A biotech’s Board often plays important roles in shaping the company’s success or failure: contributing strategic guidance, providing proper governance, stewarding fiduciary responsibilities, raising a startups’ profile, aiding business development, to name a few.
Over the life of a biotech, the role and contributions of the Board of Directors, and in particular the independent Board members, change. As drug discovery startups, often having research expertise from veterans that have served tours of duty in R&D can be helpful. Moving towards and into development, translational and clinical experience can be important value-add. Entering the public markets requires more financial expertise. And all companies can benefit from good perspectives on operations and strategy. Having great independent directors across the biotech lifecycle is one of the keys to highly functioning biotech boards (see post here).
