Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Biotech & Pharma
Analysis and insights from leading biotech and pharmaceutical executives and investors in championing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Biotech and Pharma
Insights into the industry's DEI issues and how stakeholders can take direct action
As a follow-up to an industry study and report produced by Informa Connect Life Sciences this year, we have created this e-book as part of our INCLUSION series to provide additional analysis and insights from life science executives, investors, and advocates of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Systemic racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination create disparities in healthcare, education, career opportunities, as well as innumerable other areas of modern life.
While there are no quick fixes for these issues, the life science industry is taking an active role in addressing these societal challenges in a meaningful way.
This e-book highlights five key areas that the biopharma industry can tackle:
1. Acknowledging that there are problems that need to be addressed. The death of George Floyd and the impact of Covid-19 exacerbated the racial inequities in our society and they can no longer be denied
2. Proactively engaging with marginalized communities to build diverse workforces
3. Advocating for and creating a pipeline for women and people of color in leadership positions
4. Investing in historically marginalized communities, specifically in entrepreneurship, disease areas affecting these communities, and access to resources
5. Improving guidelines for clinical trials for greater representation within patient populations
Addressing institutional biases as well as individual unconscious biases is a starting point and enables us to develop and share strategies to dismantle prejudices.
Embracing marginalized majorities, fostering cultural competencies, intentionally creating inclusive environments, and actively sponsoring women and ethnic minorities for career advancement will lead to a robust ecosystem that supports DE&I and more accurately reflects our society.
Studies by E&Y, Deloitte, PWC, McKinsey, and others have shown that these types of actions will also create more successful businesses.
Significant benefits such as increasing profitability, attracting and retaining talent, and fostering innovation are just a few of the reasons companies should evaluate their current DE&I policies.
This is especially important in the life science industry where research, drug development, and access to medicine can ultimately determine life or death for millions of patients around the world. The critical societal impact of improving patient outcomes cannot be measured.
The life science industry has changed the course of the Covid-19 pandemic by saving countless lives with vaccines and therapies. It has shown the world its ability to mobilize its resources, collaborate, and lead.
The BIOEquality Agenda and PhRMA’s commitment to the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge are also examples of the industry’s influential position to lead and affect change with long-lasting impact.
As professionals in this industry, we have the privilege and responsibility to do better, starting by challenging the status quo.
By taking a hard look at company policies, having honest, difficult discussions, and committing to making positive changes, we can embrace the differences that make us stronger.
We can either be part of the solution or contribute to the problem. Intrinsically, this is a community of problem solvers, so we hope you will join us on this journey towards creating a culture that celebrates diversity, creates equality, and fosters belonging.
Susanna Ling
Business & Content Development Director, EBD Group, Informa Connect
Key challenges and current initiatives in the industry, according to the 'REPORT: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Life Sciences 2021'
We look at actionable ideas shared by biotech company leaders at Biotech Showcase Digital.
Key considerations for biotech organizations to ensure diverse representation in leadership and boards.
Key investment strategies discussed at BioPharm America Digital.
What has the pandemic taught us about diverse patient recruitment in clinical trials? Biotech leaders at BioPharm America Digital discuss.
Throughout this eBook, jump to any article at any time using the Contents menu in the top left corner. There you can also download this eBook as a PDF.
What's the problem? STEM professionals speak out
Key challenges and current initiatives in the industry, according to the 'REPORT: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Life Sciences 2021'
What is the industry’s biggest problem with diversity and inclusion?
Over a third of STEM professionals around the world see lack of minority leadership representation as the life sciences' biggest problem with diversity and inclusion, according to an industry study carried out by Informa Connect Life Sciences in March 2021.
The results of the global study, from almost 500 responses, are chastening and overwhelmingly point towards a lack of representation.
This is echoed throughout the report as 73% of respondents believe cultural/ethnic minorities are under-represented at the most senior levels in their organization, and 63% believe that women are under-represented in the most senior roles.
"What do you think is the industry’s biggest problem with diversity and inclusion?"
21% of the survey respondents say that socio-economic challenges in building a diverse workforce is the industry’s biggest issue.
On examining those who thought something else was the biggest problem, a number of respondents emphasize that it is a combination of many problems, whilst a small minority don't see there being any problem, or even naming the focus on D&I as the problem itself.
The 'Other' responses include:
- "Acceptance and willingness to focus on this as something to fix"
- "All of these things contribute. I don't think it's driven by a single big problem"
- "Judging on diversity & inclusion instead of competence."
- "Low number of minority candidates for open positions."
- "Not a priority for many organizations"
- "There is no problem"
“Why is this the industry’s biggest problem?”
When asked to pinpoint the reason for their answers, many respondents commented that lack of representation in the life sciences sectors was a top-down problem, while others suggested that it comes from a lack of aspiration among minorities to apply or study for roles in STEM fields.
Some respondents also noted that the issue is derived from institutional bias across the industry.
Responses include:
- "Lack of opportunity for entry positions, leading to lack of diversity at higher positions."
- "Problems with diversity start with lack of minorities in science. That's driven by lack of science/math students at high school level."
- "This issue of structural racism and biases are deep founded across the pharma industry as they are across industries."
- "Not enough women pursuing engineering or technical-based education or employment."
Wherever diversity and inclusion problems in STEM originate, their existence is certainly evident. An astonishing 41% of all survey respondents claim to have personally faced workplace bias due to their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other factors.
"Despite an advanced technical degree, significantly contributing to the success of the organization internally and externally as well as financially, I receive no recognition, support or opportunities for advancement," comments one survey respondent.
“I don’t feel safe coming out completely to my co-workers or boss," says another.
What efforts have been run and what impact have they had?
Data from the study shows that organizations across life sciences are carrying out initiatives to address diversity in the workplace, yet the levels of action and its effectiveness varies considerably.
87% of organizations are focusing and investing in improving diversity and inclusion within hiring and recruitment to some extent, with 23% giving it significant focus.
However, these numbers drop for organizations financing diverse groups.
Worryingly, 41% of organizations don't have any outreach training or investment programs to encourage a more diverse workforce.
"41% of organizations don't have any outreach training or investment programs to encourage a more diverse workforce."
However, this number varies significantly depending on the size of each company. Less than half of those with under 100 employees have such programs, whereas of those with over 500 employees, 78% do.
"Does your organization have any outreach training or investment programs to encourage a more diverse workforce?"
Comments from respondents of the study describe the varying levels of change within their organizations:
- "Creating an internal focus group to collect the voices of female staff to understand their challenges and what the organization could do to help them. As a result, we started to run a day care facility near our lab."
- “We always start each recruit with a diverse slate of candidates. We believe that we present diverse candidates to clients to work with them, as a priority. Whether they choose to recruit these people diversely is a different story."
- "It feels like lip service - a reaction to social pressure vs a real, genuine expression of care."
Increasing diversity: New habits all biotech leaders should try
We look at actionable ideas shared by biotech company leaders at Biotech Showcase Digital
Increasing diversity: New habits all biotech leaders should try
Leaders in biotech and pharma discussed powerful initiatives to foster diversity and inclusion in the industry in Investing in Diversity, a popular on-demand virtual session at the Biotech Showcase Digital conference.
As chair, Paul Hastings, President & CEO at Nkarta Therapeutics put it accurately as he opened the session: “The last number of years have made us reflect and understand that we’re falling short in living up to our potential sometimes, whether because of unconscious biases, institutional racism... or a multitude of other factors,” he said.
“Regardless of reason, my own personal opinion is that we have to do better. We need to approach the issue from front to end.”
1: Join an angel investment network
The panel members discussed how investment can be used to increase opportunities for entrepreneurs in under-represented groups within the industry. Hastings provided the example of Gaingels, a non-profit network of investors which exclusively supports LGBTQ-led companies.
Meg Zweig, COO at Rock Health revealed that there was a trend uncovered by Rock Health’s latest report on diversity in the digital health sector. Under-represented groups such as black women were found to be more likely to be involved in investment groups within their communities.
However, Zweig emphasized the benefit of investors paying particular focus to communities that they are not part of.
“If we can all be a bit more inquisitive and curious to understand problems that we may not have grown up with, that will also go a long way, so it isn’t just reliance on people to fund and support people from their own groups, but opening your apertures.”
2: Change the dynamic within your organization
The discussion then explored how company leaders can create change within their own organizations to be more reflective of the patient population, such as through internal communications and hiring the right people.
“It’s so important that we are open to review, with honest eyes, the raw truth within our own organizations and then figure out how to address that,” said Lucy Abreu, Senior VP at Syneos Health.
“We can start with who you say you are to the world as a company, and do your actions match that?
"Are we asking our employees for feedback, do we understand what they care about?”
She added that company leaders have a responsibility to set the tone for the culture and relationship dynamics within their organizations.
“How do we create the safe spaces within our organization? How do we address the problems & policies that we have in place? Are we being a model to others?”
Anthony Sun, CEO, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals explained that it takes more than just ticking boxes in hiring senior leaders to achieve diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
“One thing you don’t want to fall into as we seek diversity is the realm of tokenism... It actually doesn’t work because, as a senior management team in a public biotech company, you have to be able to function and work closely with that person, because you believe in that person, regardless of race, sex or anything else.”
“The best person may not be the standard ‘best people’ that were around twenty years ago. The person may be a younger person or someone with a diverse background that you want to give a shot for.
"At Zentalis, we just want to hire the best people, and the crazy thing is, when we’ve looked at it through an open lens, we actually find that we get a very diverse population.”
“One thing you don’t want to fall into as we seek diversity is the realm of tokenism"
The panel also explored ways to give back to the community. Julia Levy, CEO at QLT Inc. described her experience over the last three years as a mentor at Creative Destruction Lab, an independent nonprofit mentorship program based in Vancouver and other locations in the US and Europe.
The program nurtures startup entrepreneurs who aim to improve economic productivity and human welfare. “It’s an incredibly useful program. It’s so diverse, you don’t notice it,” she said.
She added, “I like to spend my time mentoring because, giving people a leg-up, just talking to them and making suggestions when people are in crisis, it can be life-changing for those people.
"Those are the moments that you kind of cherish, because you know you’ve helped someone, when you see them go forward and succeed.
“It takes very little to help people. It’s really quite easy to do, and also gives you so much satisfaction. I don’t know why more people don’t do it, because it makes you feel good.”
“I like to spend my time mentoring because, giving people a leg-up, just talking to them and making suggestions when people are in crisis, it can be life-changing"
Diversity in leadership and boards: a checklist for biotech companies
Key considerations for biotech organizations to ensure diverse representation in leadership and boards
Diversity in leadership and boards: a checklist for biotech companies
It is important for companies in the biotech sector to adequately represent the patients they serve.
With diversity and inclusion growing as a priority within the industry, organizations are beginning to look inwards at their working cultures and communities to review their progress.
In 2019, a survey carried out by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization found that 41% biotech organizations do not collect common diversity data such as demographics or discrepancies in performance rankings, pay and promotion.
While over 80% of professionals demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion within their organization, less than 16% of companies had incorporated D&I targets into their hiring process or had set goals to promote or develop women or people of color within the organization.
At BioPharm America Digital in September 2020, Paul Hastings, President & CEO at Nkarta Therapeutics, Sara Nayeem, Partner at venture capital firm NEA and Celia Economides, Senior Vice President of Strategy and External Affairs at Kezar Life Sciences, discussed what company leaders should look for to ensure they are actively making an impact.
Are you using a recruitment firm to find your candidates?
Nayeem highlighted that hiring personnel via recruitment agencies was the first step to increasing diversity and combating the influence of unconscious biases in the recruitment process.
“Word of mouth [delivers] people that are already known to someone within the firm” she said. “We should all be pushing to make our searches more broadly known and that often means involving a search firm.”
“We should all be pushing to make our searches more broadly known"
Sara Nayeem, Partner at NEA
Have you set open diversity benchmarks?
“We’ve found that [recruitment firms] are very receptive if we say we’ve had this benchmark of 50% diverse candidates” said Nayeem. “50% of the candidates you bring in should be women, from an under-represented minority or both.”
Hastings added that setting diversity targets as early as possible has been effective at Nkarta.
“We published diversity and inclusion criteria on our website virtually Day One of the company’s formation. We also are in the process of disclosing on our website our EEO statistics of what our company is comprised of, [along with] different diversity characteristics that people identify themselves at.”
Are you aware of biases affecting your recruitment?
Nayeem explained that while she was working in recruiting processes for large banking institutions she would hear phrases such as “‘this person’s a great cultural fit, they were an athlete in some team at this reputable institution’.
It doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “It just perpetuates this ongoing [idea of] ‘someone who’s like me’”. [At NEA,] we’ve talked about ‘cultural add’ and not just ‘cultural fit’. People can be great additions to the organization without necessarily being exactly like the people that we already have.”
Does your recruiter deliver diverse candidates?
Hastings explained how he made a conscious effort to broaden his search when looking for candidates for his board at Nkarta.
“When I was going through that process, I hired a recruiter who specializes in diversity. She has a registry of women in the industry who are eligible to sit on boards,” he said.
“I won't hire a recruiter if they don’t have a history of placing diverse candidates either,” he added. “I look at people’s histories.” He also recommended asking recruiters ‘why?’ whenever they decline suitable candidates.
Are you broadening the criteria for roles in boards?
Economides reflected on the moment she was turned down by a recruiter for a board position she had the expertise for, simply because she wasn’t a CEO. “Then I explained how I [met] almost every single one of his criteria, and I never even heard back from him.”
She added, “how can we keep fostering diversity if we don’t look beyond the C-suite to the people who actually have their hands involved in a lot of different things and want to be active?”
“It’s not just about going for the person with the biggest name who’s just retired from some big organization... It’s more about, what is this person actually going to add to the board?"
Sara Nayeem, Partner at NEA
Nayeem described how, in her previous experience as a board member, she had often given advice when recruiting new members.
“It’s not just about going for the person with the biggest name who’s just retired from some big organization... It’s more about, what is this person actually going to add to the board?
"Are they going to interface with somebody on your team on a monthly basis and add something of value, and what do they bring that’s different to what we already have on the board?”.
Are you offering training to help develop new candidates?
“I think it’s just sitting back and being really clear about [saying] 'do we really need to put this limitation on the spec? Can we broaden the spec?'” said Nayeem. “Often it means going younger, going a little more junior. Getting to know people when they’re earlier in their career, thinking about training and developing people, particularly onboarding.”
5 ways that venture capital investors can drive diversity in biotech
Key investment strategies discussed at BioPharm America Digital
5 ways that venture capital investors can drive diversity in biotech
Over 800 biotech professionals from across 34 countries gathered online for the virtual BioPharm America Digital conference, which took place as part of Biotech Week Boston in September 2020.
In an on-demand panel discussion, ‘Fostering diversity in and through biotech investment’, the panel members put forward a variety of best practices by which their organizations were driving diversity in the workplace and throughout the biotech sector.
Among them, Sara Nayeem, Partner at NEA, described the initiatives that were being carried out through her company, an active venture capital business within the biotech sector.
Within this, she highlighted key responsibilities that venture capital firms and investors should adopt to address institutional discrimination and biases within the industry.
1. Hire internal staff through recruitment firms instead of word of mouth
As a way to increase workplace diversity and combat institutional bias in VC firms, Nayeem stressed the effectiveness of using recruitment agencies for hiring new staff.
“That initiative itself is important within the venture capital industry,” she said, adding that “word of mouth [delivers] people that are already known to someone within the firm... We should all be pushing to make our searches more broadly known and that often means involving a search firm.”
2. Anonymize case study applications for investment pitches
“Many firms utilize a case study process and we do as well for our junior-to-mid-level hires, and so we anonymize that” said Nayeem.
She explained how in this process, names and any other identifiable details are removed from submitted case studies before they are put forward to the investment team.
“I think that’s important, because we all go in with biases and these are all pretty much subjective.”
3. Meet entrepreneurs earlier in their development
Nayeem referred to BLCK VC, a venture capital non-profit which draws attention to the lack of access to capital among black and ethnic minority-led companies.
“Venture capitalists need to make sure they’re more accessible,” said Nayeem, emphasizing the importance for investors to extend their contacts to people who are at earlier stages in their career.
“Venture capitalists need to make sure they’re more accessible”
Sara Nayeem, Partner at NEA
She suggested getting into the habit of going to events, dinners and meetings involving people in mid-level management roles.
“The folks who are at the mid-level today, in a few years they are often the ones going out and trying to found companies, and if they haven’t had access to any investors along the way, they’re going to be less successful at that.”
4. Create a standard way of assessment that doesn’t discriminate
“We need to look at how we interact with people across the spectrum, regardless of their background and how the pitch came in to us,” said Nayeem.
“We need to look at how we interact with people across the spectrum, regardless of their background and how the pitch came in to us”
Sara Nayeem, Partner at NEA
She flagged that VCs and investors can sometimes base their acceptance or dismissal of a pitch on a ‘feel’ about a particular entrepreneur, while using insubstantial words in feedback, such as ‘energy level’ or ‘cultural fit’, and these habits invite their personal bias into the process.
To combat this, she suggested “coming up with a standard list of metrics and questions that you evaluate the companies against, and really trying to make sure you're being consistent [from] company to company.”
5. Find out more about institutional biases
Nayeem described how NEA has begun a program of internal training sessions incorporating outside insights on the topic of implicit bias.
She referred to Dr. Dana Kanze’s Ted Talk showcasing research on gender bias towards start-up founders.
Recommending this initiative to other players in venture capital she said, “it’s important that we educate ourselves as investors.
"We are in a position of influence in terms of how we take pitches, the types of questions that we pose to people and the way that we evaluate them, making sure that there’s a level playing field.’
Increasing diversity in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines and beyond
What has the pandemic taught us about how to achieve diverse patient recruitment in clinical trials? Biotech leaders at BioPharm America Digital discuss
Increasing diversity in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines and beyond
Many treatments suffer long delays in development, and even lack of funding, due to lack of diversity in clinical trial enrollment.
Mistrust towards drug development processes lies at the heart of the problem, and is prevalent among patients of Black, Latinx, LGBTQ+ and low socioeconomic backgrounds in the US and Europe. However, leading companies in biotech and pharma are taking initiatives to tackle the problem.
In a panel discussion at this year’s BioPharm America Digital, session chair Elliott Francis, Director of Diversity & Inclusion at BIO and Celia Economides, Senior Vice President of Strategy and External Affairs at Kezar Life Sciences discussed how the industry can address the obstacles in patient enrollment for clinical trials.
The gap in patient diversity
“One of the diseases that we’re working on is lupus nephritis, which disproportionately affects women of color,” said Economides.
“When we did our clinical trials, 10% of the patient population we recruited were black, when the vast majority of people that are living with lupus nephritis are black women. It’s really been an issue across the industry.”
She added, “I also have started to see that these diseases that disproportionately affect people of color or women of color don’t actually get the focus, or attention, from both of our industry and even from the investment side of things.”
“There’s been one drug approved in lupus in 50 years, why is that? Look how fast we’re moving with COVID-19. It really goes to show, if you focus attention and investment, you can figure out what’s happening with these diseases.”
The ripple effect of historical stigma
The panel speakers discussed how cultural and historical stigma around clinical trials has adversely affected the participation of African Americans and other minority patient groups, resulting in delays and gaps in crucial drug development.
“It’s quite a project to undertake and there’s many obstacles to overcome: a lot of history, a lot of folklore around the Tuskegee experiments. There’s a lot of misinformation, mistrust,” said Francis.
He reflected on the moment that his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer, refused enrollment in a clinical trial for a treatment when approached by her doctor.
"There’s many obstacles to overcome: a lot of history, a lot of folklore around the Tuskegee experiments. There’s a lot of misinformation, mistrust...”
Elliott Francis, Director of Diversity & Inclusion at BIO
“My mom vehemently disagreed. She said ‘no, I don’t want to be a guinea pig’, and I realized at that moment that the fear and misinformation is what was driving her response.
"I had to be the intermediary to say ‘well, let’s hear him out, let’s talk about this’, because I understand a little bit more on why it’s important to enroll these populations into clinical trials and all the benefits associated with it.”
Economides illustrated how extra work is needed by pharmaceutical companies to reach out to targeted communities.
“I’ve worked with patient advocacy groups [through] most of my career, but really disease-specific, and I’m finally shifting that a little bit and working with groups that are a little more diverse,” she said.
She explained how Kezar is partnering with population-specific patient advocacy groups such as Black Health Matters and Black Women’s Health Imperative to engage with African American communities and to educate them about clinical trial processes early on.
Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, “it’s brought to the limelight how important it is to have our clinical trials be reflective of all of the patients we’re trying to treat, not just the one group that gets really motivated to participate in a clinical trial.”
Economides also emphasized the task of changing attitudes towards clinical trials will require time and patience from across the industry.
“From a company standpoint, we also have to be OK with the fact that it may take longer to recruit those clinical trials, but for a company to be OK with that, the investors also have to be OK with that… because a lot of them want to see results as fast as they can. We need to have the entire industry focused on this issue and really elevate the importance of it.”
"We have to be OK with the fact that it may take longer to recruit those clinical trials, but for a company to be OK with that, the investors also have to be OK with that"
Celia Economides, Senior Vice President of Strategy and External Affairs at Kezar Life Sciences
Francis noted how this has also been demonstrated in the urgency of developing a COVID-19 vaccine. “I loved how Moderna slowed down their clinical trials just to make sure they had the right number of representation before they closed and moved on,” he said.
“To me, that’s an unprecedented move that we need in times like this.”
