Sr./Lead Medical Director
Description
Cornerstone Search Group has been retained by a profitable and stable European pharmaceutical company which prides itself on a work environment that reflects its country’s renowned culture, has a healthy market cap, is CNS and Oncology focused, and is setting up in New York City its first US-based R&D hub. This newly-created, wide-ranging, strategic, and hybrid Lead Medical Director position will focus on its Pain Therapeutic Area and report to the Head of R&D (Drug Discovery to NDA) for the Pain Therapy Area, whom we know well from having helped him with a position earlier in his career. Our client is making major R&D efforts that focus on targets that modulate sensory neuron hyperexcitability and neuro-immune interactions as potential innovative, non-addictive novel pain therapies to address the limitations of currently available treatment options. They are in a very active phase of building their clinical pipeline through both in-house research and in-licensing efforts. You would be initially leading the clinical development (Ph 2 to NDA) of their high-profile lead pain pipeline asset, which has strong blockbuster potential (per Wall Street and industry press). It is a novel, potent, and selective inhibitor that has the potential to be first to market in a novel class of broad-spectrum and non-addictive analgesics for the treatment of acute (e.g., post-surgery) and chronic pain. This is also an exciting and rare opportunity to help establish a successful European company’s footprint in the US from scratch. You will report to the TA Head, who oversees Drug Discovery through Clinical Development and NDA.
COMPENSATION: Highly competitive compensation
Location
New York City (on-site or hybrid)
Our client will consider candidates who live outside of New York City (such as NJ, PA, CT, and NY) who prefer a hybrid work arrangement where they only work on-site on a limited weekly or bi-weekly basis.
Features
(1) While Pain and/or CNS experience is a plus, our clients will consider other TAs.
(2) This company takes a lot of pride in its culture, reflecting its country’s heritage as having one of the world’s most positive cultures.
(3) You will work closely with the executive leadership of this company on both clinically developing their Pain Therapy pipeline as well as establishing this company’s first presence in the US. This offers you the opportunity to develop strategies and processes for a role that will have great strategic impact on the company. It provides an opportunity to shape the future of pain therapy in and outside the company.
(4) Our client has a long-term focus in CNS and Oncology and has a proven history of discovering and developing CNS and Oncology drugs that have been marketed in the US by multiple Big Pharmas.
(5) Bringing potent, non-addictive, non-opioid drugs to the $22Bn global market for opioids is considered a blockbuster opportunity because ~4% of the multi-millions of patients annually that take opioids after a medical procedure become addicted.
Responsibilities
As the Senior / Lead Clinical Development Medical Director, you have a crucial role contributing to clinical development strategy and execution in pain clinical development. The initial focus of the role will be on our client’s lead pipeline asset, which has a novel mechanism of action, has strong blockbuster potential (per Wall Street and industry sources), and has applications in both acute and chronic pain.
Additional opportunities are expected to emerge to drive clinical development strategies for new clinical candidates entering clinical phase, in-licensing evaluations, and providing support to Medical Affairs.
You will have the opportunity to contribute to the company’s business strategy in the Pain TA.
You will report to the overall TA Head, who has responsibility for Drug Discovery through to Clinical Development.
Desired Skills / Qualifications / Experience / Behaviors:
- Our client is open on therapeutic area(s) of experience and expertise. Pain therapy area experience is a plus.
- MD (or equivalent like MBBS or DO) preferred. MD + PhD is a plus. May consider PhD w/o MD who has strong Pain experience.
- Ideally Pharmaceutical / biotech industry clinical research experience in Phase I – III. May consider an MD or MD/PhD with expertise in pain that only has academic research experience.
- There is not a lot of travel contemplated in this position, but the right candidates need to have the flexibility to travel in the US and globally as needed for relevant conferences, meeting external experts, and visiting sites.
- Seeking someone who values being part of and contributing to a company that is very culture-focused. Seeking excellent team working skills and the communication ability to positively encourage and energize others to reach high performance. Seeking someone who is transparent, flexible, builds trusting relationships, and is highly collaborative.
- Seeking a proactive, self-motivated, and entrepreneurial individual who has the ability to prioritize and get things done.
- Seeking a biotech mindset - someone who is innovative, has a growth mindset, and gets excited when looking into new ideas and acquiring scientific knowledge.
Contact
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