Episode 86: Unlocking Growth in Biotech – How to Leverage Public-Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships may be a tongue twister, but planning for one doesn't have to tie you up in knots. Get expert advice from today's guest, Elizabeth Schaub.

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I'm James Zanewicz, your host for this episode of Bio from the Bayou, and today is part 2 of our chat with Elizabeth Schaub. Today's topic being building collaborations through public-private partnerships. If you haven't yet heard our previous episode with her on funding, it's a must-listen. And she's the CEO of the High Touch Group, a business that specializes in helping science, engineering, and technology companies communicate value to customers. She's an author and And her work has been featured on The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and CNBC, among other outlets. I want to welcome you back to the show, Elizabeth. Thanks so much.

Thanks for having me, James. Happy to be here.

Well, let's dive straight in. Public-private partnerships, or PPPs, as our producer Ian wrote down. I'll probably say public-private partnerships because that just sounds weird to me. But they become— I know people say that, and I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to say that the whole podcast. But they become really pivotal. That's so much consonance here in advancing biotech innovations. share your perspective on how these collaborations have evolved in recent years and maybe where you think they might be going?

This is a great question and I love this topic. You know, public-private partnerships have shifted from being occasional high-stakes collaborations to something more akin to infrastructure, I think, especially after COVID. But I would say that COVID's public-private partnerships were really a response to earlier successes in the market. But, you know, especially after COVID, I think that governments have realized that biotech isn't just an innovation effort. It's about national security. It's about economic security. It's about prosperity. You're seeing longer-term programmatic PPPs in everything from antimicrobial resistance to vaccine platforms, diagnostics, accelerators, and so on. So, you know, and globally, Countries like Singapore and Germany have gotten very good at using PPPs as strategic tools, not just to accelerate specific products, but to build out entire industries. You know, meanwhile, more recently, the US is starting to undercut some of its more effective PPP engines by eroding funding with the NIH, BARDA, university-based funding. We're still competitive in the US, but I'm of course concerned that we could lose ground fast. If we don't continue to support and even accelerate the growth of these PPPs.

Yeah, they really have done a lot to stimulate entire areas of industry. And so for biotech startups, I think they saw, as you just rightly pointed out, during COVID that was a tremendous time for larger and smaller companies to really be able to engage in these public-private partnerships. And as we look forward, for companies who want to ensure they're well positioned to do that in the future, whatever these public-private partnerships may look like, what steps should they take to position themselves as attractive collaborators to public institutions and larger companies and government entities?

A lot of your relationship building with a PPP is very similar to how you would build a relationship with any investor in your technology. So good communication, which we talked a little bit about on the last episode, is critical here as well. But really importantly, you need to understand and speak the language of both science funding and policy. So if you're a startup with a novel platform, how does it align with the public health priorities that that PPP is based around? So whether we're talking about AMR, rare diseases, regional biomanufacturing resilience, don't just pitch what your tech can do, frame it in terms of what the public sector needs solved. And then I think it's really important to just show that you can execute responsibly. So that means, what's your data integrity plan? Can you prove your regulatory readiness? Do you have an IP communication plan or some other open IP communication? Public agencies especially, they don't want drama. They want success.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. The no news is, is, is bad news is not necessarily true when you come to a public entity. There's a lot of news that can be bad news.

100%. And, you know, so they need proof that you can handle milestone-driven collaboration and know how to scale with oversight. And so pointing to other successful collaborations that you have led. So if you're a PI on research funding from NSF or the NIH right now, you know, can you point to that to show, hey, you're not that risky of an investment. You understand how these milestone-driven collaborations work and how to scale.

And when you're looking at those collaborations, as you're looking at entering into the PPPs, there are some common challenges probably that companies face, and especially biotechs. How can they navigate those obstacles effectively or even anticipate them perhaps?

You know, I think that there are a couple of different common pitfalls or challenges here. The biggest one though that I see consistently is this idea around misalignment of timeline. and incentives. So startups can move fast, but public agencies often operate, and, you know, public agencies, but I, I, we can also include NGOs. They often operate around fiscal calendars, specific procurement cycles, and political constraints as we're seeing now. And this mismatch can stall even really promising projects. And I'm going to repeat that sentence again just because it's an important one. That mismatch between a misaligned timeline and the incentives can stall even promising projects. So to navigate that, companies need to map out not just the technical milestones to commercialize their product, but also the kind of bureaucratic ones, reporting structures, compliance checkpoints, funding mechanisms to make sure that you are aligning your corporate buildout around that PPP's program if you're going to go down that pathway of trying to have that relationship. You know, and also, as you know, transparency and patience can go a long way. One of our clients in the immunotherapy space built a successful relationship with a European national lab simply by being upfront about what they didn't know and sort of structuring their early wins around the unknowns and the relationship deepened from there. And I think that that's just something really important to talk about with these PPPs, unlike an investor, like a venture capitalist, where maybe you feel like you don't necessarily want to do a deep dive into everything you don't know right away and make them lose confidence in your science. With these PPPs, very often it's okay to be more transparent about what's unknown and to not be cagey about it because that's where they can provide that infrastructure and support that can be so important in commercializing these technologies.

Yeah, and, and I like that you mentioned the alignment of timelines because it could just be that 3 months make a difference where either you should have asked 3 months sooner or you should wait 9 months until that period hits again based on what their fiscal year fiscal strategy is and when they award funding or resources for partnerships. And to do that deep dive in advance versus trying to figure it out in the room is crucial.

Absolutely.

Well, and that basically leads to our next statement that PPPs can be incredibly complex, and so you need to have a strategy for public and private entities and how they ensure these partnerships are mutually beneficial and align with all parties' long-term goals. What strategies do you give to people to try and do that?

If I'm talking to an academic, so somebody who's maybe used to being a principal investigator, maybe you have some industry testing subcontracts that you used to bring in some baseline funding into your lab outside of grant cycles. Great, but don't treat your relationship with a PPP as if it's a subcontract for some industry testing. And I see that happen very often where you're not necessarily co-designing the program from the outset. And so really bringing both sides to the table early to define what success is. So the technical KPIs, yes, but also what a win looks like for each party. And by the way, if you're the founder or you're part of the C-team going in and pitching the PPP or applying to be part of that arrangement, keep in mind, I mean, you should know what success looks like for that PPP based on the About Us page on their website, the specific program that you're applying for funding through. And so making sure that you are thinking about what their needs are and what a win would look like. from them and designing around that. This alignment usually needs to include data sharing information, publication rights, exit opportunities. But this relationship between you and the PPP really should feel like an acceleration lane for you, right? And for your product, it shouldn't feel like a handcuff. And I think that if founders don't spend enough time sort of upfront in figuring out what that relationship looks like and what the wins are from both sides, Then it can feel more like handcuffs than an acceleration lane.

And speaking of relationships, when you look at science and biotech, the people in this space often, you know, their collaborations are global. It's not just, hey, I'm in the US, I'm partnering in the US, or hey, I'm in the EU, or hey, I'm in Japan, but it's where is the science or where are the experts that I need to work with? And since the internet, you know, and, and, you know, the ease of phones and Zoom and everything else, Collaborations are even more simple than before. And so when a biotech professional or scientist or entrepreneur, whatever milieu they're coming from, is looking to partner with foreign colleagues or companies, how can they ensure diverse collaborations like that are successful? Or I guess more simply stated, how can they work to overcome cultural differences and understand each other and be good partners?

This is such a good question. I've lived in 16 countries.

Oh wow.

And currently in Mexico. And so I, this is one that also hits really close to home for me. I have personal guidance and then I have guidance, especially if you're still within university infrastructure. So some personal/professional guidance, always bring gifts with you. If you're going overseas for any sort of meeting conference, put a few gifts in your bag. It can be something simple, but there's so many cultures are gifting cultures, not just Asian cultures. And you don't know necessarily until you get there, because unlike if you're reading up about business rules for China or Japan or something, you might just not know. And then you're in that business meeting and somebody gives you a gift and you have nothing to give back. It can be inexpensive trinkets from home, but it should be something and just bring extras because very often you're meeting with a much larger team than you thought you would be based on emails. So very, very important. Just bring gifts. That's like a pro tip, I guess. But if you're still in university infrastructure, this is a great opportunity for the science and engineering side of the university to collaborate with the business departments or even arts and humanities departments. What I used to do when I was a PI on research programs, I would hire students not just to support some of the, the more technical ends of a project, but also some of the business and commercialization sides. And very often there's an active international student community that's also involved in a business program. MBA students can be a wealth of help here, especially if they're international. So if you have a very specific international regional focus, it can be incredibly beneficial to just make sure that you're using talent from other parts of your university that you're maybe not as well versed in tapping into. But believe me, those students also need paying jobs. So, and science departments are better funded than a humanities department. So it can be a win-win kind of across the board.

Well, at least they were before January. Yeah.

Maybe we're all in the same boat.

But you never know. I love that you talked about the gifts culture. And I think it's interesting because I learned that in my 30s when I first went abroad to Japan, which is a tremendous gifting culture, but it can be as simple and as brand forward as a lapel pin that has your logo on it. And people love those. They collect them. You'll see people who have them all down, you know, a lanyard or on something they carry with them constantly. 'Cause it's kind of like a badge of honor for them. Or it can be something that just reminds people of where you're from. So if you're from New Orleans, like we can take pralines or things like that and they're inexpensive, but people just love to get something little. Like it doesn't have to be complex. Like you said, just something little you keep. And I always have a whole bunch of Tulane lapel pins and I have them both with a magnet and with a pin so that I don't ruin women's clothes. 'Cause I was well trained by my mother. But you know, you have things like that.

Yeah.

And you can also show that you're thoughtful, like, hey, would you like a magnet or a pen? And then it allows people to choose, like simple little things that cost like a dollar make a huge impact. It's crazy.

It's true, it's true. And then of course they're repping your brand abroad, which is wonderful.

Yeah, exactly, which is perfect. That's why we give out brand stuff all the time. It's all about that intentional marketing, right?

Indeed.

All right, so we're talking about international interactions on a more personal level, but now let's go to kind of global health crises. What roles do you see public-private partnerships playing as we address those, such as pandemics? I mean, COVID-19 was a great example we learned a lot from, but it obviously will probably not be our last global pandemic. How can these partnerships be structured to respond swiftly and effectively to these issues?

Early. Build these early. These PPPs are critical infrastructure for our national security. And a lot of them can't be stood up in a crisis. We had, especially in the United States, but really I think there are multiple examples during COVID worldwide where we did get government-backed, private sector-backed PPPs that did a great job. But we shouldn't have to rush in the middle of a crisis when there's a lot of other stuff going on to make sure that we have this infrastructure in place. So I think it's very important that we are strategic, and there are some great government reports on what PPPs are being recommended by different strategic teams government-wide, not just in biotech and medtech, but also in, you know, space tech, in materials research, in clean tech, in batteries. I mean, there are so many different places where public-private partnerships are accelerants and infrastructure, and that's incredibly important in times of crisis. But if we're serious about future preparedness, We need to make sure that these PPPs are active before the emergency. And that includes pathogen agnostic platform developments, government-backed biobanks, maybe MOUs that already have a certain amount of buy-in, surge manufacturing models, regulatory sandboxing. You know, there are all sorts of things that we could be doing now to make sure that we're better prepared for the next pandemic or whatever the next emergency might be. I mean, we're seeing right now, China cutting shipments on rare earth minerals. Well, there are space tech strategies around asteroid mining, for example, which is going to seem completely left field for the biotech listeners, but there are some pretty advanced technologies at play there that with the right PPPs in place could accelerate and ensure US competitiveness across sectors. And because we'd have access to these rare earth minerals and platinum groups. Group Minerals. But, you know, again, if we keep cutting the federal science budget in the US, we're going to be increasingly reliant on other countries' PPPs and infrastructure during the next global emergency. And that's not hypothetical, that's happening. And so I think we need to be really proactive in making sure that scientists are vocal, that they're engaging with media, that they're going on podcasts like this, that they're telling the world about their science, and that they're pitching and leading these PPPs themselves when necessary, and not just waiting for the federal government in the US to lead most of these initiatives. I think that there's been some great leadership from the Wellcome Trust, from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pfizer, Moderna, obviously during COVID many others. And I don't think it always needs to be government-led. Maybe there is an increasing space For a startup, large company, and nonprofit model that leaves out government when absolutely necessary.

Yeah. And I think when you, when you look at this, it's almost maybe even stepping back to kind of the pre-PPP moment where it all starts with relationships and building relationships and being intentional about doing that when you don't need something. And we've done several podcasts on that, like how to network, how to build relationships, how to meet people. But if you establish those relationships and you're touching base just a couple times a year, Then when something happens, you're well primed to put those together, even if you don't have one formally assembled. And I think it's also important, and one of the reasons I look outside of biotech sometimes and love talking to people outside biotech and going to events, like you never know, you mentioned space before, you don't know when the next pandemic could come from a space bug and you need to collaborate across discipline. And I know that sounds dorky, but it's possible. We've seen movies. But, you know, things like that are— it's because you said space, so it was in my head. But I think looking outside and building your network outside of your space is as important for long range, 'cause you never know, like, who would've thought that AI and biotech and healthcare were gonna intersect in the way they have, where it's sort of leading the AI charge? You know, people didn't think about that, but if you had a foot in both, you were on the forefront, which was a great way to look at things. And, you know, I hearken back to my, my days at the TV show Extra when I was the new media producer doing AOL on the internet. But like, those kinds of things we were able to pull in and leverage that for kind of AI and healthcare. It's just making sure you build those relationships and you maintain them in some way.

I love that. And have you seen those Venn diagrams that show, let's say you are a top expert in one field, right? But unless you have a secondary skill or industry knowledge, it's very difficult to be a true groundbreaker, right? Because you're not necessarily getting that lateral thinking. You're kind of solely within your discipline and almost like you have blinders on. And so I love that getting involved, even if it's as simple as if you are already in an academic environment, there are so many guest lectures, there are so many podcasts happening across the university ecosystem. It's really the perfect opportunity for researchers to be building connections across disciplines.

Yeah. And that's, I love that you say connection because I had a corporate coach I worked with coming outta COVID, Ashley Stahl, who you may be familiar with. She kind of like blew up on TEDx years ago and left her job in the federal government to go do a career. In consulting and, and teaching people how to evolve their careers and kind of do, A, what they're good at and what drives them. But in working with her, she's like, yeah, it's, it's not that you're an innovator, you're a creative, and creatives see patterns and put things together. And it's basically that Venn diagram. And I'll say, Dr. Elaine Hamm, who we've talked about before, Elaine, one of my very best friends and coworker, she's never met a Venn diagram or a Gantt chart she didn't love. And so I see all these things cuz she puts them in front of me.

I love it. I love it.

So, huge shout out to her and shout out to Ashley. She's amazing. I encourage everyone to not only read your books, but read her books as well. If you're looking for, what do I do in my career? She has a tremendous perspective on that. And I guess before we wind down today, I wanna give you the chance for the last word. What's the final piece of advice you wanna share with us about success in this public-private partnership realm? What's the key thing you think they can do to help, or things if you have more than one, to help set themselves up for success?

If you are a startup especially thinking about getting involved with a PPP, I think it's important to make sure that that relationship for you is not just about funding, right? That it's a strategic alignment, that it's a collaboration that's going to help you reach your goals. You're not just partnering with a government agency or an academic lab or an NGO. You're building connective tissue that might determine whether your science ever reaches patients, quite honestly. And so I would say choose carefully, just like with all of your partners in life, choose carefully. Be clear about goals. It's a great opportunity to define your goals, do some goal setting around your company if that's not something that you have started, and be the kind of company that public agencies want to work with— disciplined, data-driven, Mission-aligned, communicative, right? Really help them solve this massive problem that they're undertaking. You're helping with a corner of it and be the corner that's of the table that's held up well and you don't have to replace that leg every few years. There's definitely this mentality in PPPs from the government and nonprofit side sometimes that the startups are sort of in this revolving door situation where new ones are coming in and they're not quite hitting the mark. So be the kind of company that these agencies want to work with.

I love that you use the term connective tissue because I feel like in biotech and tech bio and, and so life science realm, people are almost viewing kind of ecosystem innovation as dated terms. And you're the second person I've heard say, you know, you want to build connective tissue, which is a really— I think, A, it's an on-industry trend, but B, it really fits. What people want to do, because it's organic, it grows, it can evolve. And that's a tremendous note to leave us on. And I love that that's what you left us with is connective tissue and be part of that and build it. And conduct that one so you guys can get some time together. And we're going to keep an eye on the high-touch group, encourage folks to get your book, to grab that. We're going to have that in the show notes. I know we talked about that a little bit on our last podcast as well. Maybe even we can convince you to come down and sit on a panel for Bio on the Bayou in October and come visit us in New Orleans. It's right before Halloween. It's a great time to come here. Lovely weather, great food, and it pulls together about 350 people in this space. It could be really cool. So You think I'm kidding, but I'm going to follow up.

I'm shooting an invite. We do, you know, I do run a conference. A lot of what my agency does is run scientific symposia. I run one in the middle of October. So, so long as they aren't same timeline.

Oh, perfect. So hopefully it works. That'd be great. We're going to work on that. And so, yeah, we're going to have all your information in there. Ian does a tremendous job, our producer. He's phenomenal. I'm so glad he set this up for us.

Thank you. Thank you.

Ian does a lot of work. He's our unsung hero. We pull him on mic more and more now. He's getting used to it. So he's always like ready with his button. But, you know, I want to encourage everyone to read your book. And again, it is The Giant's Ladder. Is that correct?

It is. It's available on Amazon. It's available wherever you buy your books. And if you are a founder or a student and you're bootstrapping and you just don't have enough money to buy it, please feel free to shoot an email to inquiries@elizabethschaub.com and somebody over there will shoot you a PDF of the book. And yeah, good luck to everybody out there who's investigating public-private partnerships.

Yeah. And I had my, my horrible joke before that I wasn't gonna do, but now I'm going to, cuz sometimes I throw songs in and Ian's like, oh God, what's he gonna do? I'm like, get down with PPPs. You heard it from E. There we go.

Boom.

We're out. I love it. Boy, he, he's so red right now. He's like, he's like, he does this once in a while, but you know what? Everyone's— people are gonna remember this episode. But no, I do think like it was phenomenal. You gave so much information. You're so generous with your time. I encourage everyone again, we just talked about your book, get your book, you know, look at what you guys are doing. And thanks. And we're going to, we're going to keep an eye on you, Elizabeth.

Awesome. Thanks so much for having me, James.

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