Vice President of Clinical Development

Career insight

A Vice President of Clinical Development reports to the Chief Medical Officer and is usually responsible for 1 of 3 things.

Number 1 – Developing the clinical development strategy.

The VPs of Clinical Development contribute greatly to the clinicaldevelopment, strategy and execution of trials. Should a biotech besmaller, most of the decision making might be done by the CMO.However as the company grows and as more trials are added the VPswill take on more decision making responsibilities. Large Pharma a VP(SVP, EVP etc) will usually be responsible for all of the clinicalstrategy for a certain disease or stage of life cycle.

Number 2 - Operations and delivery of information.

A VP of a smaller company could still be expected to help out withthe medical monitoring, writing and day to day activities. Arguablythis is very important as the VP can have a much closer look at thedata. This can then be filtered and summarised and brought to the Csuit execs. The data, insights and communication is essential for theVP and CMO to make informed decisions on the next stages of theclinical plan. Functional responsibilities here include GCP, ICH,FDA/EMA Submissions, IND Filings, Vendor management and more.

Number 3 - Leadership

A VP will have much closer day to day interactions with the team. In many companies the monitors, CRPs, clinical project managers and data/biostats team will report into the CMO and VP. The CMO will be responsible for budget and strategy, but the VP will be focusing on execution, people development and communication.

Requirements for Vice President of Clinical Development :

• A Medical Degree and specialisation in that field of medicine.
• Previous demonstrated experience which is related to that biotech. Such as:
• Early clinical development, successful IND application, entry into clinics, submission and filings, demonstrate running clinical trials.
• Late clinical development, successful drug launches, building medical teams, FDA /EMA submissions, previous Medical Affairs work.
• Leadership; successfully proven managing a team including areas such as, Clinical Operations, Drug Safety, Medical Affairs and potentially more.
• Detailed knowledge about the disease area is a major advantage but not always necessary. Its unlikely someone with no Oncology experience will work as a CMO at an oncology biotech however.

Salary and benefits:

• $250,000 - $500,000
• Bonus: 25-35%
• Stocks: 25-40%
• Typical extras: Paid travel or relocation

Further information:

Should you be interested in working as a Vice President in Clinical Development or need more advice on your career, then let us know. We are always searching for people with this background and are happy to discuss our clients and which companies are hiring (now or near future). All conversations are strictly confidential.