Biotech and biopharma consulting.

How I work

I take on a small number of biopharma engagements at a time, most with C-suites, boards, or principal investors. Engagements run from four weeks to twelve months. I am the senior person on the file. There is no junior bench. The relationship is direct.

The work I do best sits at the intersection of capital, clinical, and policy — the questions a CEO cannot fully delegate to a banker, a consultant, or a head of regulatory because the answer cuts across all three.

Strategy and market intelligence

Most of my work begins here. CEOs hire me to help them decide where to play and where not to: which indications to fund, which to partner out, which to kill; which markets to enter and in what order; how to allocate finite capital across a portfolio that is too broad for the cash runway in front of it. The output is not slideware. It is a decision the CEO can defend to the board on Monday morning.

Typical work products: capital-allocation frameworks for $1B-plus portfolios; competitive intelligence programs; scenario analyses on macro, regulatory, and competitor moves; market-sizing for new indications; and the prioritization conversation the executive team has been avoiding for two quarters. I have supported capital-allocation decisions on more than $10 billion of investment across the last decade.

This is the work an in-house strategy team cannot always do alone — not because the team is weak, but because the CEO needs an outside read that is not auditioning for a promotion.

Fundraising, investor relations, and BD on demand

I serve as a fractional senior on the capital side of the business — the IR, BD, or capital-strategy lead a company needs for ninety days, six months, or through a specific moment. The bench was empty, or the seat is vacant, or the incumbent is over their depth. I sit in the chair until the question is answered.

What that looks like in practice:

• Capital raise. Series A through C, crossover financings, PIPEs, and IPO readiness. Investor narrative, materials, data room, target list, roadshow management, and term-sheet judgment.
• Investor relations. Quarterly cadence with existing investors, KOL and analyst engagement, board-ready financial communication, and crisis-grade IR around clinical readouts or regulatory events.
• Business development. Partnering strategy, in-licensing and out-licensing process management, target screening, valuation triangulation, term-sheet negotiation, and the post-deal handoff to operations.

I do this on a retainer or fixed-fee basis. Most fractional engagements run between three and nine months. Some convert into ongoing advisory after the immediate brief closes. I also serve as head of research and investments at BioPalace.

Strategic transactions and biotech M&A advisory

I have advised on more than $35 billion in biopharma transactions across buy-side, sell-side, and integration. Most engagements look like one of three things: an unsolicited inbound that needs a structured response; a board-mandated review of strategic alternatives; or a partnering deal that is too complex for the in-house BD team alone.

What I add over the bulge bracket is operator judgment. Bankers are paid to close. I am paid to tell the board whether closing is the right call, and what the company actually has to absorb on day 91.

Typical scopes: target screening and ranking; valuation triangulation across DCF, comparables, and royalty models; deal-structure review; board-ready materials; CDA-to-LOI process management; and post-LOI operational planning. I do not run sell-side processes. For that I co-quarterback with a banker the board has selected.

Drug development consulting — strategic, not operational

I worked on a $130 million HIV vaccine development program across governments, donors, and research institutions. The advisory I now offer is strategic: capital sequencing, indication prioritization, partnering strategy, and the decisions a CEO faces when development capital is finite and the next readout is twelve months out.

I am not your CMC consultant. I am not running your clinical operations. What I do is help you decide which Phase to fund out of pocket, which to partner, which to pause, and what the readout actually has to look like for the next financing round to be possible.

Most engagements run alongside a CDO or CSO who owns the science. I sit on the capital and partnering side of the same table.

Operations and restructuring

I led a $1 billion corporate restructuring end to end — P&L realignment, workforce, operating model, and the financial communication that surrounded it. The mid-cap biopharma market in 2026 has more of this work than capacity to absorb it. Companies are not failing; they are flat-NAV-and-shrinking, and the operating model is the wrong shape for the current cost of capital.

Engagements typically begin with a 30-day diagnostic — what is working, what is overweight, where the cash actually goes — and continue into 90-day implementation alongside the CFO and COO. The deliverables are operational, not slideware.

Cross-border BD — outlicensing and US capital for non-US biotechs

Roughly half of my pipeline now sits outside the United States. APAC biopharma in particular has the science, lacks the deal grammar, and needs senior US representation before it ever sees a US partner. I work with Japanese, Korean, and emerging-Chinese biotechs on outlicensing into US pharma; with US boards weighing inbound APAC assets; and with non-US biotechs preparing to raise US capital without an office in Boston or San Francisco.

I run Arcstone Japan from the same desk. I served as a diplomat at the World Bank, represented the United Kingdom at the UN General Assembly on pharmaceutical policy, and have been negotiating across governments for fifteen years. The cross-border work is not adjacent. It is the through-line of the practice.

When a boutique is the right call

Biotech consulting firms come in three tiers. Bulge-bracket consultancies — McKinsey, BCG, Bain, EY-Parthenon — sell a model and a team. Boutique advisory like mine sells one senior operator with a personal P&L on the work. Pure functional shops sell depth in one lane.

The right call depends on the question. If you are running a multi-year transformation, hire the bulge. If you are running a $200-million-cap biotech, mid-restructuring, with a CFO who needs a senior thinking partner for ninety days, hire someone like me. If you need a regulatory specialist, hire a regulatory specialist.

I am happy to tell you which one you actually need. Sometimes it is not me.

How we start

1. 20-minute call. I want to hear the question before I quote on the work. Most calls end with either a scope of work or a referral to someone better placed.
2. Diagnostic. Two-week paid diagnostic to validate the brief, scope the engagement, and confirm we want to work together. Capped fee. Either side can walk.
3. Engagement. Most run between four weeks and twelve months on retainer or fixed-fee. I take on no more than three concurrent engagements.

Questions I get asked

Are you a biotech consulting firm or a single operator?

Single operator. I am the senior person on every file. There is no junior bench, no leverage model, no rotating analyst. The work is direct. When I need a specialist — regulatory, tax, IP litigation — I bring one in by name and on consent.

Do you work with early-stage biotechs or only mid-cap and up?

Both. Early-stage work tends to be partnering strategy, fundraising materials, and board readiness. Mid-cap work tends to be restructuring, transactions, and post-LOI operations. The threshold is not size; it is whether the question reaches the C-suite.

What does an engagement cost?

The diagnostic is fixed-fee, capped at two weeks. Full engagements run on monthly retainer or fixed-fee depending on scope. I quote after the first call. I do not work hourly.

Are you based in San Diego? Do you travel?

San Diego. I travel for on-site work in Boston, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, and London on a regular schedule, and elsewhere as needed.