121 - Bench Scientist to Commercial Leader, Amgen in the early days, Challenges in Commercialization, Working in Startups vs. Large Companies, and Silos with Sayed Badrawi

Combinate Podcast - Combining Drugs and Devices

On this episode, I was joined by Sayed Badrawi, Pharma/MedTech Investor and Board Member.

Sayed walks through starting at Amgen as a bench scientist and transitioning to the commercial side of the Pharma industry. Sayed provides advice for people considering their career paths and emphasizes the importance of gaining expertise in a particular area before making significant career changes.

He also highlights some of the challenges and opportunities in the Pharma industry, including the impacts of silos, the complexities of commercialization, and the importance of having a deep understanding of the industry for successful product development and market launch.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation

00:53 Guest's Journey in Medical Device and Pharma Industry

03:10 Transition from Bench Scientist to Business Side

08:31 Commercialization Challenges in Pharmaceutical Industry

13:37 Successes and Failures in the Industry

26:41 Career Advice for Aspiring Professionals: Large vs. Small Companies

32:44 Conclusion

Sayed Badrawi has several decades of business, marketing, and scientific experience in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He was most recently the CEO of PDS Life Sciences, a global provider of software and services used in preclinical research at top-ten pharma companies. He currently serves on the Board of ISI Life Sciences, a startup focused on diagnostics and therapeutics for use in oncology. He is also providing strategy consulting for several early stage start-ups. Previously, he was the Director and Head of new product commercialization at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America, one of the largest pharma companies headquartered in Japan.

Other experiences include senior pharma marketing positions at Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly. Sayed started his career at Amgen as a research associate and was part of the team to first clone and express erythropoietin, one of the first biotech blockbusters. Sayed has an AB degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.