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"Don't go where the path may lead you. Instead, go where there's no path and leave a trail."

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, President & CEO of AltruBio, Judy Chou, shares her pivotal transition from academia to industry, revealing how she left AbbVie when the company went idle after Humira's launch to pursue more meaningful work at Wyeth. Despite Humira becoming one of the most successful drugs in history, the company's uncertainty about biologics left Judy feeling unable to fulfill her mission to make a difference for patients.

Judy describes how she pioneered high-throughput screening for biologics at Wyeth, earning the nickname "High-Throughput Lady" when colleagues thought her ideas were crazy. She explains how she adapted small molecule screening techniques to biologics despite widespread skepticism, ultimately generating 10 grams per liter antibody production for the first time and winning Wyeth's President Award for the biggest business impact of the year. Judy also recounts being recruited to Genentech to build a revolutionary product-driven department in Oceanside, where Ann Lee's vision to break vertical silos and create a "startup within a major company" generated much of the pipeline Genentech still develops today.

Key topics covered:

Leadership Philosophy: Balancing management expertise with hands-on technical understanding across multiple disciplines
High-Throughput Innovation: Introducing robotics and screening tools that became industry standard despite initial mockery
Analytical Tools as "Eyes and Ears": Creating bioanalytical methods for biomanufacturing that accelerated development timelines
Product-Driven Departments: Building Genentech's Oceanside facility using Toyota's cross-functional model instead of traditional vertical silos
Mindset Over Structure: Why focusing on getting products to the finish line faster matters more than having the best individual technologies

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Find our guest, Judy Chou at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judy-chou-ph-d-biotech

Website: https://www.altrubio.com/altrubio/en

Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

Learn more about Excedr:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/

Website: https://www.excedr.com

Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:

Website: https://flow.page/kyojin

Resources & Articles:

High-Throughput Screening in Biologics:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3250079/

Bioanalytical Tools in Biomanufacturing:

https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/bioanalytical-method-validation-guidance-industry

Cell Culture Engineering and Development: https://engconf.us/conferences/biotechnology/cell-culture-engineering-xix/

Monoclonal Antibody Production and Development:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6290251/

Toyota Production System and Cross-Functional Teams:

https://global.toyota/en/company/vision-and-philosophy/production-system/

Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:

AbbVie: https://www.abbvie.com/

Wyeth (now part of Pfizer): https://www.pfizer.com/

Genentech: https://www.gene.com/

Gilead Sciences: https://www.gilead.com/

Ann Lee-Karlon https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-lee-karlon-a9592424

Tim Charlebois https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-charlebois-25a109b/

Mike Kamarck https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kamarck-71450415/

Bob Ruffolo https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-ruffolo-28366b9/

Napoleone Ferrara https://www.linkedin.com/in/napoleone-ferrara-7202b3b/

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:14 Management Philosophy: Getting Your Hands Dirty vs. Pure Leadership

05:15 Leaving AbbVie After Humira Launch

09:12 Culture Shift: Moving from AbbVie to Wyeth

14:54 Pioneering High-Throughput Screening for Biologics

22:30 Industry Collaboration in Early Biotech Days

23:55 Genentech Recruitment: Breaking the Development Bottleneck

27:53 Building Oceanside: A Product-Driven Department from Scratch

31:40 Leading Cross-Functional Projects at Genentech

37:30 Product vs. Technology Innovation: Lessons on Organizational Change

38:13 Outro

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

Episode 60: France's story