 Susan Nemetz |
Interview with Susan Nemetz, Founder and CEO at Corval
By Candice He, Vice President of Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, LSN |
 Candice He |
Candice He (CH): Introduce us to Corval.
Susan Nemetz (SN): Corval is a strategic planning platform that enables teams to quickly create a customized multi-year commercialization map with a companion budget and resource plan. Corval is pre-populated with 75,000 data points informed by industry benchmarks across different biopharma companies and therapeutic areas. You just need to guide the platform with your unique clinical/regulatory milestones, asset assumptions, and company information—then let Corval do the heavy lifting. The Corval platform quickly builds a 3-5 year strategic commercialization map, budget, and hiring plan with multiple executive views. The integrated logic allows you to quickly update the full plan when timelines and data change—as they always do.
CH: Your website reads before staff bios, “We’re a team with big ideas committed to changing the way that innovative therapies get to patients. And we’re growing every day.” Tell us about your team.
SN: With a novel, disruptive technology like the Corval platform, we need a team that is driving innovation in technology AND biopharma. We need people who know how it has been done while also knowing how it could be done more efficiently to ensure companies achieve their vision of serving patients’ needs. We have built a team where every member has a superpower, where every member brings something incredibly special. Having said that, the team also represents many years of cumulative experience across biopharma commercialization, consulting, SaaS platforms and technology innovation, customer success, experience in how technology has revolutionized other industries and vision for how the same can be done in biopharma commercialization planning. As an emerging growth company, we remain a very flat organization which means for us, every member—from interns to senior executives—is heard and trusted and we have an amazing meld of talents.
CH: What type of personal support does Corval provide to its clients?
SN: Because every customer is unique and because the Corval team is nimble and agile, we create a bespoke support plan guiding each of our clients’ journeys. Our onboarding allows us to deeply understand (and then solve) the pain points of emerging biopharma and more mature pre-commercial companies. Our team will closely follow updates around your asset and company and help you customize your plan throughout the span of the subscription. Corval can also help identify consultants for any specialized projects that the company needs to address to jumpstart the implementation We also have a robust educational tool embedded within the platform on both technical and commercialization questions and every term and activity is defined. In summary, the Corval team will support not only the technical onboarding on the platform but also the strategic thinking behind tailoring the commercialization map and budget to the customer’s market/asset/company situation and the ongoing update of the plan as assumptions and conditions evolve over the course of the commercialization planning period.
CH: Corval is a sponsor at RESI and we’re excited to have you as a part of our RESI community! Who are looking to connect with at RESI Boston September?
SN: We are interested in speaking to anyone who has a vision for their asset and needs to make sure all the steps and resources required are accounted for so their drug will get to the patients who need it. Specifically, pre-commercial companies at about P2 who need to understand what it takes to commercialize in either a go-it-alone or partnering scenario. Often these companies are also looking for funding and need to tell the story regarding use of proceeds to commercialize their asset. In summary, we are looking to speak to companies who are building plans that can involve one pre-commercial asset or portfolio of assets and may also involve modeling/comparing different scenarios to inform strategic decisions.
CH: What is the right time for an early-stage biopharma company to reach out and prepare for the commercialization process?
SN: It’s never too early to start strategic commercialization planning for your asset. Early-stage biopharma often ignore the need or kick the can down the road in later P3 because they are only focused on the science. But studies have proven that the companies that DO engage in early strategic planning are much more likely to reach their financial goals and serve the patients’ needs that are a focus of their science. I cannot stress enough the importance of planning as early as possible (typically around Phase 2) so commercialization thinking can inform in all aspects of clinical development resulting in strong differentiated product profile that is foundation of success in the market at launch and over the product life cycle. This is why we all do what we do in this industry.
CH: How do you define commercialization?
SN: Commercialization is often incorrectly assumed to be limited to the commercial function or used synonymously with launch, but it is really a company-wide orientation and ethos that pervades all aspects of development and preparing to bring a product to market and, ultimately, optimizing its value for patients and the company.
CH: As a founder of both a consulting firm, The NemetzGroup, and a tech platform, how do you position both offerings?
SN: Consulting is incredibly important to solve complex problems in the biopharma industry. Consultants offer experience and well-vetted frameworks to support biopharma companies. Technology alleviates much of the time-consuming processes, thus allowing the humans to focus on the less conventional, less standardized obstacles. This enables differentiated solutions that are effective and targeted.
CH: What role should technology play in building a commercialization plan?
SN: Technology should play any and every role it can. The possibilities are literally endless, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is to come by utilizing technology in our industry and in commercialization planning specifically. Technology, like Corval, can be focused on supporting efficiency, readily leveraging past experience/benchmarks thus allowing time and energy to be focused on the strategic thinking/actual content of the plan and related strategic decisions.
CH: What is the one most important piece of advice an emerging biopharma company should follow regarding commercialization?
SN: Begin planning early, but stage-gate your implementation. Most failed launches are because critical steps were not completed early enough or they missed some entirely. Use Corval, and you will save time, money, energy, and, just maybe, your sanity!
Mr. Satter was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he spent 24 years, joining the merchant bank when it had $250 million of assets under management. When he retired, it had $130 Billion of assets under management. He was Global Head of the Mezzanine Group in the Merchant Banking Division, where he raised and managed over $30 billion of assets. He was a senior partner of the Investment Committee and the Chairman of the Risk Committee. As a former Goldman Sachs executive, Mr. Satter is the Vice Chairman of the board of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and GS Gives, which is part of Goldman Sachs that runs the company’s charitable giving efforts. Mr. Satter is the Investment Committee’s Chairman, overseeing over $1 billion in assets.
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