Richard Ingraham's Page

Richard:
Check out this site and Linked In for "biopharma" groups. You may find some who will give you the background you need.

Martha

Richard:

We should talk by phone. Can you invest some $$ in training (deductable, I think) for career change? If so, there is a group in Boston that can give you the basics of CI, as well as a book from the SCIP web site (www.scip.org) called "Starting a CI Unit" which goes over everything from "What is CI?" to how you can do the job...

Then, of course, there are your former colleagues...

Time is my problem- I am really fully committed between now and January- and you hopefully will be launched before then.

What I suggest is that when talking to smaller companies, you offer yourself as a technical expert knowledgeable in "assement of the external environment in the context of internal issues." That's the jargon term for what we do..

You have been doing that from a specific product/IP focus, but in your case, the competitive environment has been limited to the technology you are studying. As a CTI analyst, you need to consider the braoder competitive arena, including virtually any treatment or product that could affect your company's ability to a) recruit patients for clinical trials and b) interest MDs in the putative target product profile. [As an example, while the company might be developing a "shrink prostate" treament for BPH, there are always new and improved surgeries to watch for...

Then, it is a question of integrating yourself into the organization, understanding how to complement (but not compete with or threaten) .colleagues in Pipeline Marketing, Market Research and R&D (esp project teams) In those cases, your job is to keep abreast of the competitive environment, track relevant products and technology and, when relevant, uncover company strategies that might present threats to your own. The "company strategy" bit can draw on the same data as the product focus but the presentation is different [ ie "How many different approaches is this company taking in this product area? How serious are they? Franchises to protect? Experts to hire, etc? Seeking licensing opportunities?, etc].

This is a bit of a brain dump, but I think you get the idea. You ARE an analyst at heart. You just need to understand the frameworks (and jargon) that would allow you to fill the CTI role...

Martha

Richard:

How is the job hunt going? Do yo need a recommendation??

Martha

Hi Richard - any friend of Martha's is a friend of mine ;-) welcome to the group!

- Arik