The EIS Navigator 99 Building a medical company without a specialist background with Clare Brenner of Myogenes
In this episode of the EIS Navigator we get a great founder story. Despite not having a medical background, Clare Brenner founded Myogenes which specialises in pharmocogenetic testing. She has a very personal story about her motivation for initially focusing on mental health to begin with, as well as her experiences in starting in a new area.
In the discussion, Clare talks about:
- how she found a good area to work on
- the initial focus on clozapine
- why she seeks out the best people to work with
- the challenges of getting initial funding
- how patient advocacy is playing a role
- making a business case to convince the NHS
- moving into the US market
- where we are in developing personalised medicine
Clare's story is both inspiring and insightful, as well as being a great follow-on to the previous episode about female founders.
00:45 Clare introduces Myogenes
04:55 establishing proof of concept
06:40 how she found a test
08:30 how does the test work and the importance of working with doctors
11:50 finding the top people
15:00 why she focused on clozapine
18:00 how they developed the test
19:00 founding the company
21:00 marketing into the NHS: establishing cost/benefit and business impact models
25:00 progress with individual health trusts
28:00 the role of patient/family lobbying
29:00 getting funding for preventative medicine
32:30 moving into the US
37:10 where are we in personalised medicine
41:00 prospects for Myogenes
43:45 Favourite questions
Links
Myogenes website - https://www.myogenes.com/
Telephone - 020 8387 1266
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Suggested books and media
The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett
Bio
Clare Brenner,
Founder & CEO, Myogenes
Clare Brenner, CEO & Co-founder Clare began her working career at the BBC, moving from radio to television and then to writing and producing.
Her interest in genetics started in 2010 working for a private hospital and launching their DNA testing programme. She started on her own in 2016 and has dedicated the last six years to becoming expert in the field of genetics and forming her own company Myogenes.