Case #2 - Building a Central Nervous System Capability

Situation — The client company had 4 high-potential central nervous system drugs in its pipeline, but it lacked qualified people to design and run the necessary clinical trials. Existing resources were dispersed in Europe and the U.S.

What We Did — Blair & Company was retained to conduct international searches to build a CNS department with specialists in neurology, pain management, psychiatry and obesity. The searches involved:

• Conducting informal phone surveys with academic opinion leaders in each specialty, to understand key issues that the candidates would address.
• Conducting research on the Internet and Medline, to identify MD's conducting clinical trials in each specific indication area in both industry and academic settings.
• Identifying through Medline physicians who might be working on a relevant indication - e.g., conducting pain studies for drugs marketed for other indications, such as a Cox-2 inhibitor marketed for rheumatoid arthritis.
• Identifying candidate sources within professional societies and organizations for each specialty.
• Developing a targeted personalized mailing campaign for each specialty (source letters to opinion leaders and letters to prospective candidates).
• Establishing a dedicated international team: physician consultant, sourcing specialist, candidate development specialists - one in Europe (UK) and one group in the US.
• Making site visits to facilities in the US and Europe, to understand cultural issues.
• Clearly identifying the personal, professional and leadership characteristics that successful candidates would need to work in a multi-functional global CNS team.
• Developing a series of questions for academics to determine the extent of clinical trial experience and to answer their concerns about transferring into industry.
• Setting up candidate interviews in conjunction with meetings of professional societies - a convenient venue for busy professionals.

Results — Beginning with the initial 4 searches, a total of 13 placements were made over a period of 6 years.

• One recruit was instrumental in the development, approval and life-cycle management of 3 prominent CNS products.
• A world-class expert on psychiatry was recruited from academia and made a very successful transition to industry.
• Seven of the 13 received promotions.
• When asked on the record about his most important work-related accomplishment, the head of the CNS group responded, "Hiring, developing and retaining the physicians who currently work in the CNS and pain groups."
• Two of the worldwide product development efforts led by executives recruited by Blair became billion dollar blockbuster drugs.