical development, capital raising, or even commercial strategy.

That's great, especially the tech transfer piece of it, because it can be challenging to really help move something outside of the lab if you don't have the C-suite or the clinical development strategy sort of already thought out. That's a great value proposition as we're talking about value propositions. Well, any final thoughts that you would like to leave our listeners with today?

Yeah. I think the final thought is that, you know, if you're building something with scientific value, right, don't go it alone. We see that all the time. You know, make the effort, make the investment to get the help that you need, right? And I think there's a saying that says you can go further together faster. So I would say don't go it alone. The other thing I would say is connect early. You know, you asked that question earlier on, when should I be looking to get some help? You know, connect early. You know, the earlier you connect, the earlier that you partner, the better it's going to be. You'll get more traction, you'll be able to get more help and be able to pool more resources, you know, together. And again, you know, for us at BIO, you know, we really exist to help bridge that gap, you know, from science to funding. Just to really get innovations to come out to the market. So those are the final thoughts that I have.

I love that. And yeah, it's, you know, scientists, sometimes we like being lone wolves and working in the lab by ourselves. Yeah, sometimes the time to ask for help was yesterday. And yes, it's important. So, well, hey, thank you so much for talking with us, Zizi. We'll be sure to keep an eye on BIOS Health Group as well as the BIOS Innovation Circle in the future. And as always, we'll have Zizi's contact information and informational links posted in our show notes. Make sure you check them out to learn more so that you are not a lone wolf in need of help. Thank you once again for joining us.

Thank you so much, Elaine.

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