Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the San Francisco Business Times’ Women Who Lead in Life Sciences after a two-year hiatus. The annual event, which occurs during Women’s History Month, celebrates women in top roles in the Life Science/Biotech space and explores their journeys to get there. 

Moderated by San Francisco Business Times' biotech reporter, Ron Leuty - who did an excellent job asking relevant questions and fostering a comfortable speaking arena for the panelists - the event was broken into two parts. 

The event kicked off with a discussion led by Sarah Kenkare-Mitra, President and Head of R&D at Alector and concluded with an inspiring panel discussion including six female leaders in the Life Science space. 

Here are my key takeaways from the discussions that were had:

Build your "tribe" - it can be comprised of men, women, peers, colleagues and/or mentors - anyone you trust to offer an unbiased perspective of you as a professional. Allow their input to aid in your career advancement and be sure to provide that same level of support for other members in your tribe – especially when it comes to advocating for other women.

When you hear or see something inappropriate against other women, speak up! Immediately make other people aware of the situation. No need to label the interaction as right or wrong, the intention is to bring attention to it.

Women can do it all – we can have a successful career and a family. Lean into the support of your employer, colleagues, and family, their help is important. There are many different paths you can take that lead to a successful career. It is OK to put family first and pause or pivot in your career. Do what feels right to you!

The world has certainly evolved over time and microaggressions against women these days often tend to be more subtle, but they are still prevalent. Women constantly have to thread the needle in the professional environment – constantly questioning if we're being friendly enough without being too friendly - confident without being cocky.  Turn those weaknesses into your strengths, your superpowers.

There are ways to improve diversity within our organizations and open more opportunities for women. Ideas that were mentioned during the event were to:

- Create a pipeline of next generation female leaders and commit to investing in their growth. 

- Open up your doors to the community. Align your business objective with diversity and support organizations with similar diversity goals. 

- Invest in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and lead by example. It is pertinent that senior leadership gets involved and shows up. 

Newfront prides itself on fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and providing allyship via our Employee Resource Groups -through which we are creating an inclusive space that ensures all individuals are seen and heard. Newfront’s women’s ERG, NewHer, aims to ensure that all women feel empowered within Newfront and focuses on championing women throughout the company.

You can learn more about Newfront's Employee Resource Groups and DE&I efforts here.

Dana George provides key takeaways from this years Women Who Lead in Life Sciences event.

Last year right before the world began to shut down, I had the opportunity to attend San Francisco Business Times’ Women Who Lead in Life Sciences event.  I left that event feeling inspired and in awe of all of the amazing women who shared their stories. Who knew how dramatically the world would change and how prominent science would become?

This year’s event was virtual and the theme of Inform, Inspire, Connect was prominent in the two panels of women residing in top roles at life science companies.  Like last year, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) continued to be the focus and because this work is a significant part of Newfront’s ethos, we found this event particularly insightful.

The first panel was comprised of female Founders and Funders – academic/science founder, venture capitalist and CEO, all part of Lycia Therapeutics. They discussed forming a company from the science to the funding and then building – with a top-tier CEO and management team. During the build, the stars were aligned as connections were forged from networking with women.

Trailblazers featured panel of women from Five Prime Therapeutics, Allogene, Genentech and Caribou Biosciences. They all agreed that while there is still much work to do with respect to diversity and inclusion, the biotech landscape has improved tremendously in the past few years.

Pay it forward – open doors to help women succeed in leadership roles, especially in fields like engineering, manufacturing and medicine. It’s important for women to be role models for women and men so that men can then support women when those men move into other organizations.

Women’s roles in life science continues to change. There continue to be advances in the C-suite, leadership in research and early development, and improvement in the demographics of clinical studies, with important work in advancing inclusive research.  “No one is surprised that I am a Chief Medical Officer and a woman”, said one panelist.

It is time to be bold. Ask about people’s experiences so they can be included in the conversations about what is needed to further aims of diversity, equity, and inclusion at their organizations. What is preventing women from certain populations from getting a seat at the table? The inclusion of women, people of color, and people from diverse backgrounds isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good for business.

Having a sponsor is vital for women, especially for women of color. In closed-door meetings, it is critical to have a champion and for C-suite executives or founders to raise their hands or their voices on behalf of women for talent opportunities and career advancement. Women should have a personal “board of directors” to support them throughout their career for advice, professional guidance, networking, etc.

Do not make false promises simply to check a box. Large companies have money and access to hire Chief Diversity Officers and teams. Smaller companies can utilize outside resources from organizations like BIO, company internships and STEM programs such as NexGeneGirls. Biotech companies can learn from each other and champion women to be part of the change.

Last year right before the world began to shut down, I had the opportunity to attend San Francisco Business Times’ Women Who Lead in Life Sciences event.  I left that event feeling inspired and in awe of all of the amazing women who shared their stories. 

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences 2021

Four and a half years following the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom is now operating in a post-Brexit environment. Due to the loss of passporting rights, Lloyd’s of London, who manages a large portion of foreign clinical trial policies, has transferred all of its European Economic Area (EEA) written business to Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A.

As part of the deal, the United Kingdom and EU have agreed to recognize each other’s quality standards and inspections of medicines, which means that extra safety checks will not be needed when moving drugs over the border. That should minimize any disruption of supply, including products being tested in clinical trials.

Part VII of the “Financial Services and Markets Act 2000” requires transfer of insurance business to be elected by an insurance business transfer scheme sanctioned by the High Court of England and Wales.

Part VII currently allows for the transfer of insurance business from a regulated UK insurer to an EEA insurer without the need for individual policy replacement or policyholder consent. Part VII also covers Lloyd’s of London business.

It is a common legal mechanism used for restructuring insurance business, in this case allowing for EEA non-life risks to transfer and for EEA non-life risks to be split from non-EEA risks and transferred to Lloyd’s Brussels. Part VII has been used by many other UK insurers in the context of Brexit to transfer EEA insurance policies to European insurers.

The transfer will help ensure EEA policies can be compliantly serviced after Brexit, including the payment of claims. The proposed transfer will not change policy terms and conditions, except that Lloyd’s Brussels will become the insurer and data controller in respect of EEA policies.

The transfer has been carefully designed to ensure that it will not change how policies operate. Life science companies will see no direct administrative change as a result of the transfer.

For UK-led trials, they will require the sponsor or legal representative of a clinical trial to be in the UK or country on an approved country list (this will initially include the EU/EEA countries).  For ongoing trials, the UK will accept a sponsor or legal representative established in the EU/EEA, and no amendment submission to the Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be required.

If the sponsor is from the rest of the world, and the legal representative is established in the UK and there are sites elsewhere in the EU/EEA, the sponsor will need to assign an EU/EEA legal representative for these EU/EEA sites.

As always, ABD’s Life Science Practice is available to answer any questions you many have and will continue to provide important updates affecting life science companies.

Four and a half years following the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom is now operating in a post-Brexit environment. Due to the loss of passporting rights, Lloyd’s of London, who manages a large portion of foreign clinical trial policies, has transferred all of its European Economic Area (EEA) written business to Lloyd’s Insurance Company S.A. […]

Brexit Update and the Impact on Clinical Trials Insurance

Last week, my colleague Dana George and I had the opportunity to attend San Francisco Business Times’ Women Who Lead in Life Sciences event. The event featured a panel of women in top roles at life science companies, who spoke about their personal stories and the most current challenges facing women in the life science industry today. Because diversity, inclusion, and equity are important to us personally and are also a significant part of ABD’s ethos, we found this panel especially insightful.

Women must support other women. The panelists noted that women are less likely to advocate for themselves than their male counterparts, so women in all positions must be willing to lift up and support their women colleagues.

Women should follow their passions. We agreed that women should prioritize pursuing their career goals, even if others tell them they can’t do it. One panelist noted that she used this pushback to her advantage – the element of surprise when she rose to the challenge and succeeded despite obstacles reinforced her confidence in her abilities.

Diversity in life sciences is good for innovation and business growth. The inclusion of women, people of color, and people from diverse backgrounds isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good for business. Diversity at all levels of business has been shown to lead to greater innovation and customer support.

Women have been shown to negotiate their compensation far less often than men. People in leadership roles should adjust women’s salaries if men are paid more for the same job and same quality work. Updating metrics and increasing visibility surrounding wages, promotions, and management structure is also necessary for ensuring equitable pay.

Women of color, plus-sized women, LGBTQ women, transwomen, and women from unconventional backgrounds are woefully underrepresented in clinical trials. Adjusting trials to include people of all genders, races, ethnicities and backgrounds is essential for ensuring that clinical trials are effective and yield better data.

is the National Life Science Practice Leader at ABD Insurance & Financial Services and leads a team of experienced risk management professionals that service approximately 300 life science clients. She can be reached at cristina.varner@theabdteam.com.

Last week, my colleague Dana George and I had the opportunity to attend San Francisco Business Times’ Women Who Lead in Life Sciences event. The event featured a panel of women in top roles at life science companies, who spoke about their personal stories and the most current challenges facing women in the life science […]

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences

Throughout the last couple of decades, use of prescription opioids has increased dramatically and exploded into a crisis of addiction and litigation affecting millions of Americans every year. Since 2016, over 289 million prescriptions for opioid drugs are written every year and over 1.7 million Americans suffered from chronic opioid abuse in 2017.

High risks associated with abuse and addiction have led to lawsuits against all actors along the supply chain, from manufacturers to physicians. State-level opioid-related lawsuits may surpass tobacco-related lawsuits to become the largest civil litigation settlement agreement in American history.

Insurance carriers have responded to these risks by severely restricting coverage for companies involved in the manufacture or distribution of these products. We’ve observed these changes globally, with all major carriers implementing similar restrictions. Insurance experts expect coverage to be limited to sole individual bodily injury coverage for adverse events related to opioid use, excluding addiction, abuse, diversion, failure to warn, criminal acts and multi-district litigation. Several carriers are adopting policies that categorically exclude coverage for opioids and avoiding this exposure altogether.

Newfront has been working proactively to engage with carriers to obtain the most comprehensive coverage solutions for our clients with opioid products in their portfolio. Due to significant changes in premiums and coverage over the past couple of years, we believe that comprehensive, one-on-one attention is the best way to navigate the challenges associated with opioid products, including solutions that may involve self-insurance.

As opioid addiction continues to swell and as more settlements are reached between states, pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and physicians, the insurance industry’s policies regarding these drugs will continue to evolve. An experienced life science broker with extensive knowledge in this space is necessary to make sense of this changing insurance landscape.

What The Life Science Industry Should Know About The Opioid Crisis

The ongoing and devastating fire disaster in Northern California hit home for my family over the weekend.

While−as of the time of this writing−our home and family are safe, we found ourselves more unprepared that I’d like to admit this past weekend for this disaster.  So, from my family’s experience, I thought it might be helpful for our clients to offer some experiences, thoughts and reminders in the event of an emergency.  And, since many of us are living in Northern California, an earthquake-prone region that experiences years of drought being (always) prepared is key.

A couple of things to get you thinking about (before) the next disaster:

Don’t underestimate your elderly neighbors (or any neighbor, actually)!   It indeed “takes a village” in an emergency. In our case, we were worried about our next door neighbor who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, but a check on her reminded us how helpful we can all be to each other at a time of need.  While we could help with things like driving her to safety (if needed), we were reminded that she still has a land line with a princess rotary-dial phone.  She soon became the most popular resident on the block as many lined up to call friends and concerned relatives (as far away as France)!  You see−after 15 hours of no power, and no internet or cell phone service in our homes, the land line with a phone not requiring an electrical outlet suddenly re-elevated the rotary dial phone to new heights of popularity over our expensive high-tech gadgets!

And while we’re on the subject of high-tech gadgets…  We all appreciate the instant ability to look up businesses, and phone numbers on our hand-held devices.  That ability relies on power.  So, if you don’t want to spend time charging your phone while your car idles in your driveway, check out some power packs that are available on the market to keep handy (and charged) in the event of an emergency (also good for long trips).  Also, most of us use or phones as our phone books, but here again, our neighbor’s old fashioned printed phone book came in very handy when (in our case) we needed to find an alternative veterinarian to care for our very sick cat (our regular vet was closed due to a lack of power).  So, think twice before recycling the newest edition of your local, free, printed phone book!

Listen to your mom!  I was not always the best at this (sorry mom!), but in at least once case I listened. Unfortunately, not when mom had offered me one of here extra princess rotary phones). In any event, mom gave me a compact, battery-powered radio and told me to keep it handy always (along with fresh batteries).  This came in very handy this past weekend, and when we had to leave town, we lent it to my mother’s friend who was in need.  Small radios are as inexpensive as they are invaluable in emergency situations.  Get on−or two and keep them handy.

Make a list and check it twice!  What would you and your family do if you were told by the sheriff that you had to evacuate your home in the middle of the night and that you had just a half hour to prepare?   How about 15 minutes?  While we have been lucky and spared evacuation so far, I started thinking about what to line up near the door to take, or put in the car just in case.  I found myself thinking and debating far longer than I’d be able to in the event of an evacuation.  Do I take my mother’s childhood  panda bear? The spoon my father used in Korea in the army?  The hand-made quilt my grandmother made for my parent’s wedding? Our favorite painting?  Make a list, prioritize it (starting with medications, blankets, spare clothes, food and water for yourself and your family (including your pets), and go from there.  Keep a copy in multiple places in your home, but be ready to leave at a moment’s notice without anything if needed.

Know how to operate your garage door (to open it, close it and secure it) in the event of a power outage. This will enable you to quickly access your vehicle if you need it, and re-lock the door after you have removed your vehicle.

Keeping in touch with friends and family.  We’re so reliant on internet access, but what if your access is cut-off?  Access can be out in one neighborhood, but available across town or in neighboring areas, so, having friends in other areas close by to get the word out to your contact list that all is ok can be a real help and a time-saver for you to be able to focus on keeping safe in the event of an emergency.

Keep an appropriate wrench accessible at the gas and water meters for your residence, and make sure they are the correct type−and that you know how to use.

These are just a few ideas meant to inspire you to think ahead, and plan.  In concert with the standards of keeping accessible water, emergency kits, flashlights, candles, matches, medications and batteries and some food items can come in handy and help alleviate some stress in the event of an emergency.  Partnership and sharing with neighbors, friends and family members is key.  Give this some thought, and start on your plan. Use this tragedy as inspiration to be as prepared as you can for yourself, your family and your friends.  Be safe!

The ongoing and devastating fire disaster in Northern California hit home for my family over the weekend. While−as of the time of this writing−our home and family are safe, we found ourselves more unprepared that I’d like to admit this past weekend for this disaster.  So, from my family’s experience, I thought it might be […]

Disaster Preparedness: A friendly reminder from the Claims Guy's desk

Experts in cybersecurity agree: If you control valuable assets, including money and/or confidential information, at one point or another, your company will sustain an attack. Life Sciences companies today hold tremendous amounts of important data, and are increasingly falling victim to cyber-crime.  There are more than 1.5 million cyberattacks annually, which comes down to about three attacks every minute. But before you can prevent these attacks, you have to know what you’re up against. Here are the key cyber-security threats:

The value of personal health information has become up to 20 times greater than that of a stolen credit card number. There are many different types of cybercrime, in which organized crime rings target data for financial gain. Of the top cybercrimes committed, most involve corporate hacking: corporate account takeover, theft of sensitive data and theft of intellectual property.  What data is being targeted?

Clinical trial data at both the patient and commercial level

Information of manufactured biologic drugs

Information around Pharmaceutical pricing and promotion

Your EMPLOYEES – Insider breaches are when an employee releases information, whether that’s through accidental disclosure, deliberate conveyance or by loss or theft of devices. It is estimated that between 50 and 80 percent of all cyberattacks are aided and abetted by insiders. Often, this is through email scams, or phishing attacks, that ask the recipient to click a link or open an attachment.  This ‘Social Engineering’ fraud comes by someone posing as a trusted vendor asking you to change its banking information and is costing companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.  It is critical for organizations, from start-ups to grown-ups, to have internal procedures in place as the first line of defense against this threat of human error.

Used for political or socially motivated purposes, hacktivists disrupt service in order to bring attention to a certain cause.  Today’s ‘go to’ Cloud service providers of the Life Sciences industry are top targets of today’s cyber criminals. There are many different types of hacktivist attacks, including denial-of-service (DOS) attacks and those leaving highly visible messages on a company’s home page.

How would a system shut down impact your business?

How long could your company afford to be off-line?

Are you responsible for the information stored through your cloud provider?

As technology changes, so too will the nature of cybersecurity attacks. Because of that, it’s imperative for life science companies to invest in an Incident Response Plan.  These plans are implemented and tested to identify all internal and external breach resources: including forensic, legal, PR etc.  As importantly, all external resources must be pre-approved by your insurance carrier.

You can protect your business, assets and clients from a cyberattack by partnering with a company that understands your insurance needs. ABD will work with you to manage the important details so you’ll be ready to navigate any future claims. Contact us today so we can put your business coverage on the fast track.

Experts in cybersecurity agree: If you control valuable assets, including money and/or confidential information, at one point or another, your company will sustain an attack. Life Sciences companies today hold tremendous amounts of important data, and are increasingly falling victim to cyber-crime.  There are more than 1.5 million cyberattacks annually, which comes down to about three […]

Protecting Against Cybersecurity Threats in the Life Sciences Sector

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Articles on Life Sciences

Women Who Lead in Life Sciences

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences 2021

Brexit Update and the Impact on Clinical Trials Insurance

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences

What The Life Science Industry Should Know About The Opioid Crisis

Disaster Preparedness: A friendly reminder from the Claims Guy's desk

Protecting Against Cybersecurity Threats in the Life Sciences Sector

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Articles on Life Sciences

.css-13o7eu2{display:block;}Women Who Lead in Life Sciences

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences 2021

Brexit Update and the Impact on Clinical Trials Insurance

Reflecting on Women Who Lead in Life Sciences

What The Life Science Industry Should Know About The Opioid Crisis

Disaster Preparedness: A friendly reminder from the Claims Guy's desk

Protecting Against Cybersecurity Threats in the Life Sciences Sector

Newfront for Businesses

Newfront for Employee Benefits

Newfront for Private Clients

Blog ‍

Connect ‍
with ‍
us. ‍

Women Who Lead in Life Sciences