Latest / The BioHub - by Avetix / Episode 93 - Brendan Teehan - CCO Pacira Biosciences

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Episode 93 - Brendan Teehan - CCO Pacira Biosciences · The BioHub - by Avetix

0:05
Welcome back to another episode of The Bio Hub, a podcast
0:08
brought to you Biovetics. I'm joined by Brendan Tien,
0:12
Chief Commercial Officer of Passera Biosciences.
0:16
Brendan has spent over 3 decades building and leading commercial
0:19
teams across biopharma from J&J to Amgen to Sara and Acadia.
0:25
Now at Passera, he's driving the company's mission to transform
0:28
pain management through innovative non opioid therapies.
0:32
In this conversation, we get into what inspired him to join
0:35
Passera, how the company has evolved, and how they've aligned
0:38
the entire organization around a clear and bold mission.
0:42
We also dive into leadership, culture and the future of pain
0:46
management. It's a pleasure to have you,
0:48
Brendan. How are you?
0:50
Max, so grateful for the opportunity and thanks.
0:52
So that was quite a trip down memory lane there.
0:56
Well, we'll go even further down memory lane.
0:57
So the first question is actually about you.
1:03
What was it about Passera's mission that inspired you to
1:06
join the company? Yeah, sure.
1:09
Thanks for the question. I think you stated it so
1:12
clearly. If I just take a step back, pain
1:15
is one of the most universal and underserved needs in medicine.
1:21
It's amazing to work for a company that has such a clarity
1:25
of mission. When you talk about you're
1:27
delivering innovative non opioid solutions that transform
1:30
patients lives and I have an opportunity to see that every
1:34
day. We have, we have 3 principal
1:36
products that I'm going to talk about EXPAREL, Zilretta and
1:40
Ayovera. And just to be clear, to get
1:43
full safety information on them, please go to
1:45
theirwebsitesexparel.com, zilretta.com and ayovera.com.
1:49
And obviously talk to a healthcare professional about
1:52
any treatment decisions that you make.
1:54
These are marvelous products that are all non opioid pain
1:58
solutions intended to give patients the best possible
2:03
option to avoid those types of therapies.
2:06
And we were founded by that first product, Xperl that
2:10
assists in over 2.5 million procedures in the United States
2:15
every year, which to me is a staggering number when you think
2:18
of the, the number of patients that benefit from that.
2:21
And it's a product that can provide up to four days of pain
2:25
relief for patients that are going undergoing significant
2:28
surgeries, which are really difficult decisions for, for
2:32
patients to make. But to know that you're going to
2:34
have excellent pain management and be be able to recover more
2:38
rapidly is is really a comforting and reassuring place
2:43
to be. Yeah, that's amazing.
2:45
And and for people who don't know Pacera as well, who are you
2:50
today compared to, to the early days and and how has the company
2:53
evolved? It's a great question.
2:57
Let me first say that I think we stand on the backs of giants.
3:00
You know that that to to launch such an innovative product
3:04
really created the trajectory that this company is now on.
3:08
But to be able to add products like Zilretta and IO Vera.
3:10
So we now are really covering a broad range of a patient pain
3:15
journey and it is in some cases a lifelong journey that some of
3:19
these folks face. I think we've stood up so many
3:23
excellent capabilities that now take Pacira to the next level on
3:27
top of product innovation that launched the product, launched
3:31
the company. We now have a fully staffed
3:35
medical and commercial capability.
3:37
I would call it a powerhouse. We have a, we have a marketing
3:41
department that really never existed.
3:42
We are engaging payers broadly for the first time ever that's
3:46
creating more opportunities and and greater access and we're
3:50
producing more clinical evidence that that further underscores
3:55
the value of our products. So it really is a
3:57
transformational time, frankly, as our CEO joined in the early
4:02
part of 2024 and has really transformed the company around
4:06
our mission, which we call our 5 by 30 mission.
4:09
If I can just take a moment on that.
4:11
Those are the five things that we say that we need to achieve
4:14
by 20-30 and everybody at Pacira can tell you what those are.
4:19
The 1st is we want to treat over 3,000,000 patients in a single
4:23
year. I already told you that expiral
4:25
is up over 2.5 million procedures already in 2025.
4:30
So we're well on our way and should get there well before
4:32
20-30. The second thing we want to do
4:35
is to deliver double digit revenue growth on an annual
4:38
basis. That is not something that
4:40
Passira did in prior years. If you've seen any of our
4:43
earnings calls, you see that we're well on our way to to
4:46
delivering on that. The third thing we want to do is
4:49
get 5 innovative programs into clinical development.
4:54
We also want to improve our margins by 5 percentage points.
4:57
And my hats off to my manufacturing colleagues who
5:00
have done amazing things in terms of creating efficiencies
5:03
and manufacturing that's improving our margin.
5:07
And then finally, we said we wanted to have 5 partnerships
5:10
that will expand our reach. You may or may not know, but our
5:14
products are, some of our products are approved outside
5:17
the United States and we've really never created appreciable
5:20
revenue from that and are looking for partnerships to
5:23
expand that reach as well. So 5 by 30 is is mentioned at
5:27
every meeting, on every earnings call, and people know exactly
5:31
what Pacira's DNA really is. I love that because last time we
5:36
even spoke about, you know, not not necessarily just coming up
5:40
with these 5 by 30, but also how you really distill that across
5:45
the company. And it, it sounds like you've
5:47
just done an incredible job and you speak about this new
5:52
alignment around mission and purpose as well.
5:56
What what does that mean in practice?
5:58
And why was it? Why was now the time to define
6:02
it clearly? Yeah, great question.
6:06
I didn't mention this upfront, but one of the ways that Passira
6:10
sort of reached this transformational moment was with
6:13
the passage of something called the No Pain Act, which went into
6:17
effect in January of this year, which really provided an
6:20
incredible opportunity for us and for patients.
6:23
The No Pain Act was a bipartisan bill passed by Congress that now
6:28
provides separate and differential reimbursement for a
6:31
handful of products that help you avoid using opioids.
6:35
And to Pacira's credit and before my time, we were able to
6:39
demonstrate that Xperl and IO Vera help patients avoid taking
6:44
opioids out of at a much more impressive rate than
6:50
alternatives. So as a function of that, CMS
6:53
now reimburses Xperl outside of something called the surgical
6:57
bundle. So patients or or practices will
7:00
receive a, a, a package around any surgical procedure and they
7:05
can decide what they're going to do with those funds to take care
7:09
of a patient. Because the government thinks so
7:12
much about trying to limit the use of opioids, they've taken
7:15
expiral outside of that surgical bundle and they reimburse it
7:19
separately. So at the beginning of 2025,
7:22
fully 1/3 of all surgical procedures where expiral would
7:26
be used are covered by CMS and now have that that coverage.
7:32
That was a great place for us to start a great rallying cry for
7:36
Pasira to take our performance to the next level and to help so
7:40
many more patients. And on top of that with our now
7:43
fully ramped up market access team, we've been engaging
7:47
commercial payers and those plans to cover Expo similarly
7:51
outside of the surgical bundle and have added almost 40 million
7:55
additional covered lives that will now have that same benefit.
7:59
And so to us that is just a rallying cry to go out and treat
8:03
so many more patients and and give them that opportunity at A
8:06
at a soft landing after a surgical procedure.
8:09
It's really an exciting time to be a part of Pacira.
8:13
Yeah, it, I mean, I just spoke about this before we jumped on
8:18
the call as well. Like we, we had a briefing call
8:20
basic before we did this podcast and I did feel truly inspired by
8:26
this. You know, you had context as
8:30
well on this as well, Brendan, But this coming into Passera, a
8:35
big change in terms of leadership and, and, and
8:38
direction. And then this going out and, and
8:41
really distilling that culture, like we like we just said.
8:44
So how do you take a mission statement and make it real,
8:48
Really distill it across sales, marketing, portfolio, strategy
8:52
and and just the whole culture of the company?
8:55
For sure, you have to lead by example and that mission has to
9:00
be front and center at all we do.
9:02
So we're just coming off of a national meeting.
9:05
First slide that goes up is that 5 by 30 mission, that 5 by 30
9:11
slide with the mission that states what everybody's purpose
9:16
and their their contribution to that actually is.
9:19
So standing in front of a sales and marketing and market access
9:23
organization and saying hey, we intend to treat over 3,000,000
9:26
patients annually. That's a rallying cry.
9:29
It tells you each of us has to play a part in that, whether
9:32
that is speaking to surgeons and anesthesiologists about the
9:36
benefits of expiral or Zoretta or IO Vera for that matter, or
9:40
if it is creating access with payers to say, look, we all know
9:44
that we want to avoid the, the opioid crisis and we have 3
9:48
elegant solutions that can help you achieve that.
9:52
And I think because our constituents, all of these
9:56
folks, whether you're talking about the government, payers,
9:59
physicians, pharmacists and certainly patients, everybody
10:03
aligns to that mission. It's, it's a very easy
10:07
discussion to say we have ways to avoid using opioids.
10:11
And I'm not saying that Pacera has every solution there is, but
10:14
we have 3 great solutions that contribute to that cause.
10:18
And so it's you'll find if you were to walk the halls of Pacera
10:21
or if you were to be at a major hospital and you ran into
10:26
somebody that's that's selling Expo, for example, you're going
10:30
to run into a person who has been touched by pain,
10:32
understands that journey and wants to do everything they can
10:36
to make sure patients can avoid that scenario.
10:40
How does that then stem into things like hiring, like just
10:44
bringing the right kind of profiles in that that then fit
10:48
the mold of what we're talking about?
10:51
If you were to read any of our job descriptions, it starts with
10:55
a description of Pacira's purpose and mission.
10:58
So there should, that should already create some sense of
11:02
gravitational pull. And as I said, if you speak to
11:05
anybody at Pacira, they're going to tell you about somebody in
11:08
their life. Either either they're a former
11:11
athlete that may have had a total knee replacement, for
11:13
example, or they had a, a child that had a dental procedure and
11:18
may have received expiral and had a, you know, a, a wonderful
11:21
outcome as a function of that. Or they've suffered from pain
11:25
and didn't have a great solution and are impressed to hear that
11:29
there's a company that is entirely committed to creating
11:32
those types of solutions. Not only today I'm I'm very
11:36
proud of the portfolio of products we have to offer, but
11:39
we've also committed as a bioscience company to continue
11:43
to transform that landscape and to look for innovative science
11:48
that we've we've discussed. What, what I'm also like really
11:53
interested in is the process of new leadership, new CEO as well
11:59
and, and, and Frank and, and then coming up with this 5 by
12:03
30, like the process of doing that and then the process in
12:07
your guys minds if like right, OK, there's a big task of
12:10
rolling this out now as well. And it's obviously in a team
12:13
effort. But but you spoke about Frank
12:15
last time as well. We spoke and how big he was in,
12:17
in the just the broader vision of of how this would work.
12:22
For sure. You know, you could say
12:24
necessity is the mother of invention.
12:28
I think the company needed transformation and really looked
12:32
ourselves in the mirror and said, what is it going to take
12:35
to create the trajectory in the future that we want?
12:37
And so whenever I'm standing in front of our teams, I say this
12:41
is our place. We have to make it what we want
12:44
it to be. And I think we use 5 by 30 as
12:47
that as that rallying cry. So the reason we want to help
12:51
3,000,000 patients is that grows the business substantially and
12:55
helps so many more people that that stand to benefit from great
12:58
products. The reason we want to grow our
13:01
revenue double digits is because we want people to take an
13:03
interest in US from a stock and, and, and purchase us and, and,
13:08
and help fuel that future as a function of the great work we're
13:12
doing. And then becoming more
13:14
efficient, creating partnerships that give us a chance to get to
13:17
more and more patients simply by entering markets that we're not
13:21
currently a part of. These are all, you know, great,
13:24
great things to do for any company that is that is looking
13:28
to grow, but it makes it very clear to everybody what good
13:32
looks like on a day-to-day basis.
13:34
So for me, it just makes, you know, coming to work and helping
13:38
people understand kind of what our what our purpose is as as
13:41
clear as possible. Yeah.
13:43
And five years obviously a big time frame.
13:46
It's like it's so hard to look beyond maybe 2-3 years as a as a
13:51
business and go, this is, this is what we want to achieve.
13:54
Do do you then like because you can do these big picture goals,
13:59
which we definitely do as well by the way.
14:01
But do you then like break them down and go, well, how do we
14:04
actually map performance beyond revenue, for example?
14:09
It's like, well, that's the big picture.
14:10
But then you break it down and go, actually these are the
14:12
things we need to do to to get there kind of thing.
14:16
Yeah, those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it.
14:20
So we definitely look at where we were and what progress we're
14:25
making on on an annual basis. So we know what needs to be
14:29
achieved in 2025 to create that future.
14:31
For example, if you intend to deliver double digit growth,
14:36
that may be adding additional things to our bag.
14:39
And so business development is a huge component of what we're
14:43
doing at Pacira. I would say I spend as much time
14:46
in any given day talking about opportunities to either put
14:50
existing products in our bag that that take advantage of the
14:53
footprint that we have out there 'cause we're we're calling on
14:57
surgeons and anesthesiologists and the C-Suite and pharmacist
15:00
for EXPAREL, but for Zoretta and for IO Vera, we're in the
15:05
community offices for orthopedic surgery, pain specialists,
15:08
sports medicine. And so there are great
15:11
opportunities for us to be in front of that same audience with
15:15
more than one excellent product to talk about.
15:18
So everything that we all we're doing in business development is
15:22
to find those types of opportunities either for today
15:24
or look at things that are in mid or even late stage
15:27
development that we can either partner with somebody on or or
15:31
potentially take take responsibility for.
15:33
And GQ Bio, which is the German gene therapy company that we
15:38
fully acquired now Pasira Germany is an excellent example
15:41
of that. So that trajectory is somewhat
15:45
based on what we where we knew we were and what we need to get
15:47
accomplished this year and next year, but also looking at all of
15:51
the building blocks that are going to be necessary not just
15:53
to 20-30, but well beyond that to create that that sustainable
15:58
future for a great company. Yeah, it's amazing.
16:01
And then obviously pain management is a is a space with
16:05
with huge unmet needs and Pasira has been pirating these, you
16:10
know, non opioid solutions for years.
16:13
What do you see as being the next big frontier in the space?
16:19
Yeah, I think there are. I think we have great solutions
16:24
today, but there are still huge unmet medical needs and two of
16:27
them are durability, the, the durability of relief that you
16:32
can offer and then disease modification.
16:35
So if you think about it, there are people that will avoid
16:38
surgical procedures and live with pain because of the fear of
16:42
the experience itself and, and the intensity of the pain they
16:46
think they might have or you know, the difficulty of
16:49
recovery. That's, that's a terrible place
16:52
to be. You should have every confidence
16:55
that you can restore function and and return to a much more
17:00
normal life. For me, when I think about what
17:03
PASIR is trying to do in drug development, but it is something
17:08
to get excited about. And I think it's an aspiration
17:11
that everybody that wants to play in the pain management
17:14
space should be, should be going for.
17:17
Yeah, yeah. I wanted to slightly change the
17:20
the topic now as well to a more personal level.
17:24
I want to talk about leadership basically and in commercial
17:28
organizations, especially when the mission is bold and patient
17:33
driven, what what do you think makes for great leadership in
17:37
that that scenario? That's a great question.
17:43
I would start with what you just said, clarity of mission and
17:47
loftiness of that goal. I don't have to remind people
17:51
why to care about what they do on a day-to-day basis.
17:55
It's easy to get up in front of folks and say, you know, having
17:59
to suffer with pain when it was avoidable is unacceptable.
18:03
And so having that clarity of mission is, is it makes my job
18:08
that much easier. I think humility is probably a
18:11
great place to live as well. You know, this is a new
18:15
therapeutic space for me. And so asking a lot of questions
18:18
and really valuing the answers and the direction you get back
18:22
from people helps you, helps them understand, number one,
18:26
that you care #2 that you value what they have to offer.
18:29
And #3 you want to help make this place what, what you want
18:34
it to be, what everybody wants it to be.
18:36
So I think that's a great additional thing to be able to
18:38
do. I think you also have to be able
18:40
to gather people together. So a mission certainly helps.
18:44
But having that sort of this type of attitude as opposed to
18:47
this type of attitude is very helpful.
18:49
People want to be part of something bigger than themselves
18:53
and, and to contribute to that and then be recognized for that.
18:56
And I work night and day to make sure that people are given, you
18:59
know, the the full value of what it is that they've contributed
19:03
to our cause. And then I think finally, just
19:06
having that sort of resilience that everybody has to have, no
19:10
matter, no matter what you're trying to get done.
19:13
I think 5 by 30 is a great example of that.
19:15
That's a pretty audacious set of goals to have.
19:18
That doesn't happen overnight. And it is fraught with obstacles
19:23
that you probably didn't anticipate.
19:26
And yet you have to be a person that gets the clutter out of the
19:29
way, keeps people focused on on that lofty aspiration and and
19:34
don't lose heart because you know something gets thrown your
19:36
way that is that was unforeseen. And in business, that is not
19:40
only likely, it is pretty much inevitable.
19:43
Yeah, Yeah. I'm always interested on that.
19:47
I don't know if you find this as well, but obviously on the
19:49
commercial aspect you're often found leading a team of
19:55
different kind of profiles to the rest of a biotech.
20:00
Yeah. I don't know how you find that
20:02
and you think that that therefore means a different way
20:06
of management or not or? I, I think that there's a a
20:11
phenotype of person that's drawn to our industry.
20:15
You want to make an impact on patients lives.
20:18
There are so many people that either considered medical school
20:20
or some other way of trying to contribute to improving the, the
20:25
lives of patients. And so by proximity and what we
20:30
do on a day-to-day basis, we are taking we're picking up that
20:33
mantle of wanting to transform the lives of patients.
20:37
And you can see the passion that comes across in people when they
20:41
when they feel that way and they'll fight for, they'll fight
20:45
for their patients and they'll fight for the use of our
20:47
products because they firmly believe it's the best decision
20:51
in that clinical environment. So for me, you know, it's, it's
20:54
fun to talk to somebody who, who's chosen to do that.
20:57
You'll find people that are that have worked on Expo, for
21:00
example, for over a decade. They are mission driven.
21:04
They probably would do it for nothing.
21:06
And they're some of the funnest people to be around because they
21:09
remind you why you do what you do.
21:10
I love that, like, live and die, like truly believe in what
21:14
you're selling. And yeah, I love that.
21:17
They've lived a roller coaster ride, so they they know the ups
21:20
and downs and they're committed to the UPS of our future.
21:23
So yeah, more power to them. Sometimes people can look at a
21:27
company like Passera, but definitely not by the way that
21:31
that's what I'm about to say. If, if there being this
21:34
confliction between, yes, we're, we're trying to do the best
21:36
thing for patients, but also yes, we're a business and we
21:39
need to increase revenue and there's maybe some bad
21:42
stereotypes that have come out there.
21:44
But like that that that dynamic for me is is crazy.
21:50
Yeah, I, I, I don't think anybody should be apologetic for
21:53
being a for profit business. And you know, it's that what
21:58
what I tried to tell people is what we're doing on a day-to-day
22:01
basis is creating the, the launchpad for future innovation,
22:07
the, the, the clinical trials that every company goes through.
22:10
But certainly what Passera is up to across our portfolio is
22:14
neither inexpensive nor easy to do.
22:17
And so it's very important that we continue to fuel that that
22:20
future and fund that future in a thoughtful way.
22:24
And I think what we've done to partner with the community, we
22:28
have GPO contracts in place for the first time ever that value
22:33
that partnership with people that can help us grow our
22:35
business. We're working with payers on on
22:38
contracting as well to make this as kind of thoughtful a
22:41
relationship as we possibly can and continue to, to
22:45
appropriately expand use of our products and patients that can
22:48
benefit. So I think it's understanding
22:50
that environment and and behaving truly like a partner,
22:53
which is one of our core values. Yeah, I love that.
22:57
Like like you said earlier, ultimately you know, what you're
23:01
selling is the best thing on the market for these guys.
23:05
And that's all it comes down to. Like how do we get this solution
23:09
from here to, to those people? Yeah, I think the, the mission
23:14
you guys on is, is awesome. And I, I don't lie when I say I,
23:18
I feel truly inspired by the way you're operating as a business
23:22
now, but also that what, what you're actually doing as a
23:26
business. You're very kind and we're very
23:29
proud of what we're doing and you know it it will it's it's
23:34
not a mission that is is likely to change because so many people
23:38
are so passionate about it and it it helps us.
23:41
I think it also creates relationships with partners.
23:44
People want to talk to us because they know that Passira
23:47
is kind of the worldwide leader in non opioid pain solutions.
23:52
That means if you're working on things that are interesting in
23:55
the clinic, we would be a great partner to talk to and why
23:58
business development is so active and and critical to to
24:02
our future. Yeah, amazing.
24:04
And and finally, down to the usual closing question.
24:09
If you could have dinner with any scientist or innovator or
24:13
leader, past or present, who, who would it be and why?
24:19
I guess number one, I'm grateful that he is present and and not
24:22
past. And this is an easy one for me.
24:24
My, my father, Brendan Patrick Tien is both a scientist and a
24:29
clinician. He's a nephrologist, retired at
24:32
this point, graduated #1 in his Med school class.
24:36
Extremely well read, but with an incredible bedside manner as
24:39
well and was on the forefront of transforming end stage renal
24:44
failure and the treatment of patients with dialysis.
24:48
So I got to see that first hand as a man, you know, treated
24:51
patients at the bedside and and also built a very impressive
24:54
business over time. And he's passed that torch on to
24:58
my younger brother, Jeff Tien, who's also a nephrologist.
25:01
Last kid in the family and last shot at the dock.
25:04
So the tradition will continue. But it is my honor to be his
25:07
son. And I'm impressed with what he
25:09
what he has done to transform the lives of patients.
25:13
What an incredible end. Thank you so much for coming on
25:16
Brendan, it was an absolute pleasure.
25:19
Pleasure's mine, Max. Thank you so much.
25:20
Really appreciate it. And please everyone like and
25:23
subscribe to the Bio Hub podcast brought to you by Avetics.
25:27
And thank you so much again, Brendan.
25:29
Thank you.