Episode 73

🧬 Doug Drysdale - Cybin - Part 2 | Deals Only Get Done in Person | Learning Financing Through a Company’s Hardship | Bureaucracy in the Workplace | How to Educate Yourself to Determine Good Licensing Deals

Part 2 of 4. My guest for this week’s episode is Doug Drysdale, CEO at Cybin. Cybin is a clinical-stage biopharma company on a mission to create safe and effective psychedelic-based therapeutics. Their goal is to address the large unmet need for new and innovative treatment options for people who suffer from mental health conditions. Doug is an experienced investor, Corporate Director, and CEO, who has chaired the Board of a NASDAQ-listed company and, as a CEO for the past 12 years, has built and turned around 3 pharma companies. During Doug’s 30+ years of experience in the healthcare sector, he has formed cohesive management teams, recruited board members, completed 16 corporate acquisitions across three continents, and raised and invested around $4 billion of public and private capital.

The Biotech Startups Podcast · Excedr

August 29, 202431m 29s

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Show Notes

Part 2 of 4.

My guest for this week’s episode is Doug Drysdale, CEO at Cybin. Cybin is a clinical-stage biopharma company on a mission to create safe and effective psychedelic-based therapeutics. Their goal is to address the large unmet need for new and innovative treatment options for people who suffer from mental health conditions. Doug is an experienced investor, Corporate Director, and CEO, who has chaired the Board of a NASDAQ-listed company and, as a CEO for the past 12 years, has built and turned around 3 pharma companies. During Doug’s 30+ years of experience in the healthcare sector, he has formed cohesive management teams, recruited board members, completed 16 corporate acquisitions across three continents, and raised and invested around $4 billion of public and private capital.

Before Cybin, Doug was Commercial Products Manager at DuPont Merck, Director of BD at Elan, VP of M&A at Actavis Group, CEO of Norwich Pharmaceuticals and Alvogen, CEO of Pernix Therapeutics, and CEO of Tedor Pharma. Doug’s extensive background as a seasoned executive, investor, and turn-around specialist gives him a wide range of experiences that founders can learn from.

Join us this week and hear about:

Doug’s experience in business development
His move from crunching numbers to leading deals
The challenges of global BD strategies
Doug’s move from the UK to San Diego
His intricacies of licensing and acquisitions in the pharma industry, and his experiences with Elan, Alpharma, and Actavis

Please enjoy my conversation with Doug Drysdale.

Timestamps:

00:28 Intro

01:48 Episode starts, Doug defines business development and how a scientist can break into BD

04:21 Global vs. Regional BD, Immersing in travels 3 months at a time, Moving to the US

08:09 Memorable deals at Elan, getting a crash course in financing while going through a layoff period

14:34 Determining when to move on from Elan and start Alkensa

18:33 Next journey after Alkensa to Forest Laboratories, Doug's first experience of bureaucracy in the workplace

22:31 Moving from big pharma to generics at Alpharma, becoming head of M&A

27:28 Doug's advice on identifying what you want to license and what makes for a good licensing deal, fundraising types at Alpharma

29:15 Sell side vs. acquisition side

30:23 Outro

Find Our Guest, Doug Drysdale, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougdrysdale/

https://cybin.com/

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

https://www.excedr.com

Social & Website

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Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Enriched Notes:

Topics Mentioned:

How to Fund an R&D Startup: First Steps a Founder Can Take https://www.excedr.com/resources/rd-startup-funding-first-steps

Biotech Funding for Startups: What Are Your Options? https://www.excedr.com/resources/biotech-startup-funding-options

Finance https://www.excedr.com/category/finance

Equipment Leasing vs. Financing: What's the Difference? https://www.excedr.com/blog/equipment-leasing-vs-financing

Top VC Firms for Biotech in 2024: Supporting Innovation & Growth https://www.excedr.com/blog/top-vc-firms-for-biotech

How VC-Backed Startups Win When They Lease https://www.excedr.com/blog/how-vc-backed-startups-win-when-they-lease

VC Term Sheets: Definition, Key Components & More https://www.excedr.com/resources/venture-capital-term-sheets

What Is Series A, B, & C Funding? Series Funding Explained https://www.excedr.com/resources/series-funding-explained

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

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