How I honed my biopharma dealmaking and business-development skills after my PhD

What does a chief business officer do, and how do you become one? Filippo Mulinacci describes his corporate career, the importance of on-the-job training and why he doesn’t miss the bench

Chief business officers wear many hats, says Filippo Mulinacci.Credit: Getty

Filippo Mulinacci joined Araris Biotech in 2022 as its chief business officer. In March, the oncology company, based in Zurich, Switzerland, was acquired by Taiho Pharma, based in Tokyo, as part of a deal worth up to US$1.14 billion.

Mulinacci’s corporate career started after he completed a master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Turin, Italy, in 2002. He then pursued a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, followed by a master’s in business administration (MBA) at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

He recounts his role in helping to broker the Araris Biotech–Taiho Pharma deal, his corporate career path so far and the skills he has picked up along the way.

Tell us about your corporate career path, and why you chose it.

My first job after graduating with my MSc was as a research associate at the biotechnology company Serono, based first in Ivrea, close to Turin, Italy, and later in Geneva. Going straight into a biotech company, rather than continuing my studies, was a great career move and learning opportunity. The role expanded my scientific knowledge, enabling me to diversify from my original academic discipline of chemistry.

After three years, I quit to pursue a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Geneva, turning my focus to proteins and protein formulation.

Immediately after that, I earned an MBA at the University of St. Gallen. I felt I lacked experience in the strategic and corporate side of the pharma industry. My class was a mixture of people with engineering and economics backgrounds; there were very few science graduates.

For me, the key takeaways were gaining an understanding of business strategy, marketing, frameworks and finance, including accounting, corporate finance and valuation.

After many years in the laboratory, Filippo Mulinacci pivoted to a role in the biopharmaceutical industry.Credit: Filippo Mulinacci

I joined Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, as a global business-development and licensing associate right after finishing my MBA in 2011. Licensing, in the context of the biopharma industry, is when one party acquires the rights to a product or technology, often from the inventor, to develop, manufacture or market that product or technology.

It was a great entry-level position: I scouted for new partnering opportunities to expand the pipeline, or the drug candidates that a company has under development. I enjoyed working across several fields of therapies, and I developed experience in two that I am truly passionate about: biologics and oncology (cancer has affected members of my family).

After two years, I started gaining experience on the transactions side, facilitating deals between big pharma and smaller companies. In this role, you need legal knowledge as well as soft skills, such as negotiation and networking, alongside your scientific knowledge. I learnt these skills on the job, thanks to extensive experience working with senior colleagues with mixed backgrounds, ranging from law to intellectual property (IP) to finance.

After five years, I wanted a role at a smaller company — on the other side of the table, in other words.

I joined Philogen in 2016 as its head of business development and licensing, based in Zurich.

That role enabled me to develop my deal-making skills in both the chemistry and the biologics fields, from the side of the licensor, or the ‘seller side’. Philogen is an ETH Zurich biotech spin-off firm with a proprietary chemistry platform — a technology that enables the discovery of new chemically synthesized drugs — and biologic products in the field of immuno-inflammation.

Good deal-makers possess both technical skills and industry knowledge and can put themselves in the shoes of the other negotiating parties. I learnt these skills on the job, and I also attended external courses, including one at the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What does a head of business development and licensing do?

A key part of the role involves scouting, search and evaluation, and networking: seeking out new products or assets, and evaluating their commercial and clinical potential.

Because Philogen was not focused on a single therapy area, platform or asset, this introduced complexities into the deal structure with regard to licensed rights, but also made the job more interesting.

Structuring a deal requires an evaluation of the current and future value of the asset or platform for licensing to a potential partner.

In 2018, I joined Basilea Pharma, a Roche spin-off company based in Basel, as its oncology business development and licensing manager. I spent four years there before joining Araris Biotech as its chief business officer (CBO).

What does a biotech CBO do?

You wear many hats. The first is to represent the company to the pharma industry. Most biotech firms developing new products need to attract external investors, and they also usually need big pharma support for phase III studies and to commercialize a new drug. In my role, I talk to potential partners and lead transactions with pharma companies. I address mainly the financial and legal aspects of the deals.

Also, most biotech companies have a data room. This is typically a virtual space for storing confidential data, and a CBO’s day-to-day activities include keeping all key financial and legal documentation held there updated, alongside presentations for investors and clinical and non-clinical data.

It is essential to maintain this type of documentation, especially when preparing to reach out to new investors. The role also entails general housekeeping of company documentation, so the firm can be ready to make a deal whenever an opportunity arises.

The CBO role also focuses on partnerships. The chief financial officer, by contrast, deals with investors, supporting the work of the chief executive.

But when needed, I do help out with, for example, due-diligence queries. In this context, that includes analysing IP and legal contracts or human-resources, tax or finance information related to a merger or acquisition.

Do you miss anything about a more laboratory-based role in science?

I don’t miss the bench work. I have learnt much more about applied science in the commercial field. Lab work is very focused on one project, whereas in licensing roles, you get a helicopter view of new technologies and therapies, and you can learn about the new frontiers of science.

What is your advice to early-career researchers seeking a licensing role?

A very common skill among the network of people I work with, whatever their background, is being able to put themselves in the shoes of the party they are negotiating with.