A pharma summer — how leaders unwind and recharge their teams in the warmer months

Spread that beach blanket, pack the sunscreen and crack open a good book — livin’ is easy in the warmer months. But although summer offers a chance to take a breath and recharge, that doesn’t stop the wheels of biopharma from turning, forcing leaders to find solutions that balance both goals.

According to a pre-pandemic survey of American professionals, productivity and attendance drop by about 20% and almost half of workers say they are more distracted. Work-from-home policies might become more lenient, and some organizations may cut back hours. On top of that, vacations tend to break up workflows.

With more attention being paid to work-life balance and employee burnout, a slower summer may not be a bad thing. The biopharma industry in particular is often go-go-go, but industry leaders still look for ways to stop and smell the roses while keeping innovation on track.

Take Nello Mainolfi, the CEO, president and founder of Kymera Therapeutics. Having been born and raised in the south of Italy, the Mediterranean lifestyle still calls out to Mainolfi, who recreates the feeling closer to home in the northeast U.S.

“It’s a good balance to the fast-paced energy of the office and city, and has a calming, grounding effect on me,” Mainolfi said. “So as a family, we pull ourselves away from the screens for a bit and spend many sunny weekends on the northeast coast swimming, occasionally fishing, walking, and I’ll go running through coastal towns with our dog, Billy — though never fast enough for his liking.”

Despite the idyllic setting and ample family time, Kymera’s work is never too far from Mainolfi’s mind, he admits. The clinical-stage biotech is developing small molecule protein degraders for a range of diseases.

“With a nice view, I’ll unwind and take time to catch up on recent research in the targeted protein degradation field and the diseases we are working to treat, always thinking of how we can expand on our exciting science, evolve our culture and return to the office energized for the week ahead,” Mainolfi said.

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“When we get a chance to unplug and relax, we can come back to work more energized, engaged and inspired to make a difference in the lives of patients.”

Jan van de Winkel

CEO, Genmab

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Similarly, SaNOtize CEO Gilly Regev likes to take to the outdoors with family and a couple good books.

“I just spent three days doing an 82-kilometer hike in Wicklow, Ireland,” Regev said. “Absorbing the views, thinking, being in nature and spending time with my son.”

For CEOs who make tough decisions day in and day out, it’s important to take some time to center themselves so that they bring their best to work when they return.

“I like to spend energy doing things that strengthen my mind and body — activities like spin classes and yoga are great for that,” said Dermavant Sciences CEO Todd Zavodnick. “Our company’s values are heart, mind and soul, and I strive to embody that every day, not just during work hours.”

Of course, for some biotechs, the clock doesn’t stop ticking in the summer months, and a company at an inflection point can’t afford to slow down, said Katherine Vega Stultz, CEO of Ocelot Bio.

“We have quite a number of things that we’re trying to land, and all of our swim lanes seem to be converging here in the middle to latter part of the summer so that we can be in the best position for fundraising come the fall,” Stultz said. 

Ocelot specializes in treatments for end-stage liver disease, and Stultz said the condition of patients requires almost constant vigilance, no matter the weather outside.

“It doesn’t stop, and it doesn’t care that it’s Fourth of July weekend,” Stultz said. “Holidays, long weekends, we’re constantly preparing ourselves.”

Making time a priority

As leaders recognize the importance of recharging and finding the right balance over the summer, they also try to encourage the same in employees.

“In my experience, when we get a chance to unplug and relax, we can come back to work more energized, engaged and inspired to make a difference in the lives of patients,” said Jan van de Winkel, CEO of Denmark’s Genmab, where business shuts down early on Fridays in the summer. “I’ll be using this additional time to unwind by swimming a kilometer and walking our dogs on late Friday afternoons as a perfect way to step into the weekend.”

The pandemic in particular caused an uptick in burnout, and with the biopharma industry helping to innovate out of the health crisis, leaders have looked for ways to support employees’ need for time away.

“Since the pandemic, when people were really experiencing burnout, we have had Friday afternoon meeting block time, so noon to 6 p.m., people wouldn’t have five Zooms in a row, and we’ve kept that,” said Christina Corridon, principal and global leader of oncology at consulting firm ZS. “That’s not a summer seasonal thing — that’s just been something we’ve kept for people.”

For Genomenon, a software company that specializes in genomic AI, remote work is already the status quo. Even so, vacations are important and encouraged, said CEO Mike Klein, who just returned from a weeklong fishing trip.

“It’s really important for everybody on our team to be able to recharge the batteries and take their mind off work,” Klein said. “July and August are always hard on the sales side of things, but as a remote data business, we don’t have to have a factory shutdown or anything like that — we just continue to operate and deliver on our commitments.”

Some organizations haven’t adopted formal summer policies but still recognize that vacation schedules will likely slow down work a bit. And that’s OK, said Teresa Bitetti, president of the global oncology business unit at Takeda, which operates on a hybrid model year-round.

“Folks are in the office, depending on what their situation is, two or three days a week, which I think is a wonderful thing in terms of ensuring you still have connectivity but more flexibility in terms of options,” Bitetti said. “August is quiet, but then in September, everything’s back.”