Travis McCready is an individual with immense experience in the biotech arena.
Currently standing as Head of Life Sciences for the Americas Markets at JLL, he also serves as Chair of the JLL Global Life Sciences Advisory Board and Co-Chair for the Academic Institute Advisory Board at Atrius Health, and has held several other senior positions at notable organizations including The Boston Foundation and Harvard University.
In this exclusive digital interview, McCready opens up on issues associated with the cost of research and development in biotech.
“In the entire process to bring a drug to market, there's still an incredible amount of opportunity to wring out all of the unnecessary costs and introduce efficiencies,” he tells us.
Emphasizing the importance of accelerating drug development to find solutions for difficult diseases, McCready notes the role of AI before pointing to the significance of progress in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
“In a decade or so you'll see this entire field, this entire modality, mushroom in ways that will disrupt the entire process,” he adds.
For those interested in the cross section between biotech and betterment of the planet, discussions also turn towards considerations for sustainable lab and manufacturing operations.
Check out the full interview for these unique insights among others.
Rebecca Willumson: Hi there. I'm Rebecca Willumson. I'm the publisher of Fierce Biotech, and I'm here today with Travis McCready, head of Life Sciences for the Americas at JLL. Travis, thank you so much for joining me.
Travis McCready: Thanks for having me, Rebecca.
Rebecca Willumson: So, Travis, when we think about the future of biotech, where do you see the biggest opportunity for the industry moving forward?
Travis McCready: We're still at a stage where there's a lot of cost in the system associated with research and development in the entire process to bring a drug to market, there's still an incredible amount of opportunity to wring out all of the unnecessary costs and introduce efficiencies into the R&D process. That gets us to the point where we can have more acceleration, more drugs, getting to the FDA and more shots on goal, frankly, on the more difficult drugs and the more difficult diseases that we're trying to attack. So the efficiency is still where I put my money.
Rebecca Willumson: Tell me what emerging technologies or scientific advancements do you believe will have the most significant impact on the biotech industry in the next decade?
Travis McCready: The answer to that obviously is artificial intelligence, but actually I'd like to focus on something else, which I think is equally as interesting, which is tissue engineering and the entire practice of regenerative medicine. Right now, our approaches to disease are deeply cellular and we have practices in R&D associated even with lab testing and the use of animals that can potentially be solved by tissue engineering. Right now, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, pretty rudimentary stuff. But I think the pathway towards progress is being developed that in a decade or so you'll see this entire field, this entire modality, mushroom in ways that will disrupt the entire process from bench to bedside.
Rebecca Willumson: And tell me, what are life sciences companies not doing enough of or should be thinking about in the current environment?
Travis McCready: Yeah. We are slow in the life sciences industry to address sustainability, sustainability of the entire operation to and through manufacturing, how our buildings are designed, how you deal with waste, how you deal with single use in the manufacturing process to and through the manufacturing process. We have to accelerate our understanding of how we can create more sustainable lab and manufacturing operations.
Travis McCready: Pleasure to be here.