# 121 - Bench Scientist to Commercial Leader, Amgen in the early days, Challenges in Commercialization, Working in Startups vs. Large Companies, and Silos with Sayed Badrawi

- Show: [Let's Combinate](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate)
- Published: 2024-01-31
- Length: 33m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c
- Listen: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letscombinate/episodes/121---Bench-Scientist-to-Commercial-Leader--Amgen-in-the-early-days--Challenges-in-Commercialization--Working-in-Startups-vs--Large-Companies--and-Silos-with-Sayed-Badrawi-e2f4kr2

## Summary

Sayed Badrawi, a Pharma/MedTech investor and former CEO of PDS Life Sciences, discusses his career transition from a bench scientist at the early-stage biotech company Amgen to commercial leadership roles at large pharmaceutical firms like Eli Lilly and Abbott Laboratories. He explains that commercialization in pharma requires rigorous clinical studies to prove safety and efficacy not just to regulators, but to payers and physicians, emphasizing the high risk and low success rates of drug development. Badrawi highlights the dangers of organizational silos in large companies versus the broad exposure in startups, advising professionals to first become deep experts in a specific area before pivoting careers or joining high-risk small companies.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c#t=0) Introduction and Guest Background
- [3:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c#t=189) Defining Commercialization and Market Access
- [7:55](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c#t=475) Pipeline Challenges and Translational Medicine
- [13:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c#t=813) Successes and Failures in Drug Commercialization
- [26:41](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2024-01-31-121-bench-scientist-to-commercial-leader-amgen-in-the-early-days-challenges-in-c#t=1601) Career Advice: Expertise, Silos, and Risk

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Medical & health devices](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/medical-devices)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Amgen (company)
- Eli Lilly (company)
- Abbott Laboratories (company)
- PDS Life Sciences (company)
- Vioxx (product)
- Bluebird Bio (company)
- GLP-1 drugs (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#457: Exploring the MedTech Commercial Valley of Death with Ryan O'Mahoney](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2026-04-27-457-exploring-the-medtech-commercial-valley-of-death-with-ryan-omahoney) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [#452: Switching Careers to MedTech: A Practical Guide for Engineers and Professionals](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2026-03-23-452-switching-careers-to-medtech-a-practical-guide-for-engineers-and-professiona) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [Building Your Regulatory Strategy for Commercialization](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2022-09-14-building-your-regulatory-strategy-for-commercialization) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [5 Tips for Hiring Medical Device Advisors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-02-05-5-tips-for-hiring-medical-device-advisors) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [305: Humans Have a Terrible Spec Sheet](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2019-10-03-305-humans-have-a-terrible-spec-sheet) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

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