Gertjan Bartlema, Co-founder Populus Bio and CEO of Immodulon Therapeutics. on Innovation in Biotechs

A Dose of Reality with Charles Spence

In this episode, I spoke with Gertjan Bartlema, the co-founder Populus Bio and CEO of Immodulon Therapeutics. Over 20 years in big pharma at Celgene/Amgen and then moved into the fast pace world of biotech. From here, he has been challenging the status quo and asking the question “Is our current drug development approaches sustainable?”. Gertjan highlights the need for better clinical trial designs and the importance of making objective decisions based on data. He also offers valuable insights for aspiring executives on leadership and team dynamics.

Here's what you're in:

• How many drugs fail end-points due to Bad Leadership?
• Why does Gertjan believe sequential and traditional drug Development can kill innovation within Drug Development?.
• What advice does Gertjan give to those wanting to become a CEO?

Timestamps:

02:53 The Abraxane Course Correction

06:03 Gertjan’s Journey into Life Sciences

10:40 Leaving Celgene and New Ventures

15:50 Bayesian Statistics in Clinical Studies

19:27 Mistakes Companies Are Still Making Today

25:38 The Ambitious People

35:46 Advice for Aspiring Executives

About Gertjan

Gertjan Bartlemais co-founder of Populus Bio and current CEO of Immodulon Therapeutics which is running cancer trials focusing on a broad spectrum immunomodulator. He is a global biotech executive with extensive experience in EU and US operational roles and he is a member of founding Celgene EMEA management establishing EU footprint and launching Revlimid. Prior to joining Immodulon, he was the Chief Business Officer of Vico Therapeutics, and spent 12 years with Celgene, where he led the trial of Revlimid. Gertjan holds MSc in Economics from Maastricht University.

Connect with Gertjan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gertjan-bartlema/

Populus Bio: https://populusbio.com/

Immodulon Therapeutics: https://www.immodulon.com/

About me

My name is Charles Spence and I lead Discera. After many years working in the life-science recruitment world, I decided to work for myself. Before doing recruitment I graduated with a biomedical degree, have worked in hospitals (including translation work in Seoul, South Korea), and also spent a year working in diabetes research in Stockholm. After doing research and travel, a career in business and science felt the most appropriate.

In 2023, I decided to launch his firm - Discera Search. A firm committed to solving the biggest talent needs of early clinical stage SME biotechs on the East Coast and DACH.

Connect with me:

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-spence-clinical/

Website: https://www.discera-search.com/

Opinions and comments expressed by the guest do not represent the company and are fully their own.