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Helen Torley: CEO of Halozyme Therapeutics · BioBoss

• 0:00
  John Simboli: Today I'm speaking with Helen Torley, CEO of Halozyme, headquartered in San Diego. Welcome to BioBoss, Helen.
• 0:08
  Helen Torley: Thank you. We're delighted to be here.
• 0:10
  John Simboli: Helen, what led to your role as CEO of Halozyme?
• 0:13
  Helen Torley: Yes, I've actually been in this role now for approaching 10 years. And if I look back at my journey, I started in the healthcare system as a physician, practicing and specializing in rheumatology.
• 0:23
  Helen Torley: And I joined the industry to actually lead the clinical program that I was a clinical investigator for. Through my time in the industry, I've had the pleasure to be exposed and work in clinical development, medical affairs, marketing, sales, global marketing, become a general manager, become a Chief Commercial Officer, and then after that I decided why not take on the role and become a CEO. Really, what drives me is this passion that our industry is making amazing advances for patients. It's actually almost 40 years since I graduated from medical school, and diseases like multiple myeloma have gone from three year survival to 12 plus years survival. I'm very proud to be part of the industry and to be part of this mission we have to be improving and extending patient lives.
• 1:12
  John Simboli: When you were looking at the various options for your next step as you were working through heading commercial operations and other parts within biopharma community. And you must have seen lots of opportunities that you thought that that might be interesting. And then, at some point, can you recall what what it was that flagged Halozyme for you and made you think I think I'd really want to investigate this as a possibility.
• 1:37
  Helen Torley: Firstly, I made the decision to try and become a CEO. And then I looked for the company and why I wanted to become a CEO really was the experience I had at a small biotech company, where I was the Chief Commercial Officer. And because it was a small company, we all pitched in to get things done. We got surprises, our chief medical officer retired before a big ODAC FDA advisory committee. So I had some experience there, was able to pitch in. I had the opportunity to be participating in an expansion we're doing globally, perhaps a bit more of a Chief Operating Officer role. And I got all these experiences and it just seemed like the natural next step for me to say, why don't you become a CEO, and importantly, see whether I could be able to lead a company to deliver amazing business success. But while we maintain the super culture. And I've been in several fantastic companies, but as they grew they lost a little bit of sight of the culture, and it became less fun to work there. And so that really became my passion and my mission: can we do business success with a great culture?
• 2:39
  Helen Torley: And so then I started looking around for opportunities, and there weren't many female CEOs of public biotech companies at that time. So it was quite hard.
• 2:49
  Helen Torley: And what I did was actually work with a communications coach to help me identify my value proposition as to why a board should think of adding me to lead a public company. And then I looked for companies that had assets that were not early clinical, or that really is not where I specialize I'm much more of a commercialization, "what does the patient need?" How do we help doctors understand how to use the drug? And so I looked for companies that had later stage assets and data readouts coming. So I had an opportunity to shape where the company could go and grow that company and grow revenues. And Halozyme at that point in time, had four programs that were ongoing, all of which had recent data read outs or were having data readouts, that would help define which ones would have the greatest commercial success. And so I could participate in that shaping of the strategy and where we take the company. And that's really what attracted me to Halozyme, great technology, but lots of shots on goal because it's a high risk business. And so going into a company that had a single asset just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to have options. And obviously, 10 years ago, we've played out some of those options. Some of them worked, some of them didn't work, but that is our business.
• 4:04
  John Simboli: Was there anything, when you first found out about Halozyme, when you first identified that as a possibility that made you think this is a place that would be open to the approach or that point of view I have about culture,
• 4:16
  Helen Torley: I'm just reflecting back to the interview process, which was really with the members of the board. And I do think it was an impression that I got in that set of interviews and including with the CEO at the time, who was going to be moving on that it was a great moment in time for the company to transition. The prior CEO to me was actually the scientific founder. It's his technology. It's his idea. He set up the whole thing for success. But there was a recognition that it was a time where the company was moving more into the need to commercialize and license the technologies we had. And so there was a transition in the skill set. And so just that whole concept that the board and the CEO recognized it was a time for a change, because the company needed to build more commercially was obviously a good signal that there would be support for a series of cultural changes to support this new focus and direction for the company.
• 5:13
  John Simboli: When you were thinking about how to articulate ahead of time what your management approach would be, do you recall how you were describing that at the time and how you perhaps how you would describe it now?
• 5:25
  Helen Torley: I don't think it's changed a lot. I will say, because I've had a good number of leadership roles over the 20 years before I came to Halozyme and I've learned a lot in different companies, different settings and different experiences. I also reflect on the lessons I've had as to when I was working in a company where I was inspired by the leadership, I knew how I was contributing, and how important I was to where the company was going to go. And all of that I think comes together in what became my management approach and my leadership approach. And it really, you know, four or five key principles, assure everyone knows what the vision and the purpose is in the company, we do a great exercise where every employee expresses their purpose, which connects you to the greater good that we're doing here in the company.
• 6:14
  Helen Torley: You always have to set clear objectives and goals that include what's expected. And when it's expected. I'm a great one for that. People tell me, there's never any doubt what I want. But then you can let the team have at it if you'd like.
• 6:28
  Helen Torley: You hire smart and great people and say, this is what needs to get done. Off you go collaborate, work together with a team, bring together diverse points of view, and then come up with a plan and execute. And that's really has worked incredibly well, because people love to be empowered to get things done. I think celebrating successes, but celebrating failures and what we learned from them is something I've learned as well. If you don't celebrate failures, people won't take risks. And if you're trying to do innovation, then that isn't a good mix. So you've got to recognize and celebrate failures, but importantly, what you learn from them. I'm a great believer in a no politics, no favorites, culture. And for holding everybody equally accountable for living the values of the company. There can't be a difference at different levels as to what the expectations for behavior are.
• 7:17
  Helen Torley: And the underlying one that has been the most important, as I talked about my earlier experiences from companies grew
• 7:23
  and success group: remember to say thank you. Express gratitude in multiple ways to recognize the amazing team who are making the effort to drive things forward in our mission for patients. And it isn't always monetary rewards it is as simple as dropping by to say thank you.
• 7:40
  and success group: Celebrating with pictures at all hands, we do all sorts of things to try and remember to express gratitude, because people work very hard. And when they go the extra mile, it is so important, and so motivating to recognize that and express that gratitude.
• 7:57
  John Simboli: Can you recall the difference between what you anticipated being a CEO would be like and then the reality of it?
• 8:03
  Helen Torley: I do. And I had a slightly different experience, interestingly, where I probably felt I was over empowered as a CEO to just drive change. And I came in with a lot of informed points of view about commercialization, but perhaps did not pause enough to listen to different board perspectives on different programs to understand why they had got to where they were. And so I was very peremptory in saying, I don't think you should be in the diabetes area, because I don't see the commercial opportunity.
• 8:30
  Helen Torley: Well, people had vested a lot of time and thinking that for me to very quickly say that that was not appropriate. So, you know, I got feedback at that point in time that working with the board, and you have to figure out how that is. You think I'm the CEO now, they want me to make decisions. But they don't want you to make independent decisions without consulting and making sure they're following your thought process.
• 8:53
  Helen Torley: Ultimately, they agreed with my recommendation, but I didn't engage them in my thought process. The analytics, you know, the data I was bringing to the table in a way that brought them along. So that was my biggest thing is it's no different than working with my team, frankly, where as the CEO, if you just dictate something you don't get buy in, it's not going to work. You have to build it with the team, you have to share why you're making a particular decision. I approach it exactly the same way with the board, where I lay out what's driving me towards a recommendation in a way that allows them to ask questions, debate it with us, and you get to much better decisions always with that process. I just made the mistake in my first year to think oh, they want me to be telling them where my wise opinion is now that I'm a first year CEO. And so I quickly learned that that is not an effective approach. And nor is it a good approach. So there we are. That was my first year experience.
• 9:48
  John Simboli: Let's say you're speaking with someone perhaps through the family who doesn't know the biopharma community and doesn't really understand what you do and they say, Well, Helen, what do you do for a living? That could be answered in so many ways depending on the background, the person. But typically how do you start out answering that?
• 10:04
  Helen Torley: I talk about working for a company whose mission is to improve the lives of patients by making the treatment of serious diseases easier by reducing the burden of treatment for that patient, but also for their family. And just really focusing on giving them a sense as to what our mission is to begin with. If I was talking about how I spend my time and what I do at the company, it does change depending on what cycle we're in. I have a heavy operational focus in the company. But if I prioritize where I believe a CEO should be spending the time it is working throughout the company, throughout the year on evolving the strategy, where we're going to go and how we're going to get there. It is about people and culture, I dedicate a lot of my time to that because that is what has made Halozyme a success so far. And that's what will carry us into the future.
• 10:53
  Helen Torley: Operating approach is very important to make sure we're delivering when you're a profitable growing company, you have to keep being profitable and growing. So that takes a lot of care and attention. And then it's talking with investors to share our story so that investors can understand the great potential we have as a company, and how we will grow which I'm just incredibly excited about. And so those are the four areas where I spend my time and the percentage differs depending on which month it happens to be.
• 11:29
  John Simboli: Can you recall when you were eight, or nine or ten, or whatever you think the appropriate age would be to try to remember oh, this is what I thought I would be when I became a grown up and I had a career in a profession that I guess for most of us, we probably mentioned, what will my parents want me to say here? Did you recall an image, a TV show, a book you'd read, a relative who had anything that made you think that this is what I want to do, it doesn't have anything to do with what you do professionally?
• 11:54
  Helen Torley: I don't remember the genesis of this other than probably television shows, books, but I wanted to be an archaeologist. And I didn't just want to be an archaeologist. I wanted to be an Egyptologist, I was obsessed with Egyptology until my teens and I actually applied to university for both archaeology and for medicine.
• 12:13
  Helen Torley: And I was accepted for both. And then I had to think what do I do? And this is at university in Scotland. So we have the opportunity to go to university when you're 16. And so it was in five years I could be an archaeologist or five years, I could be a doctor. And I do remember talking about it with my parents, I come from a long family line of doctors. But no pressure, absolutely no pressure from the family to say I should go into medicine. For some reason, I was very pragmatic and realized in five years, I could be a doctor with a job. Or in five years, I could be one of hundreds of people trying to chase down the two Egyptology roles there are in the world.
• 12:52
  Helen Torley: And so I took the option to go and study medicine, become a doctor. I became a rheumatologist and loved it.
• 12:58
  Helen Torley: I've been very passionate about my medical career. I still enjoy reading, especially over the last couple of years, all of the new findings and advances about what we've learned about life in ancient Egypt. But yes, I did not pursue that course, fortunately,
• 13:15
  John Simboli: You made me think of something about changing perspective just now. So when you're a physician, you have the opportunity, if you're lucky to help one patient at a time and change a life. And I'm sure would be a profound experience, the work that you're doing now obviously can potentially change lots of lives in a different way. So it's a different way of working. So can you remember or do you have any thoughts about how you made that transition?
• 13:41
  John Simboli: Was that a conscious thing? How do I let go this, how do I grab a hold of this?
• 13:46
  Helen Torley: I had the interesting opportunity to go from being a clinical investigator in a new agent for rheumatoid arthritis. And, you know, this was in the mid 80s, when we were treating rheumatoid arthritis with gold, D-penicillamine, sulfasalazine.
• 14:02
  Helen Torley: None of the agents we have today that made such a difference for patients, but I was working on a cyclosporine, which was a new agent. So the opportunity came for me to come and lead the clinical program and lead that through to FDA approval. And exactly what you said, John, the recognition that patients needed other options, they needed to have this in a way to be able to slow down that pace of progression that patients were seeing in terms of joint destruction. And so we ended up doing some interesting studies that showed the beginning of some disease modification. And so I was very proud to make that transition to come in and work in the clinical program, really with the patient at the fore and figuring out where will this fit? How do we do studies that don't just say here's another option, but how should they use it to these before or after gold, that type of thing. So that ability to influence was important. I stayed in the clinical side of things for a few years, but just based on the companies I was working in, the strategy for drug development was kept being set in commercial. And so that's actually why I made the transition over to commercial, which wasn't, it wasn't an easy transition. I do remember a lot of resistance and a very famous head of commercial in one organization say, you're female, you're Scottish and a doctor.
• 15:22
  Helen Torley: You cannot work in marketing.
• 15:22
  Helen Torley: And it's like, Okay, I will, I will get there. So I did finally find somebody who was a supporter of my ambition to move more into the commercial side.
• 15:33
  Helen Torley: And it really was that passion to say, look, I think this is how patients will will think about this, or we should do some research and ask these questions because it could be this, this or this. And I think it's, it's so important, we as drug developers understand where the unmet need is, and what will help the patient or the doctor to know how to use the drug to help the patient. And that's, that's how I transitioned into the industry. I missed clinical practice for years. I go home to Scotland a lot. And for many years, my patients were still alive. But again, I say at the time, it was when rheumatoid arthritis was a rapidly fatal, fatal disease, before the anti TNF agents have transformed care. And so I've just been thrilled to watch how these diseases are just so much better treated. But I played my little part on a drug that was important for a few years before the big and important agents like the anti TNF agents came into existence. I think people don't always, especially if you're in the medical profession, or around the medical profession truly understand what you can do in the industry, as a clinician and as a physician. And as a Chief Commercial Officer. It's like what do you meet Helen? Or as a head of sales, I've been a head of sales. So like, why would you want to do that? All my old physician friends were dumbfounded that I would take on a role like that. But it all is helping the patient in different ways, we're all contributing.
• 16:54
  John Simboli: When people ask you who is Halozyme? How do you like to answer?
• 16:57
  Helen Torley: Similarly to what I describe as what I'm part of, we're a company and a team that is passionate in finding new ways to deliver drugs for patients who are suffering from some of the most serious diseases so that they can receive that treatment in a way that reduces the burden for them, and for their families.
• 17:16
  Helen Torley: And that's important, because then they can start focusing on their recovery. And getting back to their normal lives. One of our technologies is to be able to transform drugs that need to be given in lengthy IV infusions. And they've been given in just minutes underneath the skin. I don't know if you've had family members who have had to go to infusion suites, they generally are 60, 90 minutes away, you're there for four to six hours, you're awaiting release for another one to two hours, and then it's 90 minutes to get home. It's an entire day when you're trying to recover.
• 17:52
  Helen Torley: And so we are excited to be part of taking important drugs like Janssen's Darzalex, which is usually four to six hours as an infusion, is given in three to five minutes Sub-Q. That is transformative for the patient and for the experience they will have. And that's just one example of why we're so passionate about what we can do to be a part of taking our great partner drugs, but helping them impact patients in an even more positive manner.
• 18:19
  John Simboli: When people initially hear you talking about the company the way you just did, and they may misunderstand or they may have a filter on it, and they may put you in the category that you don't feel that you're part of, what would those categories tend to be and then how would you help them to get back on track?
• 18:35
  Helen Torley: So we have a licensing business. We license our technology to leading partners with 12 partnerships today with household names like Roche, Janssen, Argenx.
• 18:46
  Helen Torley: Sometimes when people hear of a licensing business, you think you just allow them access to your therapy, but we are an incredibly complex operational company. Firstly, we oversee the production and release of the drug product that is combined with the partner product to create a co formulated drug that can then be given subcutaneously in just minutes. So there's a lot of operational oversight there. But also when we kick off working on a program and I'll use Darzalex as an example, but we also have approvals for Herceptin given under the skin MabThera or rituximab, given under the skin. We've formed co development teams, with our partners and our experts from Halozyme, be it in CMC and regulatory formulation, toxicology, sit side by side and share our expertise about the subcutaneous space, formulations, regulatory pathways, and ideas that we have learned from other partners we've worked with to help shape and increase the probability of success and the speed of the development for the partner. I was actually just talking to a CEO in another company we work with whose drug just got approved as a Sub-Q. And he's very clear and complimentary to say, we would never have got it done without your team. And I think that that influence and expertise we bring as part of this licensing deal isn't always as visible or as well understood, as people would think. And then the second one I always like to start when I'm talking with investors saying, we are a profitable biotech company. And that brings a smile to people's faces, because not many biotech companies are profitable. And we're profitable because of our business model where we don't actually have to invest to do the clinical studies or the commercialization. So the teams we have do what I mentioned, they are advisory, and we oversee production or release of the API. This means that my operating expenses are low, but my revenues are high. And this is why we have got such a profitable, strong cash flow company. And again, I think just people recognizing the more de risk nature, but the high gross margin nature is something that people are surprised by. But once they understand our business model, they understand that a lot better.
• 21:06
  John Simboli: That sounded like a compelling argument to me. And I wonder if you ever get the dreaded "that sounds great, why hasn't anyone else done that?" question. Do you ever get that?
• 21:17
  Helen Torley: We do we do. And, you know, everybody is always
• 21:18
  John Simboli: When you're trying to describe how it is that a wanting to understand the longevity of the revenues. And I think from our perspective, it comes back to the scientific founder of the company, Greg Foss, the CEO that I took over from. He created a very strong and compelling patent suite, to defend the inventions that had been created by Halozyme. And so I'd say that is the you know, the first the core reason we have terrific expertise, and we've got a strong patent estate there. And I'd add to that, now, that's the start. I think, since then we have become the go to in terms of the expertise, the track record of success, the safety track record of our drugs. So you take two biologics together, you're always going to be worried about immunogenicity or some unexpected event. We now have over 800,000 patients who have received our technology. So that's a great safety database for partners to be able to look at to get themselves some comfort that there's not going to be any surprises. And then we've got 10 years of reliable supply of the API. And so what starts with the great patent estate now is the reputation and the operational excellence of subcutaneous model can take the place, can supplement, can be a the team.
• 22:43
  John Simboli: better patient experience than than the traditional infusion model, how do you explain the mechanism by which you're able to do that?
• 22:51
  Helen Torley: If we're talking about our enhanced technology, let me start by saying that throughout our body, we have a sugar or a glycosaminoglycan that's called hyaluronan. It's a shock absorber in your knee joints, it's behind your eyes, it's also part of the subcutaneous space. And it's part of what gives your skin that nice elasticity. It attracts lots of water molecules and forms, if you like, a gel that just helps give your subcutaneous space structure. So our enzyme is a hyaluronidase, which means that it targets and degrades the hyaluronan and by doing so it works virtually instantaneously. And it creates channels so that your hyaluronan disappears for 24 hours. But then when you try to inject fluid in, if you didn't have our enzyme, after about one mL, you start to get a lot of back pressure and you get a bled.
• 23:45
  Helen Torley: It's sore, it gets injurated.
• 23:45
  Helen Torley: With our enzyme because it's working immediately to break these channels. The fluid you inject spreads more extensively, creates a little pancake if you like, it can get exposed to the lymphatics in the case of monoclonal antibodies, and can get absorbed. And so what we find is with Darzalex, I'll use that example, is a volume of 15 mLS. That is injected under the skin by a healthcare practitioner in just three to five minutes. And so it's amazing to see and it's amazing versus the four to six hours for the IV because as an IV it has to go in very slowly because patients can have an allergic reaction. So it just is a huge contrast. 24 hours later, your skin returns to visibly, your skin always looks normal except for maybe a little bit of swelling, maybe a little bit of redness in some patients. But the structure of the skin also returns to normal in 24 to 36 hours. And so you can you create a little depo for a moment, that then the hyaluronidase regenerates and your skin is back to normal. It's an amazingly simple, elegant technology and what our partners do is they co formulate it with their drugs, and then it's injected in just that period of time. Our most recent drug that just got approved is from a biotech company called Argenx, a new treatment for patients with myasthenia gravis, a severe autoimmune disease. That is a 30 to 90 second injection, and it's a five ml. And over time, for the most part our drugs today, healthcare practitioners are giving them usually because the parent drug needs a bit of observation. But we have partners who definitely have visions for patients be able to be doing this in their home, so that they don't even have to go to an infusion suite to get treatment. And that's where healthcare is headed. That's what we're excited to be a part of that the patients are not having the cost expense, and frankly, the exhaustion of getting themselves to an infusion suite. And we have a second technology, which are auto injectors. Those inject drugs that are one and 2.25 mLs today, but we're very excited to have combined our auto injector expertise and ENHANZE. And we are just experimenting with being able to inject up to 10 mLs, which should be suitable for some biologic drugs, again so the patient can get more control of their disease, their treatment. And that's our vision for where we're going with subcutaneous delivery.
• 26:11
  John Simboli: Do you talk about the pipeline in terms of it being your vision for the strategy of the company or is that an appropriate way to talk about because your company is a bit different.
• 26:22
  Helen Torley: today, we've got six approved products using our technology, we have got 14 in phase one to phase three development. And we actually expect another three approvals in the next two years. And then from the auto injector point of view, we've got three partners today. And we want to be expanding the number of auto injector partners as well. So we count each program that's advancing as our pipeline. And we grow that through outreach to companies to say, "Have you heard of our technology? Here's what we think this could do for patients. Here's what we think this could do for your competitive differentiation." But as our visibility has grown, people also have heard of the technology and come to us asking about using our technologies as well. And each of these are licensing models or use of our technology. So we do have great ambitions to go beyond the 12 partners on ENHANZE and the three partners on devices to expand that and expand the number of programs in development. And because I mentioned that lean flexible business model where we're not actually doing the clinical studies or the development, we're able to add programs in a very efficient way.
• 27:39
  John Simboli: When you talk about the pipeline do you talk about, do you think about, do you articulate the development of other platforms, other enzymes, or is it too early to talk about that?
• 27:48
  Helen Torley: So our strategy for growth is indeed to acquire other drug delivery technologies, ideally a licensing type model, because we think there's even more can be done for patients to reduce the burden of treatment, improve adherence, and potentially even outcomes, because that's ultimately where this is. The convenience and helping the patient with making every treatment and taking every treatment is is incredibly important. And it should be able to translate into much bigger benefits for the patient and their outcomes. And also, frankly, it reduces the cost for the healthcare system to deliver care and the cost of out of pocket for the patient. There's multiple benefits and so we want to just keep adding to the options to be making treatment as simple as possible.
• 28:34
  John Simboli: For Halozyme, what makes a good partner?
• 28:36
  Helen Torley: In thinking about that, I do think it's a shared vision. And we do have partners who are just demonstrating with every act and every thought that the patient is in the center for them. And that is their mission.
• 28:48
  Helen Torley: And they will make decisions and choices that really are to try and not just get a great therapy forward, but think about the patient in totality and think about how that treatment experience is going to be. I would say all companies are definitely thinking about that way more than they did 10 years ago, or 20 years ago. So it definitely is a trend as people recognize cost of care is increasing. And so we gotta keep improving it. But just to highlight a couple of partners that really do put the patient at the forefront. And Roche was the first big pharma to work with us. We worked with them on four drugs today. And they're just passionate and committed to using our technologies using other devices and other delivery techniques to just make it as simple and straightforward for the patient as possible. We love working with Viiv, they're a subsidiary of GSK. They have, their only focus is HIV, and their only goal in life is to treat and prevent HIV. And so they have a giant vision which is to move to every six month treatment, one injection every six months. The patient doesn't have to think about the disease.
• 29:55
  Helen Torley: And it's just amazing to watch how that informs how when things happen in development, they get a surprise or they get, they just are okay, now we know we need to do this. It's such a driving energy. And I'll say Argenx, with their recent approval, we're approved for IV then move to Sub-Q. And for many of these companies, they recognize that moving to Sub-Q does open up access to patients who perhaps can't get to infusion suites. And again, they're investing to do that, because it's about the patient at the center. So every company does it to a degree. But those are just three examples that immediately came to mind where we are energized by their passion for what they're trying to do for their patients.
• 30:40
  John Simboli: Does your subcutaneous option for delivering drugs, does that in any way simplify patient's life in terms of when they can get the infusion, where they can get the infusion? I Imagine all these things come together. But what's it mean, on a human level?
• 30:57
  Helen Torley: Yep, you're spot on. Some of our drugs still have to be given in a physician office or in a hospital because there is a period of observation. But we've got other drugs that you're exactly right.
• 31:08
  Helen Torley: And if they are given in those infusion suites, or hospitals, they can be given in minutes, not hours. So that treatment experience. But I'll give you an example. Roche recently just reported positive phase three data for the subcutaneous version of Ocrevus, which is the number one treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis. And they'd been very clear that they have been doing that because they've noticed that there's a restriction on capacity in infusion sites.
• 31:36
  Helen Torley: Patients can't get in on time.
• 31:39
  Helen Torley: But then also some patients can't get infusion sites around the world. They just are too far away, you've got to drive two, four, five hours. And so they're very excited that Sub-Q will allow patients to be treated in centers where there are no infusion suites, or even in the physician office. And I think that's a great example as to what we're able to do. Same will happen with multiple ones of our products. So it can be short, but also we can change where it can be done. And that's going to happen for oncology, autoimmune diseases, neurology, certain indications of each of those. Of course you've got to put patient safety first, but it'll just be amazing. You know, I've gone through various types of infusion suite experiences myself, and it was a 90 minute drive there and a 90 minute drive back and it was horrendous to the point of like, okay, I don't want to do this anymore.
• 32:29
  Helen Torley: Because the whole day was so challenging. I know patients face that all the time. So this will be great.If I could have just popped into my local GP.
• 32:39
  John Simboli: How was it that Halozyme chose to be located in San Diego?
• 32:44
  Helen Torley: It actually was down to the scientific founder, Greg Frost, who had done his PhD thesis at UCSF. And then I understand that he came down to San Diego to work in the laboratory here that was very famous to continue his postgraduate studies. And I think during that he is a brilliant entrepreneur. He decided he would set up a company, he found venture backers, and managed to take the company for a few years with the venture backers, and then transitioned us to a public company in 2006. I don't think Greg was from San Diego, but he was doing his postdoc work down here. And this was his whole PhD thesis. So the whole concept and trying different areas to work in is what started out Halozyme under Greg's leadership and vision.
• 33:33
  John Simboli: What's been the experience for you working in the UK, working in San Diego, probably working in several other places in your career, what's it been like to be in different places?
• 33:44
  Helen Torley: Yeah, I have.
• 33:44
  Helen Torley: Obviously in medicine, in the National Health Service in the UK, so that was a unique experience and a terrific experience. But in the US, I've worked in multiple companies in New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. So I've been around in the last period of time, 20 years more on the West Coast. You know, San Diego is a great place to work, we can attract and have great scientists coming from the very vibrant biotech community that exists in San Diego and the great universities. I would say the one thing and you know Halozyme at different times has been commercializing drugs ourselves or seeking to commercialize drugs ourself.
• 34:22
  Helen Torley: That commercial experience is more limited in San Diego. We certainly tend to have to hire from perhaps the East Coast if we're looking for people who have taken drugs through late stage phase three into commercial launch into lifecycle management, Medical Affairs types of things. I have found that the experience just by the nature of this being more of an incubator for innovation, than there are a few large biotechs here that have grown and were acquired. But that would be the only difference. Great talent, maybe not as much commercial experience as I find for example in the East Coast.
• 35:00
  John Simboli: As you think forward to the next stage of development in biopharma and how you would like to contribute, have you identified any particular areas that are especially intriguing for you?
• 35:11
  Helen Torley: Obviously, I'm very focused on drug delivery and where drug delivery can go.
• 35:13
  Helen Torley: But in parallel to that, I think has to come track carefully, participating in more and more, especially with the Inflation Reduction Act and other policies that, you know, having us all look to say, "How will this impact patients?" How can we assure that we are helping reduce the burden for patients in a way that is going to not be at odds with them and being able to access the drugs? And so I think that's something all pharmaceutical and biotech companies are very focused on today is making sure we are bringing clear value for our agents. And you heard me talk about all of the benefits of our Sub-Q delivery. Less time, that means less cost, means less out of pocket potentially for the patient. So we are very focused on our value story and making sure everybody understands that in the context of how policy is evolving.
• 36:07
  John Simboli: Helen, thanks for speaking with me today.
• 36:09
  Helen Torley: John, it's been a pleasure. It's always terrific to talk about our wonderful company Halozyme which is made great by the terrific employees we have here.