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CEO, Storm Therapeutics

Jerry McMahon has over 30 years of biotechnology leadership, scientific innovation, deal-making, and financing experience. With broad disease-area expertise and a specialty in oncology therapeutics, he has held scientific, pharmaceutical, and venture capital positions, as well as CEO or president positions in multiple biotechnology companies, including Harpoon Therapeutics, Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca-Medimmune, and Sugen/Pfizer (where he was instrumental in the invention and development of several ground-breaking protein kinase inhibitors including Sutent (sunitinib)).

Academically, McMahon has held appointments at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center at Yale University, Tufts University School of Medicine, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his BS in biology and PhD in the field of biochemistry and genetics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY. He has authored more than 100 scientific and medical publications and is an inventor on more than 60 US patents.

“Precision medicine is the future for healthcare; its global market is booming and is estimated to reach $50.2 billion by 2028. The improved ability to predict which treatments will work best for certain patients based on drug targets will result in patients receiving highly effective treatments, while reducing side effects.”

We asked…

What is the biggest challenge facing the field right now?

I see the biggest challenge being justifying the expense and risk of targeting smaller disease populations with drug products that require long clinical trials because of patient access and screening. There are also regulatory obstacles and complex clinical trials with strict safety requirements that can often lead to long and delayed drug development.

What can be done to improve pharma’s reputation amongst the general public?

There is a misconception that pharma is only focused on profits. I feel that there is an urgent need to educate the public on pharma being at the heart of developing new treatment options for patients and that pharma is dedicated and focused on medical research and the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases to improve life expectancy and quality of life of many patients.