Audrey Greenberg: Out to Change the World, From Housing to Healthcare

Audrey Greenberg’s profession has been outlined by being in the correct place on the proper time—and generally, the fallacious place on the fallacious time.

After bucking the household pattern of practising medication, Greenberg pursued a profession in enterprise and was engaged on Wall Avenue on September 11, 2001. “I watched the towers fall, and I assumed, what do I wish to do that really makes an affect on society, as a substitute of simply transferring different individuals’s cash round?”

A chance arose to start out an actual property enterprise targeted on tax credit score housing, an incentive given to builders who comply with hire a sure portion of the ensuing constructing to low-income people. This particular enterprise targeted on growing battered girls’s shelters and senior housing in impoverished areas.

“Whenever you watch a constructing come down, after which you may have the chance to observe one thing go up—theoretically, not as an alternative however taking over a skyline that not solely gives housing, however companies to individuals in want—that actually hit me,” Greenberg informed BioSpace in an interview.

From there, she went on to bigger actual property ventures earlier than assembly her husband and transferring across the nation till they lastly landed in Philadelphia, with two children in tow and one other on the way in which. Greenberg spent this time serving as an interim government at totally different corporations, the place she met somebody who was engaged on shopping for one in all GSK’s outdated buildings in King of Prussia. “It was this large, ugly, empty pharma constructing,” she remembers.

On the identical time, her daughter was identified with cholesteatoma, a slow-growing, non-cancerous tumor that happens within the ear. Greenberg was formally pulled into the household vocation of healthcare.

Constructing an Ecosystem

She knew concerning the well-known scientists of the College of Pennsylvania—Carl June, Jim Wilson and Drew Weissman—who had been “primarily inventing cures,” Greenberg stated. However they’d a giant downside: they might not get them to sufferers outdoors of their quick orbit.

So Greenberg and her associates created a biomanufacturing hub for cell and gene remedy that mixed capital sources for small corporations with manufacturing, innovator corporations and Massive Pharma, multi function place. The contract improvement and manufacturing enterprise, referred to as the Middle for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), provided plasmid DNA, viral vectors and cell processing, testing and analytical companies. It was situated close to UPenn in Philly’s Cellicon Valley and only a quick drive to a global airport, the place therapies could possibly be shipped around the globe.

“It was proper place, proper time for the {industry}, for the financial system and for Philadelphia and cell and gene remedy,” Greenberg stated. “We created one thing that didn’t beforehand exist.”

What was imagined to be a hub for Philadelphia rapidly grew to incorporate worldwide shoppers. “It ended up being an ecosystem for the overall sub-industry inside cell and gene remedy,” Greenberg stated.

All of the whereas, Greenberg bought her first style of firm formation in biotech. She realized about firm development, industrial excellence and working in a decent market. Whereas she didn’t have earlier biopharma expertise, she says her most essential contribution was hiring the correct specialists who did.

“I made positive that we had a concierge degree service that actually met the market the place it wanted to be,” Greenberg stated.

She knew she would promote CBM sometime from the primary capital increase. She went on to supervise capital raises exceeding $500 million earlier than the correct alternative arrived. In September 2023, the middle was bought to SK Pharmteco, a California subsidiary of South Korean funding group SK Group, for an undisclosed quantity.

“Lots of people come to me for recommendation, and I all the time say, begin with the tip in thoughts,” Greenberg stated. “What do you wish to be whenever you develop up, and the way? What are the strikes you’re going to take to get there?”

After promoting CBM, Greenberg stayed on for one yr to facilitate the transition. Afterward, she thought arduous about her subsequent journey. She acquired no less than a dozen gives from biotechs to turn into CEO however she needed to do one thing with a good larger affect. Then across the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Convention in 2024, the Mayo Clinic approached her with a chance to turn into associate at a brand new enterprise arm the famed hospital was beginning up. It was a straightforward selection.

“There was a chance to take part in all elements of an innovation ecosystem that all the time places the affected person on the high of the meals chain,” Greenberg stated. She formally joined two months in the past.

‘Dream Massive’

The method of promoting CBM was, in fact, not linear. It left Greenberg with loads of classes realized and recommendation to cross on. She stated they’d 400 variations of their PowerPoint presentation and delivered as many as 200 pitches over the course of the corporate’s existence. The COVID-19 pandemic additionally bought in the way in which, throwing these key conferences onto Zoom and forcing the staff to study a brand new option to do enterprise.

One factor Greenberg realized is that the little particulars matter. Taking the time to study concerning the investor’s private life and discover widespread floor repay in the long term, she stated.

“Individuals put money into individuals they really feel comfy with. You possibly can have the story and have the pitch . . . but it surely’s additionally concerning the chemistry that you’ve got with that particular person. Can they belief you? Are you want them ultimately? Why are you higher than the subsequent particular person?”

She additionally suggests having an excellent rapport along with your staff, particularly if one thing goes fallacious. “When you’ve got a glitch in know-how, and then you definately freak out and begin screaming at somebody—which I might by no means do anyway, however I’ve seen this occur in different corporations when somebody’s pitching to me—if the 2 founders don’t get alongside, there’s no method.”

On this brutal biotech market, Greenberg stated it pays to mitigate expectations and perceive that buyers are calculating danger and valuations far more conservatively than they’ve previously. Firm executives needs to be very aware of how a lot they increase and at what valuation, she added.

Nonetheless, that shouldn’t cease you from taking pictures for the celebrities, Greenberg stated. “Dream large, since you’re solely going to attain what you got down to obtain. And so should you can have very lofty objectives, usually you’ll obtain them.”