Mediatum - Management Boutique at the Interface between Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry

Heidelberg (November 20, 2002) - One of the biggest challenges currently faced by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is the overall increase in productivity in their R&D activities. To achieve this, both industry sectors are ideally suited to complement each other: the abundance of managerial and manufacturing structures on offer in the pharmaceutical sector is compensated with the wealth of innovative ideas generated by small biotech companies. The bare necessity within the Life Science sector to exchange on the personnel level in favour of an increase in productivity led to the foundation of 'mediatum GmbH' at the beginning of 2001 in Heidelberg.

'mediatum' is a network of "human excellence" specialized in the Life Sciences and aims at the placement of high-profile personnel. The core of 'mediatum's' special approach is characterized by individual coaching of convincing candidates with intentions for a change in their career and the presentation and offering of interesting perspectives within the industry network. In this process the company acts as a 'mediator' between the pharmaceutical and the biotech sector. In line with its motto "Human Excellence in Life Science" 'mediatum' regards itself as a high-quality boutique for the identification of high-profile personnel on the German-speaking Life Science market.

The pharmaceutical industry is constantly looking for new product candidates for their medicament pipelines. But due to the recent year's lower number of Life Sciences graduates companies often lack the creative input. In addition to this, internal structures within the pharma giants are hindering faster innovation cycles. The young European biotechnology sector has the strong potential to revolutionize the Life Science market with novel technologies and products - provided it is supplied with the appropriate funds to finance its R&D activities. However, it is generally acknowledged that young biotech companies suffer from a chronic lack of qualified executives with pharmaceutical experience. This causes potential investors to shy away. The results of which can clearly be seen throughout the sector: new rounds of financing very often fail (leading to insolvency) and the ones that have been successful, can only be regarded as minimum rounds due to their small volumes.

Christoph Boehringer, 'mediatum's' director and founder - who also represents the fourth generation of the industrialist's family Boehringer Ingelheim - together with his co-founders Dirk Wilken and Marcus Link established their idea of an executive personnel agency and have built up a unique network of contacts. 'mediatum' has personal contacts to the executive floors of more than 150 biotechnology companies and some 25 venture-capitalists and consultancies throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The size of the companies represented in the network varies between the classic start-up and established biotech corporations with several hundred employees.

Heart of the network is a unique hand-picked pool of candidates, that has arisen from some 500 personal interviews held exclusively with Life Science specialists - amongst which are corporate leaders, bankers, analysts, and investment, executive and general managers - throughout Europe and the US. Since it is this very special combination of social competency and professional qualification that decides on who will be included in the network, a broad spectrum of industry-relevant personality profiles can be offered. Candidates are not approached unsolicited. Normally, contact is initiated through the candidates themselves - usually after personal recommendation. Following in-depth interviews and a thorough evaluation of a set of criteria of excellence that are important to 'mediatum' - such as personal networking, education, professional experience, and current employment situation - the successful candidate will enter the agency's pool.

Companies that approach mediatum shall both profit from the success-oriented access to an international pool of candidates possessing various qualifications and benefit from a long-term inclusion in a far-reaching network. In addition to this, the Heidelberg-based company offers a media-based selection and internet-accessible recruitment database of all candidates coached.

All this puts 'mediatum's' career network at the intersection between the pharmaceutical and biotech industries enabling the company to provide valuable impetus for the development of the two industry sectors. On the basis of its extensive network it is 'mediatum's' aim to take any serious and respectable approach to find the best personnel for the associated companies.

Further information: www.mediatum.com 

Contact:
mediatum GmbH
Marcus D. Link
Bergheimer Str. 89a
D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel.: +49-(0)6221-1375400
Fax: +49-(0)6221-1375410
Mobil: +49-(0)163-8258880
eMail: marcus.link@mediatum.com 
Web: www.mediatum.com 


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