Insights from the Consilium Strategic Communciations 2019 Healthcare Conference
Shaun Grady, Senior Vice-President Business Development Operations at AstraZeneca, gave delegates a frank and insightful look at life in the top echelons of pharma management at the Consilium Strategic Communications 7th Annual Healthcare Conference.
A key highlight of Consilium’s annual conference on November 19th was listening to the thoughts and reflections of Shaun Grady, who has served under seven CEOs during his time at AstraZeneca and its precursors. As Senior Vice-President Business Development Operations at AstraZeneca, he has had a busy time in recent years. 2012 saw AstraZeneca facing the biggest patent cliff in the history of the healthcare industry, with the prospect of losing half of its $29 billion annual revenues within a five-year timeframe.
Seven years, 169 alliances and 66 divestments later, AstraZeneca has completely transformed itself. “What we’ve achieved under Pascal has been outstanding,” Shaun told delegates. The reasons are many and varied and depend on who you ask, but from his perspective there are four key factors.
The first was capital allocation. At the start of Pascal’s tenure, the Company suspended its share buyback programme. Instead, the money was spent on R&D, sending a strong signal to shareholders that investment priorities were changing. Next, AstraZeneca developed a new strategy of “being a truly science led company”. The Company then began “focusing with discipline on where we could win: oncology, respiratory and cardiovascular, renal, metabolism,” Shaun explained. Finally, AstraZeneca embarked on a culture change. “We developed an open, collaborative, truth-seeking culture where science could thrive.” This led to key changes in the management team and the appointment of “extraordinary scientists that reported directly to Pascal”.
AstraZeneca also made the “fearless” decision to relocate its operations to science hotspots “where we could be part of the innovation ecosystem”; business development activities were reorganised and people “fluent in science” were inserted into the teams.
A central “transaction execution” team was created, which Shaun heads up. “At the time, I was in charge of search, evaluation and transaction execution, and I was disappointed with that change.” However, “it was an inspired decision.”
Shaun repeatedly flagged the importance of commercialisation in a sustainable healthcare system, which meant a reference to emerging markets “and particularly China” was vital. In 2018, emerging markets accounted for 33% of AstraZeneca’s product sales. AstraZeneca is the second largest multinational company in China with an ambitious growth rate trajectory and a goal to be number one. “It’s our largest market after the US, and the China team have ambitions to catch up and overtake the US.” The company has 17,000 employees in China, compared with around 6,000 in the UK and a similar amount in Sweden – meaning AstraZeneca is now a truly global pharma company.
