Rob Wright
Rob Wright was chief editor of Life Science Leader magazine from 2011-2021. Prior to joining the publication, he spent nearly 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. During his industry career, Wright conducted well over 1,000 presentations and roundtable discussions, including the facilitation of FDA-mandated clinical training programs for hundreds of licensed healthcare providers. He has chaired, moderated, and served as a speaker at industry and academic conferences, and served as co-chair for the 2015 and 2018 BIO International conference’s educational planning committee. Wright’s 500+ published articles have appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals, B2B magazines and online publications. He received a B.S. in Business Administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, MBA with distinction from Gannon University, and completed his doctoral coursework in marketing at Cleveland State University. He is a member of international business honor societies Sigma Beta Delta and Beta Gamma Sigma. He can be followed on Twitter @RfwrightLSL
ARTICLES BY ROB WRIGHT
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What Will Be The End Result Of Bullying Biopharma?3/1/2016
If as adults we could invisibly walk on school playgrounds during recess, we might hear the stock response recited when encountering a bully — ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
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Does Adversity Build Character Or Reveal It?6/12/2015
Denice Torres is the president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson company, and winner of HBA’s 2015 WOTY award. Listening to her acceptance speech reminded me of legendary pro football coach Vince Lombardi’s philosophy — “Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”
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What Biopharma Trends Should Pharma Execs Be Paying Attention To?6/11/2015
Peter Young, a 35-year biopharmaceutical industry veteran, presented at the 2015 BIO International, and his valuable session includes some key industry trends biopharmaceutical executives should be paying a close attention to.
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What Areas Are Often Overlooked By Academics Turned Biotech Entrepreneurs?6/8/2015
Peter Young, a 35-year biopharmaceutical industry veteran has seen his share of missteps by academics aspiring to become entrepreneurs and has some advice on partnering with VCs.
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What Is the Role VCs Play In Partnering With Small Biotech?5/29/2015
When Peter Young began planning his session proposal for this year’s BIO International Conference, he wanted to create a session worthy of your time. His session may be fascinating, but the young, a 35-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry, took some time to provide additional industry insights — ones you are not likely to gather by only attending his session.
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What Can You Learn From The Educational Planning Process Of BIO?10/3/2014
In my role as the 2015 co-chair of the BIO International’s educational planning committee, I am privy to what goes into creating one of our industry’s largest annual events. As many of you are involved in organizing your own customer educational programs (e.g., The Emerson Exchange) or have been asked to serve on an event planning committee, I thought a behind the scenes look into how BIO goes about the process would be helpful to your efforts. Here are some of the best business practices I have witnessed thus far.
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The 7 Habits Of The Highly Effective Pharma And Biopharma Manufacturing Executive9/24/2014
While all The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People listed by Stephen Covey remain relevant and timeless, the one which resonates with me most is the seventh — sharpen the saw. In the life sciences industry, Covey’s concept of continuous improvement is more than just a habit, but a way of life. This is especially true for those who work in pharma and biopharma manufacturing — striving to maintain high quality, be on time with delivery, increase productivity (often with fewer resources) and so on. If you work in manufacturing, you are probably tempted to stop reading and get back to work. Though pharma and biopharma manufacturing executives most certainly work long and hard hours, I am sure the manufacturing executives I know would rank working smarter above working harder as a best business practice. Working smarter requires making the time to sharpen your saw. As we are just seven weeks away from a very unique saw sharpening continuous improvement conference for the pharma and biopharma manufacturing executive (Outsourced Pharma West), I thought it a good time to put together a list of the seven habits of the highly effective pharma and biomanufacturing executive — so you can sharpen your saw.
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Don’t Let Big Data Analytics Prevent You From Being Brilliant At The Basics7/1/2014
Most of those in our industry are only viewing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to looking at how to use Big Data — ignoring the massive amounts residing below the water’s surface. When I think of the potential Big Data presents for the field of life sciences, it reminds me of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”
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Drug Development – You Get What You Incentivize For5/30/2014
Allowing the application of a “one-size- fits-all” intellectual property policy that affords the same protection for Frisbees as lifesaving and sustaining medicines would be, quite frankly, moronic and short-sighted. It would also be a disincentive for companies to develop R&D-intensive drugs because the longer it takes to develop, the shorter patent life you have. The converse is also true — less costly drugs brought to market more quickly get longer patents.
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Astrazeneca’s Biologics Veteran: Applying A Risk-Based Approach To Plan For Capacity4/29/2014
Imagine you are seated at a table preparing to discuss the manufacturing of biologics. The person across from you possesses nearly 40 years’ worth of wisdom on the topic. You, on the other hand, have zero experience in this field. Kind of like a rookie stepping into the batter’s box against Nolan Ryan and understanding that if a 95 mph baseball is coming at his head he has less than .4 seconds to get out of the way.