March 25, 2024 • 39 mins
Helen Torley, CEO of Halozyme Therapeutics, shares her thoughts with BioBoss host John Simboli about leadership in biopharma and how Halozyme is working to reinvent the patient experience by easing the burden of treatment and improving patient outcomes.
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John Simboli (00:00):
Today I'm speaking with Helen Torley, CEO of
(00:03):
Halozyme, headquartered in SanDiego. Welcome to BioBoss,
Helen.
Helen Torley (00:08):
Thank you. We're delighted to be here.
John Simboli (00:10):
Helen, what led to your role as CEO of Halozyme?
Helen Torley (00:13):
Yes, I've actually been in this role now for
approaching 10 years. And if Ilook back at my journey, I
started in the healthcare systemas a physician, practicing and
specializing in rheumatology.
And I joined the industry toactually lead the clinical
program that I was a clinicalinvestigator for. Through my
time in the industry, I've hadthe pleasure to be exposed and
(00:33):
work in clinical development,medical affairs, marketing,
sales, global marketing, becomea general manager, become a
Chief Commercial Officer, andthen after that I decided why
not take on the role and becomea CEO. Really, what drives me is
this passion that our industryis making amazing advances for
patients. It's actually almost40 years since I graduated from
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medical school, and diseaseslike multiple myeloma have gone
from three year survival to 12plus years survival. I'm very
proud to be part of the industryand to be part of this mission
we have to be improving andextending patient lives.
John Simboli (01:12):
When you were looking at the various options
for your next step as you wereworking through heading
commercial operations and otherparts within biopharma
community. And you must haveseen lots of opportunities that
you thought that that might beinteresting. And then, at some
point, can you recall what whatit was that flagged Halozyme for
(01:33):
you and made you think I thinkI'd really want to investigate
this as a possibility.
Helen Torley (01:37):
Firstly, I made the decision to try and become a
CEO. And then I looked for thecompany and why I wanted to
become a CEO really was theexperience I had at a small
biotech company, where I was theChief Commercial Officer. And
because it was a small company,we all pitched in to get things
done. We got surprises, ourchief medical officer retired
(01:58):
before a big ODAC FDA advisorycommittee. So I had some
experience there, was able topitch in. I had the opportunity
to be participating in anexpansion we're doing globally,
perhaps a bit more of a ChiefOperating Officer role. And I
got all these experiences and itjust seemed like the natural
next step for me to say, whydon't you become a CEO, and
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importantly, see whether I couldbe able to lead a company to
deliver amazing businesssuccess. But while we maintain
the super culture. And I've beenin several fantastic companies,
but as they grew they lost alittle bit of sight of the
culture, and it became less funto work there. And so that
really became my passion and mymission: can we do business
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success with a great culture?
And so then I started lookingaround for opportunities, and
there weren't many female CEOsof public biotech companies at
that time. So it was quite hard.
And what I did was actually workwith a communications coach to
help me identify my valueproposition as to why a board
should think of adding me tolead a public company. And then
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I looked for companies that hadassets that were not early
clinical, or that really is notwhere I specialize I'm much more
of a commercialization, "whatdoes the patient need?" How do
we help doctors understand howto use the drug? And so I looked
for companies that had laterstage assets and data readouts
coming. So I had an opportunityto shape where the company could
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go and grow that company andgrow revenues. And Halozyme at
that point in time, had fourprograms that were ongoing, all
of which had recent data readouts or were having data
readouts, that would help definewhich ones would have the
greatest commercial success. Andso I could participate in that
shaping of the strategy andwhere we take the company. And
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that's really what attracted meto Halozyme, great technology,
but lots of shots on goalbecause it's a high risk
business. And so going into acompany that had a single asset
just didn't make sense to me. Iwanted to have options. And
obviously, 10 years ago, we'veplayed out some of those
options. Some of them worked,some of them didn't work, but
(04:02):
that is our business.
John Simboli (04:04):
Was there anything, when you first found
out about Halozyme, when youfirst identified that as a
possibility that made you thinkthis is a place that would be
open to the approach or thatpoint of view I have about
culture,
Helen Torley (04:16):
I'm just reflecting back to the interview
process, which was really withthe members of the board. And I
do think it was an impressionthat I got in that set of
interviews and including withthe CEO at the time, who was
going to be moving on that itwas a great moment in time for
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the company to transition. Theprior CEO to me was actually the
scientific founder. It's histechnology. It's his idea. He
set up the whole thing forsuccess. But there was a
recognition that it was a timewhere the company was moving
more into the need tocommercialize and license the
technologies we had. And sothere was a transition in the
skill set. And so just thatwhole concept that the board and
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the CEO recognized it was a timefor a change, because the
company needed to build morecommercially was obviously a
good signal that there would besupport for a series of cultural
changes to support this newfocus and direction for the
company.
John Simboli (05:13):
When you were thinking about how to articulate
ahead of time what yourmanagement approach would be, do
you recall how you weredescribing that at the time and
how you perhaps how you woulddescribe it now?
Helen Torley (05:25):
I don't think it's changed a lot. I will say,
because I've had a good numberof leadership roles over the 20
years before I came to Halozymeand I've learned a lot in
different companies, differentsettings and different
experiences. I also reflect onthe lessons I've had as to when
I was working in a company whereI was inspired by the
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leadership, I knew how I wascontributing, and how important
I was to where the company wasgoing to go. And all of that I
think comes together in whatbecame my management approach
and my leadership approach. Andit really, you know, four or
five key principles, assureeveryone knows what the vision
and the purpose is in thecompany, we do a great exercise
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where every employee expressestheir purpose, which connects
you to the greater good thatwe're doing here in the company.
You always have to set clearobjectives and goals that
include what's expected. Andwhen 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 theteam have at it if you'd like.
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You hire smart and great peopleand say, this is what needs to
get done. Off you gocollaborate, work together with
a team, bring together diversepoints of view, and then come up
with a plan and execute. Andthat's really has worked
incredibly well, because peoplelove to be empowered to get
things done. I think celebratingsuccesses, but celebrating
failures and what we learnedfrom them is something I've
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learned as well. If you don'tcelebrate failures, people won't
take risks. And if you're tryingto do innovation, then that
isn't a good mix. So you've gotto recognize and celebrate
failures, but importantly, whatyou learn from them. I'm a great
believer in a no politics, nofavorites, culture. And for
holding everybody equallyaccountable for living the
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values of the company. Therecan't be a difference at
different levels as to what theexpectations for behavior are.
And the underlying one that hasbeen the most important, as I
talked about my earlierexperiences from companies grew
and success group (07:23):
remember to say thank you. Express gratitude
in multiple ways to recognizethe amazing team who are making
the effort to drive thingsforward in our mission for
patients. And it isn't alwaysmonetary rewards it is as simple
as dropping by to say thank you.
Celebrating with pictures at allhands, we do all sorts of things
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to try and remember to expressgratitude, because people work
very hard. And when they go theextra mile, it is so important,
and so motivating to recognizethat and express that gratitude.
John Simboli (07:57):
Can you recall the difference between what you
anticipated being a CEO would belike and then the reality of it?
Helen Torley (08:03):
I do. And I had a slightly different experience,
interestingly, where I probablyfelt I was over empowered as a
CEO to just drive change. And Icame in with a lot of informed
points of view aboutcommercialization, but perhaps
did not pause enough to listento different board perspectives
on different programs tounderstand why they had got to
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where they were. And so I wasvery peremptory in saying, I
don't think you should be in thediabetes area, because I don't
see the commercial opportunity.
Well, people had vested a lot oftime and thinking that for me to
very quickly say that that wasnot appropriate. So, you know, I
got feedback at that point intime that working with the
board, and you have to figureout how that is. You think I'm
the CEO now, they want me tomake decisions. But they don't
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want you to make independentdecisions without consulting and
making sure they're followingyour thought process.
Ultimately, they agreed with myrecommendation, but I didn't
engage them in my thoughtprocess. The analytics, you
know, the data I was bringing tothe table in a way that brought
them along. So that was mybiggest thing is it's no
different than working with myteam, frankly, where as the CEO,
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if you just dictate somethingyou don't get buy in, it's not
going to work. You have to buildit with the team, you have to
share why you're making aparticular decision. I approach
it exactly the same way with theboard, where I lay out what's
driving me towards arecommendation in a way that
allows them to ask questions,debate it with us, and you get
to much better decisions alwayswith that process. I just made
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the mistake in my first year tothink oh, they want me to be
telling them where my wiseopinion is now that I'm a first
year CEO. And so I quicklylearned that that is not an
effective approach. And nor isit a good approach. So there we
are. That was my first yearexperience.
John Simboli (09:48):
Let's say you're speaking with someone perhaps
through the family who doesn'tknow the biopharma community and
doesn't really understand whatyou do and they say, Well,
Helen, what do you do for aliving? That could be answered
in so many ways depending on thebackground, the person. But
typically how do you start outanswering that?
Helen Torley (10:04):
I talk about working for a company whose
mission is to improve the livesof patients by making the
treatment of serious diseaseseasier by reducing the burden of
treatment for that patient, butalso for their family. And just
really focusing on giving them asense as to what our mission is
(10:24):
to begin with. If I was talkingabout how I spend my time and
what I do at the company, itdoes change depending on what
cycle we're in. I have a heavyoperational focus in the
company. But if I prioritizewhere I believe a CEO should be
spending the time it is workingthroughout the company,
throughout the year on evolvingthe strategy, where we're going
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to go and how we're going to getthere. It is about people and
culture, I dedicate a lot of mytime to that because that is
what has made Halozyme a successso far. And that's what will
carry us into the future.
Operating approach is veryimportant to make sure we're
delivering when you're aprofitable growing company, you
have to keep being profitableand growing. So that takes a lot
of care and attention. And thenit's talking with investors to
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share our story so thatinvestors can understand the
great potential we have as acompany, and how we will grow
which I'm just incrediblyexcited about. And so those are
the four areas where I spend mytime and the percentage differs
depending on which month ithappens to be.
John Simboli (11:29):
Can you recall when you were eight, or nine or
ten, or whatever you think theappropriate age would be to try
to remember oh, this is what Ithought I would be when I became
a grown up and I had a career ina profession that I guess for
most of us, we probablymentioned, what will my parents
want me to say here? Did yourecall an image, a TV show, a
book you'd read, a relative whohad anything that made you think
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that this is what I want to do,it doesn't have anything to do
with what you do professionally?
Helen Torley (11:54):
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 justwant to be an archaeologist. I
wanted to be an Egyptologist, Iwas obsessed with Egyptology
until my teens and I actuallyapplied to university for both
archaeology and for medicine.
And I was accepted for both. Andthen I had to think what do I
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do? And this is at university inScotland. So we have the
opportunity to go to universitywhen you're 16. And so it was in
five years I could be anarchaeologist or five years, I
could be a doctor. And I doremember talking about it with
my parents, I come from a longfamily line of doctors. But no
pressure, absolutely no pressurefrom the family to say I should
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go into medicine. For somereason, I was very pragmatic and
realized in five years, I couldbe a doctor with a job. Or in
five years, I could be one ofhundreds of people trying to
chase down the two Egyptologyroles there are in the world.
And so I took the option to goand study medicine, become a
doctor. I became arheumatologist and loved it.
I've been very passionate aboutmy medical career. I still enjoy
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reading, especially over thelast couple of years, all of the
new findings and advances aboutwhat we've learned about life in
ancient Egypt. But yes, I didnot pursue that course,
fortunately,
John Simboli (13:15):
You made me think of something about changing
perspective just now. So whenyou're a physician, you have the
opportunity, if you're lucky tohelp one patient at a time and
change a life. And I'm surewould be a profound experience,
the work that you're doing nowobviously can potentially change
lots of lives in a differentway. So it's a different way of
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working. So can you remember ordo you have any thoughts about
how you made that transition?
Was that a conscious thing? Howdo I let go this, how do I grab
a hold of this?
Helen Torley (13:46):
I had the interesting opportunity to go
from being a clinicalinvestigator in a new agent for
rheumatoid arthritis. And, youknow, this was in the mid 80s,
when we were treating rheumatoidarthritis with gold,
D-penicillamine, sulfasalazine.
None of the agents we have todaythat made such a difference for
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patients, but I was working on acyclosporine, which was a new
agent. So the opportunity camefor me to come and lead the
clinical program and lead thatthrough to FDA approval. And
exactly what you said, John, therecognition that patients needed
other options, they needed tohave this in a way to be able to
slow down that pace ofprogression that patients were
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seeing in terms of jointdestruction. And so we ended up
doing some interesting studiesthat showed the beginning of
some disease modification. Andso I was very proud to make that
transition to come in and workin the clinical program, really
with the patient at the fore andfiguring out where will this
fit? How do we do studies thatdon't just say here's another
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option, but how should they useit to these before or after
gold, that type of thing. Sothat ability to influence was
important. I stayed in theclinical side of things for a
few years, but just based on thecompanies I was working in, the
strategy for drug developmentwas kept being set in
commercial. And so that'sactually why I made the
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transition over to commercial,which wasn't, it wasn't an easy
transition. I do remember a lotof resistance and a very famous
head of commercial in oneorganization say, you're female,
you're Scottish and a doctor.
You cannot work in marketing.
And it's like, Okay, I will, Iwill get there. So I did finally
find somebody who was asupporter of my ambition to move
more into the commercial side.
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And it really was that passionto say, look, I think this is
how patients will will thinkabout this, or we should do some
research and ask these questionsbecause it could be this, this
or this. And I think it's, it'sso important, we as drug
developers understand where theunmet need is, and what will
help the patient or the doctorto know how to use the drug to
help the patient. And that's,that's how I transitioned into
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the industry. I missed clinicalpractice for years. I go home to
Scotland a lot. And for manyyears, my patients were still
alive. But again, I say at thetime, it was when rheumatoid
arthritis was a rapidly fatal,fatal disease, before the anti
TNF agents have transformedcare. And so I've just been
thrilled to watch how thesediseases are just so much better
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treated. But I played my littlepart on a drug that was
important for a few years beforethe big and important agents
like the anti TNF agents cameinto existence. I think people
don't always, especially ifyou're in the medical
profession, or around themedical profession truly
understand what you can do inthe industry, as a clinician and
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as a physician. And as a ChiefCommercial Officer. It's like
what do you meet Helen? Or as ahead of sales, I've been a head
of sales. So like, why would youwant to do that? All my old
physician friends weredumbfounded that I would take on
a role like that. But it all ishelping the patient in different
ways, we're all contributing.
John Simboli (16:54):
When people ask you who is Halozyme? How do you
like to answer?
Helen Torley (16:57):
Similarly to what I describe as what I'm part of,
we're a company and a team thatis passionate in finding new
ways to deliver drugs forpatients who are suffering from
some of the most seriousdiseases so that they can
receive that treatment in a waythat reduces the burden for
them, and for their families.
And that's important, becausethen they can start focusing on
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their recovery. And getting backto their normal lives. One of
our technologies is to be ableto transform drugs that need to
be given in lengthy IVinfusions. And they've been
given in just minutes underneaththe skin. I don't know if you've
had family members who have hadto go to infusion suites, they
generally are 60, 90 minutesaway, you're there for four to
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six hours, you're awaitingrelease for another one to two
hours, and then it's 90 minutesto get home. It's an entire day
when you're trying to recover.
And so we are excited to be partof taking important drugs like
Janssen's Darzalex, which isusually four to six hours as an
infusion, is given in three tofive minutes Sub-Q. That is
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transformative for the patientand for the experience they will
have. And that's just oneexample of why we're so
passionate about what we can doto be a part of taking our great
partner drugs, but helping themimpact patients in an even more
positive manner.
John Simboli (18:19):
When people initially hear you talking about
the company the way you justdid, and they may misunderstand
or they may have a filter on it,and they may put you in the
category that you don't feelthat you're part of, what would
those categories tend to be andthen how would you help them to
get back on track?
Helen Torley (18:35):
So we have a licensing business. We license
our technology to leadingpartners with 12 partnerships
today with household names likeRoche, Janssen, Argenx.
Sometimes when people hear of alicensing business, you think
you just allow them access toyour therapy, but we are an
incredibly complex operationalcompany. Firstly, we oversee the
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production and release of thedrug product that is combined
with the partner product tocreate a co formulated drug that
can then be given subcutaneouslyin just minutes. So there's a
lot of operational oversightthere. But also when we kick off
working on a program and I'lluse Darzalex as an example, but
we also have approvals forHerceptin given under the skin
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MabThera or rituximab, givenunder the skin. We've formed co
development teams, with ourpartners and our experts from
Halozyme, be it in CMC andregulatory formulation,
toxicology, sit side by side andshare our expertise about the
subcutaneous space,formulations, regulatory
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pathways, and ideas that we havelearned from other partners
we've worked with to help shapeand increase the probability of
success and the speed of thedevelopment for the partner. I
was actually just talking to aCEO in another company we work
with whose drug just gotapproved as a Sub-Q. And he's
very clear and complimentary tosay, we would never have got it
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done without your team. And Ithink that that influence and
expertise we bring as part ofthis licensing deal isn't always
as visible or as wellunderstood, as people would
think. And then the second one Ialways like to start when I'm
talking with investors saying,we are a profitable biotech
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company. And that brings a smileto people's faces, because not
many biotech companies areprofitable. And we're profitable
because of our business modelwhere we don't actually have to
invest to do the clinicalstudies or the
commercialization. So the teamswe have do what I mentioned,
they are advisory, and weoversee production or release of
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the API. This means that myoperating expenses are low, but
my revenues are high. And thisis why we have got such a
profitable, strong cash flowcompany. And again, I think just
people recognizing the more derisk nature, but the high gross
margin nature is something thatpeople are surprised by. But
once they understand ourbusiness model, they understand
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that a lot better.
John Simboli (21:06):
That sounded like a compelling argument to me. And
I wonder if you ever get thedreaded "that sounds great, why
hasn't anyone else done that?"question. Do you ever get that?
Helen Torley (21:17):
We do we do. And, you know, everybody is always
John Simboli (21:18):
When you're trying to describe how it is that a
wanting to understand thelongevity of the revenues. And I
think from our perspective, itcomes back to the scientific
founder of the company, GregFoss, the CEO that I took over
from. He created a very strongand compelling patent suite, to
defend the inventions that hadbeen created by Halozyme. And so
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I'd say that is the you know,the first the core reason we
have terrific expertise, andwe'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 interms of the expertise, the
track record of success, thesafety track record of our
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drugs. So you take two biologicstogether, you're always going to
be worried about immunogenicityor some unexpected event. We now
have over 800,000 patients whohave received our technology. So
that's a great safety databasefor partners to be able to look
at to get themselves somecomfort that there's not going
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to be any surprises. And thenwe've got 10 years of reliable
supply of the API. And so whatstarts with the great patent
estate now is the reputation andthe operational excellence of
subcutaneous model can take theplace, can supplement, can be a
the team.
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better patient experience thanthan the traditional infusion
model, how do you explain themechanism by which you're able
to do that?
Helen Torley (22:51):
If we're talking about our enhanced technology,
let me start by saying thatthroughout our body, we have a
sugar or a glycosaminoglycanthat's called hyaluronan. It's a
shock absorber in your kneejoints, it's behind your eyes,
it's also part of thesubcutaneous space. And it's
part of what gives your skinthat nice elasticity. It
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attracts lots of water moleculesand forms, if you like, a gel
that just helps give yoursubcutaneous space structure. So
our enzyme is a hyaluronidase,which means that it targets and
degrades the hyaluronan and bydoing so it works virtually
instantaneously. And it createschannels so that your hyaluronan
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disappears for 24 hours. Butthen when you try to inject
fluid in, if you didn't have ourenzyme, after about one mL, you
start to get a lot of backpressure and you get a bled.
It's sore, it gets injurated.
With our enzyme because it'sworking immediately to break
these channels. The fluid youinject spreads more extensively,
creates a little pancake if youlike, it can get exposed to the
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lymphatics in the case ofmonoclonal antibodies, and can
get absorbed. And so what wefind is with Darzalex, I'll use
that example, is a volume of 15mLS. That is injected under the
skin by a healthcarepractitioner in just three to
five minutes. And so it'samazing to see and it's amazing
versus the four to six hours forthe IV because as an IV it has
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to go in very slowly becausepatients can have an allergic
reaction. So it just is a hugecontrast. 24 hours later, your
skin returns to visibly, yourskin always looks normal except
for maybe a little bit ofswelling, maybe a little bit of
redness in some patients. Butthe structure of the skin also
returns to normal in 24 to 36hours. And so you can you create
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a little depo for a moment, thatthen the hyaluronidase
regenerates and your skin isback to normal. It's an
amazingly simple, eleganttechnology and what our partners
do is they co formulate it withtheir drugs, and then it's
injected in just that period oftime. Our most recent drug that
just got approved is from abiotech company called Argenx, a
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new treatment for patients withmyasthenia gravis, a severe
autoimmune disease. That is a 30to 90 second injection, and it's
a five ml. And over time, forthe most part our drugs today,
healthcare practitioners aregiving them usually because the
parent drug needs a bit ofobservation. But we have
partners who definitely havevisions for patients be able to
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be doing this in their home, sothat they don't even have to go
to an infusion suite to gettreatment. And that's where
healthcare is headed. That'swhat we're excited to be a part
of that the patients are nothaving the cost expense, and
frankly, the exhaustion ofgetting themselves to an
infusion suite. And we have asecond technology, which are
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auto injectors. Those injectdrugs that are one and 2.25 mLs
today, but we're very excited tohave combined our auto injector
expertise and ENHANZE. And weare just experimenting with
being able to inject up to 10mLs, which should be suitable
for some biologic drugs, againso the patient can get more
control of their disease, theirtreatment. And that's our vision
(26:05):
for where we're going withsubcutaneous delivery.
John Simboli (26:11):
Do you talk about the pipeline in terms of it
being your vision for thestrategy of the company or is
that an appropriate way to talkabout because your company is a
bit different.
Helen Torley (26:22):
today, we've got six approved products using our
technology, we have got 14 inphase one to phase three
development. And we actuallyexpect another three approvals
in the next two years. And thenfrom the auto injector point of
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view, we've got three partnerstoday. And we want to be
expanding the number of autoinjector partners as well. So we
count each program that'sadvancing as our pipeline. And
we grow that through outreach tocompanies to say, "Have you
heard of our technology? Here'swhat we think this could do for
patients. Here's what we thinkthis could do for your
competitive differentiation."But as our visibility has grown,
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people also have heard of thetechnology and come to us asking
about using our technologies aswell. And each of these are
licensing models or use of ourtechnology. So we do have great
ambitions to go beyond the 12partners on ENHANZE and the
three partners on devices toexpand that and expand the
number of programs indevelopment. And because I
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mentioned that lean flexiblebusiness model where we're not
actually doing the clinicalstudies or the development,
we're able to add programs in avery efficient way.
John Simboli (27:39):
When you talk about the pipeline do you talk
about, do you think about, doyou articulate the development
of other platforms, otherenzymes, or is it too early to
talk about that?
Helen Torley (27:48):
So our strategy for growth is indeed to acquire
other drug deliverytechnologies, ideally a
licensing type model, because wethink there's even more can be
done for patients to reduce theburden of treatment, improve
adherence, and potentially evenoutcomes, because that's
ultimately where this is. Theconvenience and helping the
patient with making everytreatment and taking every
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treatment is is incrediblyimportant. And it should be able
to translate into much biggerbenefits for the patient and
their outcomes. And also,frankly, it reduces the cost for
the healthcare system to delivercare and the cost of out of
pocket for the patient. There'smultiple benefits and so we want
to just keep adding to theoptions to be making treatment
(28:32):
as simple as possible.
John Simboli (28:34):
For Halozyme, what makes a good partner?
Helen Torley (28:36):
In thinking about that, I do think it's a shared
vision. And we do have partnerswho are just demonstrating with
every act and every thought thatthe patient is in the center for
them. And that is their mission.
And they will make decisions andchoices that really are to try
and not just get a great therapyforward, but think about the
patient in totality and thinkabout how that treatment
(28:58):
experience is going to be. Iwould say all companies are
definitely thinking about thatway more than they did 10 years
ago, or 20 years ago. So itdefinitely is a trend as people
recognize cost of care isincreasing. And so we gotta keep
improving it. But just tohighlight a couple of partners
that really do put the patientat the forefront. And Roche was
the first big pharma to workwith us. We worked with them on
(29:22):
four drugs today. And they'rejust passionate and committed to
using our technologies usingother devices and other delivery
techniques to just make it assimple and straightforward for
the patient as possible. We loveworking with Viiv, they're a
subsidiary of GSK. They have,their only focus is HIV, and
their only goal in life is totreat and prevent HIV. And so
(29:46):
they have a giant vision whichis to move to every six month
treatment, one injection everysix months. The patient doesn't
have to think about the disease.
And it's just amazing to watchhow that informs how when things
happen in development, they geta surprise or they get, they
just are okay, now we know weneed to do this. It's such a
(30:08):
driving energy. And I'll sayArgenx, with their recent
approval, we're approved for IVthen move to Sub-Q. And for many
of these companies, theyrecognize that moving to Sub-Q
does open up access to patientswho perhaps can't get to
infusion suites. And again,they're investing to do that,
because it's about the patientat the center. So every company
(30:31):
does it to a degree. But thoseare just three examples that
immediately came to mind wherewe are energized by their
passion for what they're tryingto do for their patients.
John Simboli (30:40):
Does your subcutaneous option for
delivering drugs, does that inany way simplify patient's life
in terms of when they can getthe infusion, where they can get
the infusion? I Imagine allthese things come together. But
what's it mean, on a humanlevel?
Helen Torley (30:57):
Yep, you're spot on. Some of our drugs still have
to be given in a physicianoffice or in a hospital because
there is a period ofobservation. But we've got other
drugs that you're exactly right.
And if they are given in thoseinfusion suites, or hospitals,
they can be given in minutes,not hours. So that treatment
experience. But I'll give you anexample. Roche recently just
(31:20):
reported positive phase threedata for the subcutaneous
version of Ocrevus, which is thenumber one treatment for
patients with multiplesclerosis. And they'd been very
clear that they have been doingthat because they've noticed
that there's a restriction oncapacity in infusion sites.
Patients can't get in on time.
But then also some patientscan't get infusion sites around
(31:42):
the world. They just are too faraway, you've got to drive two,
four, five hours. And so they'revery excited that Sub-Q will
allow patients to be treated incenters where there are no
infusion suites, or even in thephysician office. And I think
that's a great example as towhat we're able to do. Same will
happen with multiple ones of ourproducts. So it can be short,
(32:03):
but also we can change where itcan be done. And that's going to
happen for oncology, autoimmunediseases, neurology, certain
indications of each of those. Ofcourse you've got to put patient
safety first, but it'll just beamazing. You know, I've gone
through various types ofinfusion suite experiences
myself, and it was a 90 minutedrive there and a 90 minute
(32:25):
drive back and it was horrendousto the point of like, okay, I
don't want to do this anymore.
Because the whole day was sochallenging. I know patients
face that all the time. So thiswill be great.If I could have
just popped into my local GP.
John Simboli (32:39):
How was it that Halozyme chose to be located in
San Diego?
Helen Torley (32:44):
It actually was down to the scientific founder,
Greg Frost, who had done his PhDthesis at UCSF. And then I
understand that he came down toSan Diego to work in the
laboratory here that was veryfamous to continue his
postgraduate studies. And Ithink during that he is a
brilliant entrepreneur. Hedecided he would set up a
(33:07):
company, he found venturebackers, and managed to take the
company for a few years with theventure backers, and then
transitioned us to a publiccompany in 2006. I don't think
Greg was from San Diego, but hewas doing his postdoc work down
here. And this was his whole PhDthesis. So the whole concept and
trying different areas to workin is what started out Halozyme
(33:32):
under Greg's leadership andvision.
John Simboli (33:33):
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?
Helen Torley (33:44):
Yeah, I have.
Obviously in medicine, in theNational Health Service in the
UK, so that was a uniqueexperience and a terrific
experience. But in the US, I'veworked in multiple companies in
New Jersey, Los Angeles, SanFrancisco and San Diego. So I've
been around in the last periodof time, 20 years more on the
West Coast. You know, San Diegois a great place to work, we can
(34:05):
attract and have greatscientists coming from the very
vibrant biotech community thatexists in San Diego and the
great universities. I would saythe one thing and you know
Halozyme at different times hasbeen commercializing drugs
ourselves or seeking tocommercialize drugs ourself.
That commercial experience ismore limited in San Diego. We
(34:26):
certainly tend to have to hirefrom perhaps the East Coast if
we're looking for people whohave taken drugs through late
stage phase three intocommercial launch into lifecycle
management, Medical Affairstypes of things. I have found
that the experience just by thenature of this being more of an
incubator for innovation, thanthere are a few large biotechs
(34:48):
here that have grown and wereacquired. But that would be the
only difference. Great talent,maybe not as much commercial
experience as I find for examplein the East Coast.
John Simboli (35:00):
As you think forward to the next stage of
development in biopharma and howyou would like to contribute,
have you identified anyparticular areas that are
especially intriguing for you?
Helen Torley (35:11):
Obviously, I'm very focused on drug delivery
and where drug delivery can go.
But in parallel to that, I thinkhas to come track carefully,
participating in more and more,especially with the Inflation
Reduction Act and other policiesthat, you know, having us all
look to say, "How will thisimpact patients?" How can we
assure that we are helpingreduce the burden for patients
(35:34):
in a way that is going to not beat odds with them and being able
to access the drugs? And so Ithink that's something all
pharmaceutical and biotechcompanies are very focused on
today is making sure we arebringing clear value for our
agents. And you heard me talkabout all of the benefits of our
Sub-Q delivery. Less time, thatmeans less cost, means less out
(35:55):
of pocket potentially for thepatient. So we are very focused
on our value story and makingsure everybody understands that
in the context of how policy isevolving.
John Simboli (36:07):
Helen, thanks for speaking with me today.
Helen Torley (36:09):
John, it's been a pleasure. It's always terrific
to talk about our wonderfulcompany Halozyme which is made
great by the terrific employeeswe have here.
Today I'm speaking with Helen Torley, CEO of
(00:03):
Halozyme, headquartered in SanDiego. Welcome to BioBoss,
Helen.
Helen Torley (00:08):
Thank you. We're delighted to be here.
John Simboli (00:10):
Helen, what led to your role as CEO of Halozyme?
Helen Torley (00:13):
Yes, I've actually been in this role now for
approaching 10 years. And if Ilook back at my journey, I
started in the healthcare systemas a physician, practicing and
specializing in rheumatology.
And I joined the industry toactually lead the clinical
program that I was a clinicalinvestigator for. Through my
time in the industry, I've hadthe pleasure to be exposed and
(00:33):
work in clinical development,medical affairs, marketing,
sales, global marketing, becomea general manager, become a
Chief Commercial Officer, andthen after that I decided why
not take on the role and becomea CEO. Really, what drives me is
this passion that our industryis making amazing advances for
patients. It's actually almost40 years since I graduated from
(00:55):
medical school, and diseaseslike multiple myeloma have gone
from three year survival to 12plus years survival. I'm very
proud to be part of the industryand to be part of this mission
we have to be improving andextending patient lives.
John Simboli (01:12):
When you were looking at the various options
for your next step as you wereworking through heading
commercial operations and otherparts within biopharma
community. And you must haveseen lots of opportunities that
you thought that that might beinteresting. And then, at some
point, can you recall what whatit was that flagged Halozyme for
(01:33):
you and made you think I thinkI'd really want to investigate
this as a possibility.
Helen Torley (01:37):
Firstly, I made the decision to try and become a
CEO. And then I looked for thecompany and why I wanted to
become a CEO really was theexperience I had at a small
biotech company, where I was theChief Commercial Officer. And
because it was a small company,we all pitched in to get things
done. We got surprises, ourchief medical officer retired
(01:58):
before a big ODAC FDA advisorycommittee. So I had some
experience there, was able topitch in. I had the opportunity
to be participating in anexpansion we're doing globally,
perhaps a bit more of a ChiefOperating Officer role. And I
got all these experiences and itjust seemed like the natural
next step for me to say, whydon't you become a CEO, and
(02:18):
importantly, see whether I couldbe able to lead a company to
deliver amazing businesssuccess. But while we maintain
the super culture. And I've beenin several fantastic companies,
but as they grew they lost alittle bit of sight of the
culture, and it became less funto work there. And so that
really became my passion and mymission: can we do business
(02:39):
success with a great culture?
And so then I started lookingaround for opportunities, and
there weren't many female CEOsof public biotech companies at
that time. So it was quite hard.
And what I did was actually workwith a communications coach to
help me identify my valueproposition as to why a board
should think of adding me tolead a public company. And then
(03:00):
I looked for companies that hadassets that were not early
clinical, or that really is notwhere I specialize I'm much more
of a commercialization, "whatdoes the patient need?" How do
we help doctors understand howto use the drug? And so I looked
for companies that had laterstage assets and data readouts
coming. So I had an opportunityto shape where the company could
(03:21):
go and grow that company andgrow revenues. And Halozyme at
that point in time, had fourprograms that were ongoing, all
of which had recent data readouts or were having data
readouts, that would help definewhich ones would have the
greatest commercial success. Andso I could participate in that
shaping of the strategy andwhere we take the company. And
(03:42):
that's really what attracted meto Halozyme, great technology,
but lots of shots on goalbecause it's a high risk
business. And so going into acompany that had a single asset
just didn't make sense to me. Iwanted to have options. And
obviously, 10 years ago, we'veplayed out some of those
options. Some of them worked,some of them didn't work, but
(04:02):
that is our business.
John Simboli (04:04):
Was there anything, when you first found
out about Halozyme, when youfirst identified that as a
possibility that made you thinkthis is a place that would be
open to the approach or thatpoint of view I have about
culture,
Helen Torley (04:16):
I'm just reflecting back to the interview
process, which was really withthe members of the board. And I
do think it was an impressionthat I got in that set of
interviews and including withthe CEO at the time, who was
going to be moving on that itwas a great moment in time for
(04:36):
the company to transition. Theprior CEO to me was actually the
scientific founder. It's histechnology. It's his idea. He
set up the whole thing forsuccess. But there was a
recognition that it was a timewhere the company was moving
more into the need tocommercialize and license the
technologies we had. And sothere was a transition in the
skill set. And so just thatwhole concept that the board and
(04:59):
the CEO recognized it was a timefor a change, because the
company needed to build morecommercially was obviously a
good signal that there would besupport for a series of cultural
changes to support this newfocus and direction for the
company.
John Simboli (05:13):
When you were thinking about how to articulate
ahead of time what yourmanagement approach would be, do
you recall how you weredescribing that at the time and
how you perhaps how you woulddescribe it now?
Helen Torley (05:25):
I don't think it's changed a lot. I will say,
because I've had a good numberof leadership roles over the 20
years before I came to Halozymeand I've learned a lot in
different companies, differentsettings and different
experiences. I also reflect onthe lessons I've had as to when
I was working in a company whereI was inspired by the
(05:45):
leadership, I knew how I wascontributing, and how important
I was to where the company wasgoing to go. And all of that I
think comes together in whatbecame my management approach
and my leadership approach. Andit really, you know, four or
five key principles, assureeveryone knows what the vision
and the purpose is in thecompany, we do a great exercise
(06:07):
where every employee expressestheir purpose, which connects
you to the greater good thatwe're doing here in the company.
You always have to set clearobjectives and goals that
include what's expected. Andwhen 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 theteam have at it if you'd like.
(06:28):
You hire smart and great peopleand say, this is what needs to
get done. Off you gocollaborate, work together with
a team, bring together diversepoints of view, and then come up
with a plan and execute. Andthat's really has worked
incredibly well, because peoplelove to be empowered to get
things done. I think celebratingsuccesses, but celebrating
failures and what we learnedfrom them is something I've
(06:51):
learned as well. If you don'tcelebrate failures, people won't
take risks. And if you're tryingto do innovation, then that
isn't a good mix. So you've gotto recognize and celebrate
failures, but importantly, whatyou learn from them. I'm a great
believer in a no politics, nofavorites, culture. And for
holding everybody equallyaccountable for living the
(07:11):
values of the company. Therecan't be a difference at
different levels as to what theexpectations for behavior are.
And the underlying one that hasbeen the most important, as I
talked about my earlierexperiences from companies grew
and success group (07:23):
remember to say thank you. Express gratitude
in multiple ways to recognizethe amazing team who are making
the effort to drive thingsforward in our mission for
patients. And it isn't alwaysmonetary rewards it is as simple
as dropping by to say thank you.
Celebrating with pictures at allhands, we do all sorts of things
(07:44):
to try and remember to expressgratitude, because people work
very hard. And when they go theextra mile, it is so important,
and so motivating to recognizethat and express that gratitude.
John Simboli (07:57):
Can you recall the difference between what you
anticipated being a CEO would belike and then the reality of it?
Helen Torley (08:03):
I do. And I had a slightly different experience,
interestingly, where I probablyfelt I was over empowered as a
CEO to just drive change. And Icame in with a lot of informed
points of view aboutcommercialization, but perhaps
did not pause enough to listento different board perspectives
on different programs tounderstand why they had got to
(08:25):
where they were. And so I wasvery peremptory in saying, I
don't think you should be in thediabetes area, because I don't
see the commercial opportunity.
Well, people had vested a lot oftime and thinking that for me to
very quickly say that that wasnot appropriate. So, you know, I
got feedback at that point intime that working with the
board, and you have to figureout how that is. You think I'm
the CEO now, they want me tomake decisions. But they don't
(08:47):
want you to make independentdecisions without consulting and
making sure they're followingyour thought process.
Ultimately, they agreed with myrecommendation, but I didn't
engage them in my thoughtprocess. The analytics, you
know, the data I was bringing tothe table in a way that brought
them along. So that was mybiggest thing is it's no
different than working with myteam, frankly, where as the CEO,
(09:09):
if you just dictate somethingyou don't get buy in, it's not
going to work. You have to buildit with the team, you have to
share why you're making aparticular decision. I approach
it exactly the same way with theboard, where I lay out what's
driving me towards arecommendation in a way that
allows them to ask questions,debate it with us, and you get
to much better decisions alwayswith that process. I just made
(09:32):
the mistake in my first year tothink oh, they want me to be
telling them where my wiseopinion is now that I'm a first
year CEO. And so I quicklylearned that that is not an
effective approach. And nor isit a good approach. So there we
are. That was my first yearexperience.
John Simboli (09:48):
Let's say you're speaking with someone perhaps
through the family who doesn'tknow the biopharma community and
doesn't really understand whatyou do and they say, Well,
Helen, what do you do for aliving? That could be answered
in so many ways depending on thebackground, the person. But
typically how do you start outanswering that?
Helen Torley (10:04):
I talk about working for a company whose
mission is to improve the livesof patients by making the
treatment of serious diseaseseasier by reducing the burden of
treatment for that patient, butalso for their family. And just
really focusing on giving them asense as to what our mission is
(10:24):
to begin with. If I was talkingabout how I spend my time and
what I do at the company, itdoes change depending on what
cycle we're in. I have a heavyoperational focus in the
company. But if I prioritizewhere I believe a CEO should be
spending the time it is workingthroughout the company,
throughout the year on evolvingthe strategy, where we're going
(10:44):
to go and how we're going to getthere. It is about people and
culture, I dedicate a lot of mytime to that because that is
what has made Halozyme a successso far. And that's what will
carry us into the future.
Operating approach is veryimportant to make sure we're
delivering when you're aprofitable growing company, you
have to keep being profitableand growing. So that takes a lot
of care and attention. And thenit's talking with investors to
(11:07):
share our story so thatinvestors can understand the
great potential we have as acompany, and how we will grow
which I'm just incrediblyexcited about. And so those are
the four areas where I spend mytime and the percentage differs
depending on which month ithappens to be.
John Simboli (11:29):
Can you recall when you were eight, or nine or
ten, or whatever you think theappropriate age would be to try
to remember oh, this is what Ithought I would be when I became
a grown up and I had a career ina profession that I guess for
most of us, we probablymentioned, what will my parents
want me to say here? Did yourecall an image, a TV show, a
book you'd read, a relative whohad anything that made you think
(11:50):
that this is what I want to do,it doesn't have anything to do
with what you do professionally?
Helen Torley (11:54):
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 justwant to be an archaeologist. I
wanted to be an Egyptologist, Iwas obsessed with Egyptology
until my teens and I actuallyapplied to university for both
archaeology and for medicine.
And I was accepted for both. Andthen I had to think what do I
(12:17):
do? And this is at university inScotland. So we have the
opportunity to go to universitywhen you're 16. And so it was in
five years I could be anarchaeologist or five years, I
could be a doctor. And I doremember talking about it with
my parents, I come from a longfamily line of doctors. But no
pressure, absolutely no pressurefrom the family to say I should
(12:38):
go into medicine. For somereason, I was very pragmatic and
realized in five years, I couldbe a doctor with a job. Or in
five years, I could be one ofhundreds of people trying to
chase down the two Egyptologyroles there are in the world.
And so I took the option to goand study medicine, become a
doctor. I became arheumatologist and loved it.
I've been very passionate aboutmy medical career. I still enjoy
(13:01):
reading, especially over thelast couple of years, all of the
new findings and advances aboutwhat we've learned about life in
ancient Egypt. But yes, I didnot pursue that course,
fortunately,
John Simboli (13:15):
You made me think of something about changing
perspective just now. So whenyou're a physician, you have the
opportunity, if you're lucky tohelp one patient at a time and
change a life. And I'm surewould be a profound experience,
the work that you're doing nowobviously can potentially change
lots of lives in a differentway. So it's a different way of
(13:37):
working. So can you remember ordo you have any thoughts about
how you made that transition?
Was that a conscious thing? Howdo I let go this, how do I grab
a hold of this?
Helen Torley (13:46):
I had the interesting opportunity to go
from being a clinicalinvestigator in a new agent for
rheumatoid arthritis. And, youknow, this was in the mid 80s,
when we were treating rheumatoidarthritis with gold,
D-penicillamine, sulfasalazine.
None of the agents we have todaythat made such a difference for
(14:06):
patients, but I was working on acyclosporine, which was a new
agent. So the opportunity camefor me to come and lead the
clinical program and lead thatthrough to FDA approval. And
exactly what you said, John, therecognition that patients needed
other options, they needed tohave this in a way to be able to
slow down that pace ofprogression that patients were
(14:28):
seeing in terms of jointdestruction. And so we ended up
doing some interesting studiesthat showed the beginning of
some disease modification. Andso I was very proud to make that
transition to come in and workin the clinical program, really
with the patient at the fore andfiguring out where will this
fit? How do we do studies thatdon't just say here's another
(14:48):
option, but how should they useit to these before or after
gold, that type of thing. Sothat ability to influence was
important. I stayed in theclinical side of things for a
few years, but just based on thecompanies I was working in, the
strategy for drug developmentwas kept being set in
commercial. And so that'sactually why I made the
(15:09):
transition over to commercial,which wasn't, it wasn't an easy
transition. I do remember a lotof resistance and a very famous
head of commercial in oneorganization say, you're female,
you're Scottish and a doctor.
You cannot work in marketing.
And it's like, Okay, I will, Iwill get there. So I did finally
find somebody who was asupporter of my ambition to move
more into the commercial side.
(15:33):
And it really was that passionto say, look, I think this is
how patients will will thinkabout this, or we should do some
research and ask these questionsbecause it could be this, this
or this. And I think it's, it'sso important, we as drug
developers understand where theunmet need is, and what will
help the patient or the doctorto know how to use the drug to
help the patient. And that's,that's how I transitioned into
(15:56):
the industry. I missed clinicalpractice for years. I go home to
Scotland a lot. And for manyyears, my patients were still
alive. But again, I say at thetime, it was when rheumatoid
arthritis was a rapidly fatal,fatal disease, before the anti
TNF agents have transformedcare. And so I've just been
thrilled to watch how thesediseases are just so much better
(16:16):
treated. But I played my littlepart on a drug that was
important for a few years beforethe big and important agents
like the anti TNF agents cameinto existence. I think people
don't always, especially ifyou're in the medical
profession, or around themedical profession truly
understand what you can do inthe industry, as a clinician and
(16:37):
as a physician. And as a ChiefCommercial Officer. It's like
what do you meet Helen? Or as ahead of sales, I've been a head
of sales. So like, why would youwant to do that? All my old
physician friends weredumbfounded that I would take on
a role like that. But it all ishelping the patient in different
ways, we're all contributing.
John Simboli (16:54):
When people ask you who is Halozyme? How do you
like to answer?
Helen Torley (16:57):
Similarly to what I describe as what I'm part of,
we're a company and a team thatis passionate in finding new
ways to deliver drugs forpatients who are suffering from
some of the most seriousdiseases so that they can
receive that treatment in a waythat reduces the burden for
them, and for their families.
And that's important, becausethen they can start focusing on
(17:19):
their recovery. And getting backto their normal lives. One of
our technologies is to be ableto transform drugs that need to
be given in lengthy IVinfusions. And they've been
given in just minutes underneaththe skin. I don't know if you've
had family members who have hadto go to infusion suites, they
generally are 60, 90 minutesaway, you're there for four to
(17:40):
six hours, you're awaitingrelease for another one to two
hours, and then it's 90 minutesto get home. It's an entire day
when you're trying to recover.
And so we are excited to be partof taking important drugs like
Janssen's Darzalex, which isusually four to six hours as an
infusion, is given in three tofive minutes Sub-Q. That is
(18:03):
transformative for the patientand for the experience they will
have. And that's just oneexample of why we're so
passionate about what we can doto be a part of taking our great
partner drugs, but helping themimpact patients in an even more
positive manner.
John Simboli (18:19):
When people initially hear you talking about
the company the way you justdid, and they may misunderstand
or they may have a filter on it,and they may put you in the
category that you don't feelthat you're part of, what would
those categories tend to be andthen how would you help them to
get back on track?
Helen Torley (18:35):
So we have a licensing business. We license
our technology to leadingpartners with 12 partnerships
today with household names likeRoche, Janssen, Argenx.
Sometimes when people hear of alicensing business, you think
you just allow them access toyour therapy, but we are an
incredibly complex operationalcompany. Firstly, we oversee the
(18:58):
production and release of thedrug product that is combined
with the partner product tocreate a co formulated drug that
can then be given subcutaneouslyin just minutes. So there's a
lot of operational oversightthere. But also when we kick off
working on a program and I'lluse Darzalex as an example, but
we also have approvals forHerceptin given under the skin
(19:21):
MabThera or rituximab, givenunder the skin. We've formed co
development teams, with ourpartners and our experts from
Halozyme, be it in CMC andregulatory formulation,
toxicology, sit side by side andshare our expertise about the
subcutaneous space,formulations, regulatory
(19:41):
pathways, and ideas that we havelearned from other partners
we've worked with to help shapeand increase the probability of
success and the speed of thedevelopment for the partner. I
was actually just talking to aCEO in another company we work
with whose drug just gotapproved as a Sub-Q. And he's
very clear and complimentary tosay, we would never have got it
(20:03):
done without your team. And Ithink that that influence and
expertise we bring as part ofthis licensing deal isn't always
as visible or as wellunderstood, as people would
think. And then the second one Ialways like to start when I'm
talking with investors saying,we are a profitable biotech
(20:24):
company. And that brings a smileto people's faces, because not
many biotech companies areprofitable. And we're profitable
because of our business modelwhere we don't actually have to
invest to do the clinicalstudies or the
commercialization. So the teamswe have do what I mentioned,
they are advisory, and weoversee production or release of
(20:44):
the API. This means that myoperating expenses are low, but
my revenues are high. And thisis why we have got such a
profitable, strong cash flowcompany. And again, I think just
people recognizing the more derisk nature, but the high gross
margin nature is something thatpeople are surprised by. But
once they understand ourbusiness model, they understand
(21:04):
that a lot better.
John Simboli (21:06):
That sounded like a compelling argument to me. And
I wonder if you ever get thedreaded "that sounds great, why
hasn't anyone else done that?"question. Do you ever get that?
Helen Torley (21:17):
We do we do. And, you know, everybody is always
John Simboli (21:18):
When you're trying to describe how it is that a
wanting to understand thelongevity of the revenues. And I
think from our perspective, itcomes back to the scientific
founder of the company, GregFoss, the CEO that I took over
from. He created a very strongand compelling patent suite, to
defend the inventions that hadbeen created by Halozyme. And so
(21:41):
I'd say that is the you know,the first the core reason we
have terrific expertise, andwe'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 interms of the expertise, the
track record of success, thesafety track record of our
(22:01):
drugs. So you take two biologicstogether, you're always going to
be worried about immunogenicityor some unexpected event. We now
have over 800,000 patients whohave received our technology. So
that's a great safety databasefor partners to be able to look
at to get themselves somecomfort that there's not going
(22:22):
to be any surprises. And thenwe've got 10 years of reliable
supply of the API. And so whatstarts with the great patent
estate now is the reputation andthe operational excellence of
subcutaneous model can take theplace, can supplement, can be a
the team.
(22:43):
better patient experience thanthan the traditional infusion
model, how do you explain themechanism by which you're able
to do that?
Helen Torley (22:51):
If we're talking about our enhanced technology,
let me start by saying thatthroughout our body, we have a
sugar or a glycosaminoglycanthat's called hyaluronan. It's a
shock absorber in your kneejoints, it's behind your eyes,
it's also part of thesubcutaneous space. And it's
part of what gives your skinthat nice elasticity. It
(23:13):
attracts lots of water moleculesand forms, if you like, a gel
that just helps give yoursubcutaneous space structure. So
our enzyme is a hyaluronidase,which means that it targets and
degrades the hyaluronan and bydoing so it works virtually
instantaneously. And it createschannels so that your hyaluronan
(23:33):
disappears for 24 hours. Butthen when you try to inject
fluid in, if you didn't have ourenzyme, after about one mL, you
start to get a lot of backpressure and you get a bled.
It's sore, it gets injurated.
With our enzyme because it'sworking immediately to break
these channels. The fluid youinject spreads more extensively,
creates a little pancake if youlike, it can get exposed to the
(23:56):
lymphatics in the case ofmonoclonal antibodies, and can
get absorbed. And so what wefind is with Darzalex, I'll use
that example, is a volume of 15mLS. That is injected under the
skin by a healthcarepractitioner in just three to
five minutes. And so it'samazing to see and it's amazing
versus the four to six hours forthe IV because as an IV it has
(24:19):
to go in very slowly becausepatients can have an allergic
reaction. So it just is a hugecontrast. 24 hours later, your
skin returns to visibly, yourskin always looks normal except
for maybe a little bit ofswelling, maybe a little bit of
redness in some patients. Butthe structure of the skin also
returns to normal in 24 to 36hours. And so you can you create
(24:41):
a little depo for a moment, thatthen the hyaluronidase
regenerates and your skin isback to normal. It's an
amazingly simple, eleganttechnology and what our partners
do is they co formulate it withtheir drugs, and then it's
injected in just that period oftime. Our most recent drug that
just got approved is from abiotech company called Argenx, a
(25:02):
new treatment for patients withmyasthenia gravis, a severe
autoimmune disease. That is a 30to 90 second injection, and it's
a five ml. And over time, forthe most part our drugs today,
healthcare practitioners aregiving them usually because the
parent drug needs a bit ofobservation. But we have
partners who definitely havevisions for patients be able to
(25:22):
be doing this in their home, sothat they don't even have to go
to an infusion suite to gettreatment. And that's where
healthcare is headed. That'swhat we're excited to be a part
of that the patients are nothaving the cost expense, and
frankly, the exhaustion ofgetting themselves to an
infusion suite. And we have asecond technology, which are
(25:43):
auto injectors. Those injectdrugs that are one and 2.25 mLs
today, but we're very excited tohave combined our auto injector
expertise and ENHANZE. And weare just experimenting with
being able to inject up to 10mLs, which should be suitable
for some biologic drugs, againso the patient can get more
control of their disease, theirtreatment. And that's our vision
(26:05):
for where we're going withsubcutaneous delivery.
John Simboli (26:11):
Do you talk about the pipeline in terms of it
being your vision for thestrategy of the company or is
that an appropriate way to talkabout because your company is a
bit different.
Helen Torley (26:22):
today, we've got six approved products using our
technology, we have got 14 inphase one to phase three
development. And we actuallyexpect another three approvals
in the next two years. And thenfrom the auto injector point of
(26:44):
view, we've got three partnerstoday. And we want to be
expanding the number of autoinjector partners as well. So we
count each program that'sadvancing as our pipeline. And
we grow that through outreach tocompanies to say, "Have you
heard of our technology? Here'swhat we think this could do for
patients. Here's what we thinkthis could do for your
competitive differentiation."But as our visibility has grown,
(27:07):
people also have heard of thetechnology and come to us asking
about using our technologies aswell. And each of these are
licensing models or use of ourtechnology. So we do have great
ambitions to go beyond the 12partners on ENHANZE and the
three partners on devices toexpand that and expand the
number of programs indevelopment. And because I
(27:29):
mentioned that lean flexiblebusiness model where we're not
actually doing the clinicalstudies or the development,
we're able to add programs in avery efficient way.
John Simboli (27:39):
When you talk about the pipeline do you talk
about, do you think about, doyou articulate the development
of other platforms, otherenzymes, or is it too early to
talk about that?
Helen Torley (27:48):
So our strategy for growth is indeed to acquire
other drug deliverytechnologies, ideally a
licensing type model, because wethink there's even more can be
done for patients to reduce theburden of treatment, improve
adherence, and potentially evenoutcomes, because that's
ultimately where this is. Theconvenience and helping the
patient with making everytreatment and taking every
(28:11):
treatment is is incrediblyimportant. And it should be able
to translate into much biggerbenefits for the patient and
their outcomes. And also,frankly, it reduces the cost for
the healthcare system to delivercare and the cost of out of
pocket for the patient. There'smultiple benefits and so we want
to just keep adding to theoptions to be making treatment
(28:32):
as simple as possible.
John Simboli (28:34):
For Halozyme, what makes a good partner?
Helen Torley (28:36):
In thinking about that, I do think it's a shared
vision. And we do have partnerswho are just demonstrating with
every act and every thought thatthe patient is in the center for
them. And that is their mission.
And they will make decisions andchoices that really are to try
and not just get a great therapyforward, but think about the
patient in totality and thinkabout how that treatment
(28:58):
experience is going to be. Iwould say all companies are
definitely thinking about thatway more than they did 10 years
ago, or 20 years ago. So itdefinitely is a trend as people
recognize cost of care isincreasing. And so we gotta keep
improving it. But just tohighlight a couple of partners
that really do put the patientat the forefront. And Roche was
the first big pharma to workwith us. We worked with them on
(29:22):
four drugs today. And they'rejust passionate and committed to
using our technologies usingother devices and other delivery
techniques to just make it assimple and straightforward for
the patient as possible. We loveworking with Viiv, they're a
subsidiary of GSK. They have,their only focus is HIV, and
their only goal in life is totreat and prevent HIV. And so
(29:46):
they have a giant vision whichis to move to every six month
treatment, one injection everysix months. The patient doesn't
have to think about the disease.
And it's just amazing to watchhow that informs how when things
happen in development, they geta surprise or they get, they
just are okay, now we know weneed to do this. It's such a
(30:08):
driving energy. And I'll sayArgenx, with their recent
approval, we're approved for IVthen move to Sub-Q. And for many
of these companies, theyrecognize that moving to Sub-Q
does open up access to patientswho perhaps can't get to
infusion suites. And again,they're investing to do that,
because it's about the patientat the center. So every company
(30:31):
does it to a degree. But thoseare just three examples that
immediately came to mind wherewe are energized by their
passion for what they're tryingto do for their patients.
John Simboli (30:40):
Does your subcutaneous option for
delivering drugs, does that inany way simplify patient's life
in terms of when they can getthe infusion, where they can get
the infusion? I Imagine allthese things come together. But
what's it mean, on a humanlevel?
Helen Torley (30:57):
Yep, you're spot on. Some of our drugs still have
to be given in a physicianoffice or in a hospital because
there is a period ofobservation. But we've got other
drugs that you're exactly right.
And if they are given in thoseinfusion suites, or hospitals,
they can be given in minutes,not hours. So that treatment
experience. But I'll give you anexample. Roche recently just
(31:20):
reported positive phase threedata for the subcutaneous
version of Ocrevus, which is thenumber one treatment for
patients with multiplesclerosis. And they'd been very
clear that they have been doingthat because they've noticed
that there's a restriction oncapacity in infusion sites.
Patients can't get in on time.
But then also some patientscan't get infusion sites around
(31:42):
the world. They just are too faraway, you've got to drive two,
four, five hours. And so they'revery excited that Sub-Q will
allow patients to be treated incenters where there are no
infusion suites, or even in thephysician office. And I think
that's a great example as towhat we're able to do. Same will
happen with multiple ones of ourproducts. So it can be short,
(32:03):
but also we can change where itcan be done. And that's going to
happen for oncology, autoimmunediseases, neurology, certain
indications of each of those. Ofcourse you've got to put patient
safety first, but it'll just beamazing. You know, I've gone
through various types ofinfusion suite experiences
myself, and it was a 90 minutedrive there and a 90 minute
(32:25):
drive back and it was horrendousto the point of like, okay, I
don't want to do this anymore.
Because the whole day was sochallenging. I know patients
face that all the time. So thiswill be great.If I could have
just popped into my local GP.
John Simboli (32:39):
How was it that Halozyme chose to be located in
San Diego?
Helen Torley (32:44):
It actually was down to the scientific founder,
Greg Frost, who had done his PhDthesis at UCSF. And then I
understand that he came down toSan Diego to work in the
laboratory here that was veryfamous to continue his
postgraduate studies. And Ithink during that he is a
brilliant entrepreneur. Hedecided he would set up a
(33:07):
company, he found venturebackers, and managed to take the
company for a few years with theventure backers, and then
transitioned us to a publiccompany in 2006. I don't think
Greg was from San Diego, but hewas doing his postdoc work down
here. And this was his whole PhDthesis. So the whole concept and
trying different areas to workin is what started out Halozyme
(33:32):
under Greg's leadership andvision.
John Simboli (33:33):
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?
Helen Torley (33:44):
Yeah, I have.
Obviously in medicine, in theNational Health Service in the
UK, so that was a uniqueexperience and a terrific
experience. But in the US, I'veworked in multiple companies in
New Jersey, Los Angeles, SanFrancisco and San Diego. So I've
been around in the last periodof time, 20 years more on the
West Coast. You know, San Diegois a great place to work, we can
(34:05):
attract and have greatscientists coming from the very
vibrant biotech community thatexists in San Diego and the
great universities. I would saythe one thing and you know
Halozyme at different times hasbeen commercializing drugs
ourselves or seeking tocommercialize drugs ourself.
That commercial experience ismore limited in San Diego. We
(34:26):
certainly tend to have to hirefrom perhaps the East Coast if
we're looking for people whohave taken drugs through late
stage phase three intocommercial launch into lifecycle
management, Medical Affairstypes of things. I have found
that the experience just by thenature of this being more of an
incubator for innovation, thanthere are a few large biotechs
(34:48):
here that have grown and wereacquired. But that would be the
only difference. Great talent,maybe not as much commercial
experience as I find for examplein the East Coast.
John Simboli (35:00):
As you think forward to the next stage of
development in biopharma and howyou would like to contribute,
have you identified anyparticular areas that are
especially intriguing for you?
Helen Torley (35:11):
Obviously, I'm very focused on drug delivery
and where drug delivery can go.
But in parallel to that, I thinkhas to come track carefully,
participating in more and more,especially with the Inflation
Reduction Act and other policiesthat, you know, having us all
look to say, "How will thisimpact patients?" How can we
assure that we are helpingreduce the burden for patients
(35:34):
in a way that is going to not beat odds with them and being able
to access the drugs? And so Ithink that's something all
pharmaceutical and biotechcompanies are very focused on
today is making sure we arebringing clear value for our
agents. And you heard me talkabout all of the benefits of our
Sub-Q delivery. Less time, thatmeans less cost, means less out
(35:55):
of pocket potentially for thepatient. So we are very focused
on our value story and makingsure everybody understands that
in the context of how policy isevolving.
John Simboli (36:07):
Helen, thanks for speaking with me today.
Helen Torley (36:09):
John, it's been a pleasure. It's always terrific
to talk about our wonderfulcompany Halozyme which is made
great by the terrific employeeswe have here.
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