Innovation Manager / Business Development Manager – Oncology

The Global external innovation team at Menarini Stemline is a uniquely positioned structure working to provide a 360-degree support to the Menarini Stemline Oncology business. The team is active in all the aspects of the global oncology strategic and business development employing an end-to-end model on both buy and sell side.

Job Description

We are seeking a skilled Innovation Manager / Business Development Manager with a robust scientific background to drive our oncology acquisition and licensing efforts. This role requires a deep understanding of both the scientific and strategic aspects of drug development, particularly in the oncology field.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Evaluations: Lead the technical evaluation of preclinical and clinical oncology assets, thoroughly assessing their potential and associated risks.
• Dynamic Environment: Thrive in a fast-paced business development environment with a strong grasp of the latest industry breakthroughs in drug and pharmaceutical development.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Manage cross-functional evaluations of oncology technologies through established workflows and support comprehensive due diligence processes.
• Strategic Support: Contribute to the strategic development of the Menarini-Stemline pipeline by providing valuable medical and clinical insights.
• Industry Representation: Represent the company at key scientific and partnering events, advocating for our goals and values while identifying promising drug development opportunities from preclinical stages through to commercialization.
• Standards Compliance: Ensure all activities adhere to Menarini-Stemline’s oncology standards and regulatory requirements.

Desired Skills and Experience

Background:

• PhD in a life science or related field.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in business development or at least 5 years in roles related to clinical-stage oncology projects, R&D, or Medical Affairs.
• Post-doctoral experience, international exposure, or an MBA is highly advantageous.
• Mandatory experience in oncology, with global or international experience preferred.

Capabilities:

• Scientific Analysis: Proven experience in analysing scientific data, literature, and information. Ability to write comprehensive reports that synthesize and summarize critical scientific insights from diverse sources.
• Oncology Trends: In-depth knowledge of oncology trends and the ability to offer strategic scientific insights.
• Results-Driven: Highly motivated and results-oriented with a strong track record of delivering outcomes.
• Organizational Skills: Exceptional organizational, communication, and project management abilities.
• Executive Interaction: Effective at interacting with and communicating complex information to senior executive teams.
• Project Management: Capable of managing multiple projects simultaneously with strong problem-solving and solution-oriented skills.
• Team Collaboration: Excellent team player with the ability to work effectively across all organizational levels.
• Autonomous Operation: Ability to drive projects independently and expedite processes.
• Language Proficiency: Fluent in English, both written and oral, with the ability to confidently communicate business opportunities.
• Travel Willingness: Willingness to travel approximately 10% of the time.

About MENARINI STEMLINE

Founded in 1886 in Naples under the name of Farmacia Internazionale, Menarini moved in 1915 to Florence where the Group’s headquarters are still located today. High quality therapeutics and diagnostics solutions for patients, ethics as our underlying principle, dedication to innovation and advancement, strong people centricity and environmental sustainability. These five pillars form the foundation of the Menarini Group, an Italian pharmaceutical company with nearly 135 years of history.

The Menarini Group is present in 140 countries around the world. Its companies span from Europe to Asia, to Africa and the Middle East, to Central America and to the United States where with the acquisition of Stemline Therapeutics, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company, the company marked its entry into the US oncology market.

Thanks to the valuable contribution of around 18,000 employees, every year more than 500 million packs of drugs are produced at the Group's 18 manufacturing sites including a biotech plant for the manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies that also serves external clients distributed across 6 continents.

Menarini has made a strong commitment to oncology, investing in a pipeline of five investigational compounds for the treatment of a variety of haematological and solid tumours. The acquisition of Stemline Therapeutics in June 2020, further strengthened Menarini’s oncology portfolio, adding both commercial and clinical-stage assets. Tagraxofusp is a novel, first in class targeted therapy for patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) and to date, the only approved treatment for BPDCN in the U.S. and EU, and the first and only approved CD123-targeted therapy. Tagraxofusp is also being evaluated as both a single agent and in combination, in other CD123+ indications, including acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML), and myelofibrosis (MF).

Additionally, Menarini received exclusive rights to commercialise Selinexor for the treatment of oncology indications in the European Union and other European countries (including the United Kingdom), Latin America and other key countries. Menarini has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Karyopharm Therapeutics for the rights to commercialise an innovative therapeutic option in Europe, Latin America, Turkey, Russia, and CIS countries. Selinexor is a first-in-class, oral Selective Inhibitor of Nuclear export compound for the treatment of hematologic cancers and solid tumours. It is already marketed in the US for multiple myeloma and is under development for solid tumour indications. Selinexor is registered in the EU for both early and late lines and is launched in Germany.

Menarini entered into a global licence agreement with Radius Health to complete the development of Elacestrant, an oral SERD in late-stage Phase 3 development for hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. Following a successful phase 3 study, Menarini Stemline received FDA approval in January 2023 under priority review and launched it in February to the US market with the EMA review process is ongoing.

Menarini’s commitment to oncology is also reflected in the investments made in the liquid biopsy diagnostic field through its affiliate Menarini Silicon Biosystems (MSB), a pioneer in rare cell analysis and non-invasive, advanced diagnostic solutions. MSB’s CELLSEARCH Circulating Tumour Cell (CTC) Test is the first and only clinically validated blood test cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for detecting and counting CTCs in metastatic breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer when used in conjunction with other clinical monitoring methods.

Since 2021, MSB has offered in the US a menu of non-invasive Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs) provided through its CLIA/CAP accredited US-based Lab. The services include CMC enumeration, CTC enumeration and PDL-1/HER2 biomarker and offer a minimally invasive approach to follow cancer patient’s therapeutic journey.

In 2022, the company launched the CELLSEARCH® Circulating Multiple Myeloma Cell (CMMC) Enumeration LDT, the first-of-its-kind, which directly measures levels of plasma cells in the blood of patients. This test provides new, complementary information to that of the bone marrow biopsy and other standard-of-care measures. Due to its minimally invasive nature, it can be performed serially to assess plasma cell burden without requiring repeated bone marrow biopsies.

Menarini's vision and uniqueness in oncology is to bring together innovative therapeutic solutions and advanced liquid biopsy-based diagnostics for faster, more effective and precise patient management.

It is an exciting time in the company’s development and an excellent opportunity for individuals joining us to contribute to building and shaping Menarini Stemline’s Oncology business.