Ep.10 – Mark Bamforth
Mark Bamforth on Inside Matters, discussing
Episode ten of Inside Matters
We talk to Mark Bamforth about building pharmaceutical manufacturing organisations to support innovators to benefit patients
Mark R. Bamforth is an entrepreneur, investor and mentor in life sciences. Mark has founded, built, and sold three contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) over the last 12 years. All of these companies were acquired. In building the companies Mark created over 1,000 jobs and helped develop new products for patients.
Key takeaways from this episode:
In this episode Mark talked through his journey as an entrepreneur and reflected on some of the key learnings. His first company, Gallus Biopharmaceuticals, focused on monoclonal antibodies. His second company, Brammer Bio produced viral vectors for gene therapies. His third company, ArrantaBio, produced advanced therapies, including microbiome therapeutics. Each of these companies were acquired, creating wealth for investors and society.
There were common themes across each of the companies in terms of his approach to starting and building businesses. Mark believes in being first and being best, building capability and capacity before it is required. He also believes in employee ownership through share options as a means to incentivise every employee in the company, aligning the interests of the shareholders with the day-to-day team.
Mark spoke a lot about the importance of having a vision and being bold. Mark took a big leap into entrepreneurship from a senior position at a global pharmaceutical company called Genzyme. Over the course of the conversation, it became clear that to progress in life and your career, sometimes one must take a sidestep rather than a step up or step forward. This is evidenced by the fact that Mark did not always envision being in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, his career began as a petroleum engineer with Britoil, then as a chemical engineer with Whitbread.
Mark’s journey into the microbiome was particularly interesting. There are many parallels between the cell and gene therapy sector and the microbiome sector insofar as there have been pivotal moments, including patient deaths, and clinical trial successes. Having unwavering belief in the potential of the technology helps to continue to advance the field when there are bumps. When asked about his motivations, Mark spoke about the desire to solve unmet clinical needs for patients.