Empowering women in cell and gene therapy: BioTalent hosts the CGT Circle

BioTalent hosted the latest CGT Circle event at The IN Group’s London office on Thursday 6th June 2024. Our panel of life sciences leaders, made up of Charlotte Smerdon (Purespring Therapeutics), Jacqueline Abbas (BioSolutions), Ming Ewe (Smart Biotech Solutions) and Jyothi Kumaran (Laverock Therapeutics), discussed promoting career resilience among women, attracting investment to start-up companies, factors to consider when joining start-ups and advice for coping with redundancy.

Here are the key takeaways:

How to promote resilience for women facing career challenges

In a demanding and often uncertain biotech industry, there was a consensus among the panellists that women often feel they face a trade-off between doing a good job at home and doing a good job at work. In reality, they can be good at both by building their resilience.

It sounds like a contradiction, but vulnerability is an important tool in growing resilience. Don’t be afraid of showing weakness. If you get stuck, be open to asking for help from mentors, coaches or colleagues you really click with.

Having a supportive boss and a team who back you up are a big part of that. When you’re struggling to bond with anyone around you, that’s where the power of your network really comes to the fore.

How to attract investment

The panel shared some useful strategies for start-up companies in the life sciences sector looking to attract early-stage investment.

• Vision: ensure the long-term vision is clear for investors, covering all your key milestones, budgets and inflection points.
• Data: you need to build up a data package to give investors confidence in your manufacturing process and chances of success. Don’t ask for too little funding, or you’ll risk running out before you have the chance to get the data.
• Regulation: there was a feeling that in the start-up environment, regulation is often brought into the process too late. You need to work collectively across the company to deliver the right information to the regulators.

What to consider when joining a start-up

Do your due diligence by looking at the company page on LinkedIn, press coverage and information from Companies House. Understanding the company’s funding will give you an idea of the security and longevity of the role. Ask about the company’s vision, its plan for the next few years, and its culture and values. Don’t underestimate the importance of gut feeling when deciding whether to make the move.

What you could gain in a startup

If you can stay long enough, the stock options could be quite lucrative, but you might find yourself doing the same job for a number of years. What you can learn is often more valuable than the financials.

Getting through redundancy

Redundancy is a sad fact of life in any industry, but particularly in life sciences. Remember it’s the role that’s being made redundant, not you. Your network is more important than ever, both in providing support and connecting you to potential opportunities. Most importantly of all, take care of your mental health.

Become a part of the community

The CGT Circle aims to realise and harness the collective power and experience of women in cell and gene therapy through community-led events.

If you’re looking for your next role in cell and gene therapy, or you’re a pharmaceutical company looking to make your next hire, please contact the BioTalent team below.