Latest / The BioHub - by Avetix / Episode 77 - Baruch Harris - COO of Pretzel Therapeutics

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Episode 77 - Baruch Harris - COO of Pretzel Therapeutics · The BioHub - by Avetix

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So welcome back to the episode of the Bio Hub.
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Today we're excited to be to be joined by Barrick Harris, a
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seasoned biotech leader and entrepreneur whose career has
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spanned science, strategy and company building.
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Barrick is the Chief Operating Officer at Pretzel Therapeutics,
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a cutting edge biotechnology company pioneering therapies to
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reprogram mitochondrial biology to treat serious diseases.
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Barrick's held leadership roles at their own therapeutics and
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like Biosciences and Matera Pharmaceuticals, and he's helped
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guide numerous biotechs from concepts to execution.
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So join us today as Barack talks us through his journey wearing
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wearing multiple hats in an early stage biotech and pretzel
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therapeutics operating as a transatlantic company.
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So Barack, thanks so much for coming on.
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How are you I'm. Good.
0:54
Thanks, Tom. Thanks for having me.
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So it's a pleasure to be here and appreciate the opportunity.
1:00
Yeah, it's a pleasure to to have you on as well.
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So look, let's start off with a little bit about you then.
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So can you talk us through your journey and what inspired you to
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pursue a career in biotech? Yeah, of course.
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So I trained as a scientist. I did my PhD at UCSF on the
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beautiful San Francisco Bay Area.
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It's pretty hardcore. Structural and molecular biology
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for many years published papers and and all the rest of it.
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I would say that I always had an interest in the business side
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and the people side. I was out in the Bay Area this
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it was a real epicenter of biotech, tech entrepreneurship
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in general all around. So the spirit is very effective
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and I got involved with entrepreneurial activities in
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life sciences and biotech even while I was still pursuing my
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PhD. And coming out of there, I was
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lucky enough to get an offer to join McKinsey and Company in
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their Palo Alto office. And I which I call my post doc
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in business for those that know in that in an academic sense,
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McKinsey or or BCG or Bain or any of the other top tiers, I
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think really provide great training and they're willing to
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hire people right out of grad school.
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Post doc medicine, you know almost nothing about business
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and you'll, you'll work your ass off.
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But after two or three years, you're more than ready to
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transition into a business role and you really do get amazing
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training. I, I did healthcare work
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broadly, not just in biotech and pharma, but I did some hospital
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work down in Texas, health system reform in the UK, and a
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lot of biotech, pharma and private equity work in US,
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Europe and, and East Asia. So from there I went to Novartis
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and then I sort of boomeranged. I went to Basel, Switzerland and
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lived there for a couple of years and then came back to
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Boston, also with Novartis. Very, very interesting to get
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that big pharma experience, but ultimately decided the small
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company life was much better fit for me.
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And since then, my career has been sort of a unplanned
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rotation, if you will, through pretty much every biotech line
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function other than researching clinical.
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So I find myself where I am today, Chief Operating Officer
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of Pretzel Therapeutics and I joined Pretzel right at the very
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beginning as one of the first handful of team members.
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Very good. And just to go into pretzel a
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little bit more, so you guys are focused on identifying novel
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disease targets associated with dysregulated cellular bio
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energetics. Can you talk us through the LEAD
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program and where you think the rare disease space is currently?
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Yeah, absolutely. So Pretzel, we think of
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ourselves as an energetics company, just as you said.
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And all of our science is based on control of mitochondrial
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biology and more specifically around regulation of
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mitochondrial DNA. The you know, we're, we're,
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we're trying to obviously develop life changing medicines
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as everyone is. We have a broad pipeline.
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All of our stuff is first in class.
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So all of our programs are against completely novel targets
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with very deep biological validation.
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And so we think of ourselves trying to harness cellular
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energetics to modulate different disease processes, you know,
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improving survival function, quality of life.
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And our lead program is PX578. That's a, that's the most
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exciting name we've come up with for it.
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But it's a lead development program.
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It's in phase one right now that is in our bioenergetics
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restoration franchise as we call it.
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It's a first in class approach. It targets the mitochondrial DNA
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polymerase. So as you may know, mitochondria
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have their own special DNA polymerase.
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All it does is replicate mitochondrial DNA, which is
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essential for for energy and life, and that is for
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mitochondrial DNA depletion syndromes and conditions of
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aging. It's a small molecule and the
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way it works is it binds to and activates the polymerase,
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improves the function of the polymerase and it's currently in
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phase one clinical development. So that represents a potential
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breakthrough for patients with mitochondrial DNA depletion
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syndromes, which is a group of severe and often fatal diseases.
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There's no disease modifying treatments.
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And you know, there's a very high unmet, very high unmet need
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in that space. I I should mention that and
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because the loss of mitochondrial DNA and
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accumulation of mitochondrial DNA deletions over time
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influence the severity of other disorders, there are a lot of
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potential applications beyond rare genetic diseases for this
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molecule. So beyond the rare genetic
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diseases for which there's a huge unmet need and we see a
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significant opportunity, there are neurodegenerative diseases
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such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
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And then we also see deficiencies in mitochondrial
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DNA and other conditions of aging such as sarcopenia.
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Those are obviously longer term higher risk opportunities.
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So just to sum it up, there's a significant near term
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opportunity in severe rare diseases with a high unmet need
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and no disease modifying treatments.
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And then we see potential upside in several more common
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conditions that we typically associate with aging,
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neurodegeneration, etcetera. Very good.
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And so Pretzel currently operate as a transatlantic company.
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So you have presence in Sweden and the US.
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Can you talk us through how the team manages global operations?
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What strategies have been affected in ensuring alignment
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across the US and Europe and as well as culture as well?
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Absolutely. I, I should, I should start by
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perhaps answering the question of why Sweden?
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Sweden's a lovely place to go, but why are we there?
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We have, we're headquartered in Boston, but we have an
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outstanding team of lab scientists in Gothenburg in
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Sweden. Actually, all of our wet labs
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are in Sweden. We we started in Sweden because
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our scientific founders were there.
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And I think that you'll see something there, which perhaps
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you'll see in some other other European countries where the
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science is incredibly strong, but the biotech ecosystem is
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perhaps not as well developed. And so we have three of our four
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scientific founders are based in Sweden and they're just
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fantastic. I mean, they're the most amazing
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partners scientifically that a biotech company could hope to
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have. And so we established our wet
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labs close to a couple of them. Gothenburg is a really wonderful
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city. I don't know, I don't know if
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you've been, but it's, it's really quite a, quite a lovely
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place to visit and work. So, so, OK, So what do, what do
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we do and how do we manage this? Right?
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Obviously there are challenges in having half of your team on
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one side of the Atlantic and half of your team on the other
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side of the Atlantic. You know, the time zone, the
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distance, and as you mentioned, the culture.
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So we try to build a unified company culture through regular,
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all company communications, shared mission.
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We, you know, frankly visit each other a lot, right?
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So this, I think there's no way to do this well without a lot of
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travel. You just have to, that's just
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part of the deal. The key people, the key pretzel
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people involved in managing the Swedish team have to be there at
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least once 1/4 and we try to manage it.
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So there's someone from the research side or the business
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side going over at least once a month.
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We bring them over here too. And I, I just personally believe
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there's no, there's really new substitute for that in person
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contact. I think thinking over the last
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few years and the different ways that we've worked over the last
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few years for building relationships and, and also, and
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this is just my personal view for real communication, I think
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you really have to spend some time together in person.
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So we do that and you know, you have to spend time on planes,
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but there's a, there's a lot of benefit and you know, we have an
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operations person over there supporting the scientists.
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We have really good vendor relationships for local
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knowledge and things that work differently in areas like
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finance, law, HR, local regulations.
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And you know, just respecting that, trying to get smart about
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it and having having some good insiders on the ground that can
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help you navigate the local environment and do business
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there. Yeah, I'm sure.
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I think AZ or in have have a presence in Sweden as well and
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then. They're they're our neighbors,
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actually. Right.
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Yeah. I was speaking to someone as
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well, I think a Dutch company that I know, they've got
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operations there and all of their research is done in the
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Netherlands and it saves them like 50% on salaries and
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everything like that, which I'm sure probably comes into it for
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you guys as well. Yeah, I mean the, the, the
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direct costs, I, I agree the direct costs are lower,
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especially when you compare them to Cambridge, MA.
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There are other costs as as we just discussed in terms of
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managing it and making sure that everything works well.
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So I don't know that I would do it or that we do do it for a,
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for a cost basis because you have to ask, OK, well at the end
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of the day is that is saving that money going to be worth it?
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I think we do it for quality and, and like I said, we have an
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amazing team. I know a lot of people say that,
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but we have an incredibly productive team of scientists
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over there, very supportive and involved scientific founders and
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we couldn't have gotten to where we are today without them.
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So that's that's why, that's why we do it.
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Although yes you're right the there there is a there is a cost
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element as well. Awesome and early stage biotech
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companies can be a challenge through limited funding, high
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scientific risk, and the constant push to show progress
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quickly. From your experience, what are
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the biggest challenges in navigating this phase and how do
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you foster a culture that can not only withstand that
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pressure, but actually go on and and thrive in it?
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Yeah, excellent question. And you've, you've hit on the
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major challenges of our industry.
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I think, you know, the biggest challenges in early stage
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biotech, scientific uncertainty, access to capital, right?
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You know, we're, we're constantly burning money.
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Most, most biotech companies lose money, some for their
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entire lives, limited staff, limited resources.
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And so we work to overcome these challenges by creating an
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environment that's where the culture and the people are
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allowed to be agile, regular communication and then staying
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focused on the most important goals and milestones and and
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reviewing that and challenging each other culturally.
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I think it's critical for people to be real with each other.
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Biotech is, as you say, so high risk and there's so many things
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that can go wrong even if you do everything right.
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You just don't have time for BS or for breathing your own
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exhaust. That Abby Selnicker at Third
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Rock has a great, has this great phrase that I like respectful
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challenge, which I interpret as look, I respect you as a person
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and professionally and I'm not going to try to undermine you.
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But if something doesn't make sense or I think you're wrong,
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I'm going to call that out. And we're going to have a
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conversation about that at the leadership level because we have
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to. Otherwise we could we could make
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fatal mistakes. And then on the more on the
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business and financial side and the business practice side, I
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think it's critical to stay agile in biotech and be prepared
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to pivot at any time. So what do I mean by that?
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Practically, it means keep your fixed costs low.
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In other words, things like your the FT ES, like the size of your
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team, the size of your full Time Team, your real estate
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footprint, anything else that you can't easily get out of.
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So try to put yourself in a position where you can, if you
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have to radically change your cost structure and your
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orientation. So this is the famous pivot,
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right? So there's so and you know,
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there, our ecosystem has evolved where there are so many amazing
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vendors, whether it's CR, OS or others to help with almost any
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aspect of the biotech business at this point.
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You can find outsourced ways to do it, fractional team members,
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consultants, a lot of really excellent folks out there.
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And these folks may be more expensive on a per hour basis,
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but what you gain is the ability to make a 90° turn on short
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notice. And for a biotech company, that
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can be the difference between life and death.
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Very good. And as chief operating officer
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in an early stage biotech, you're often juggling multiple
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different responsibilities. So day-to-day operations,
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managing teams, fundraising, strategic partnerships.
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How do you navigate the complexity of these different
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types of roles and what strategies do you use to ensure
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or you're effectively driving both short term progress and
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long term growth for the company?
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Yeah, great question. And that's the challenge, right?
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I mean, you run into the limitations of of the human
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brain. I mean, no matter how smart you
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may think you are and how many, how great a multitasker you may
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think you are, it's, it's really challenging to make sure you get
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the small stuff right, but also keep a strategic view.
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And then execution, in my personal view, execution is the
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hardest thing out of all of this.
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I mean, look, if you're the first person on the ground, on
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the ground in a, in a biotech company or in a function, it's
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probably going to be like drinking from a fire hose.
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There's just so much to do. I, I don't know if there's any
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way around that in the very beginning, but you have to
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somehow try to carve out that 20% mindshare to think about the
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longer term and try to anticipate things before they
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become serious problems and before it's too late.
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So I mean, I truly believe the best way to avoid fire drills
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later is to plan ahead now and then as, as you're able to grow,
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I think the best way to carve out that mindshare consistently
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is to build a good team, right? And, and this can be full timers
14:43
if your company has room for that, or consultants or even
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vendors. I mean, the point is to get
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people on your team, broadly defined, that you really trust,
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you can really trust and, and then discipline yourself to
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delegate things to them. And, and that can be really
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hard. I mean, it, it, it has been on
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occasion really hard for me. It's, it's, it's really hard for
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the people to truly, even though you can do something yourself,
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to force yourself to give that responsibility to somebody else
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and trust them to do it right. When you have a good team and
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you sleep easy knowing that they're doing a great job with
15:15
say, accounts payable or contracting, then you can free
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up section of your mind to think about that long term stuff,
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right? Have stakeholder conversations,
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you know, with your board, your investors, your key advisors.
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Continue to educate yourself about the industry, about the
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business and financial world in general, about the macro.
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So I think those, those things are, are critical and really
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help a lot. I mean, just just maybe, maybe a
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last thing to, to finish on this one.
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I, I, I personally hate constant firefighting.
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And, you know, I've worked in environments like that before
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and perhaps you have as well. I mean, sure, there, there will
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always be times when it's all hands on deck and you just have
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to work like a maniac. And then that's just the way it
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is. But I do think a lot of that is
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avoidable and better handled if you plan in advance, think about
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the likely scenarios, what might come to pass, Try to prepare
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yourself for that. I think it was Dwight
16:15
Eisenhower's said something along the lines of plans are
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useless, but planning is indispensable.
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So, you know, I try to take some inspiration from that.
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Very good. And this is a question we
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typically finish with on the Bio Hub.
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But if you were to look back and give advice to your 21 year old
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self, what would that be and why?
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Oh. Man, now you're really making me
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feel old. 21, man, you know what was I like at 21?
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I, you know, I have to be honest, I really knew nothing
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when I was 21 years old. I mean really nothing.
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I think, I think the best advice I could give that kid would be
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be much more, much, much more open to different opportunities
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and don't write things off without really understanding
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them. You know, to being open and less
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being more open and less judgmental are good disciplines
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to follow. Maybe also take more risks.
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Now is the right time to do it. You know, take the time, make
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the investment in yourself to really figure out what you're
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good at outside of academia and really figure out what's
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important to you in life and, you know, see the world, meet
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lots of different kinds of people.
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I think that's more than enough advice for me.
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Good. Well, look, thanks so much for
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coming on and helping us out with this.
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I think you've given a really unique perspective on what it's
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like being in an early stage biotech, not just from a
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fundraising side of things, but from a day-to-day.
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And for sure, Pretzel, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out
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and watching you guys progress. Yeah.
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So yeah, thanks again for helping us out.
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Appreciate it, appreciate the opportunity and definitely keep
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your eye on Pretzel. There's a lot more good coming.