Image credits: myTomorrows
Major advances are happening in drug development globally! But the innovations are only meaningful when there are ways to easily access them. According to research, around three-quarters of the world’s population, an estimated 5.5B people, have low or non-existent access to medicines.
The ever-increasing global unmet need for access to medicines, together with the growing challenges and complexity involved, requires a concrete solution. And here’s where Amsterdam-based scaleup myTomorrows comes into play.
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No one misses out on treatment
myTomorrows is an international platform that links patients facing unmet medical needs to treatments in development worldwide.
The company is on a mission to ensure that patients and doctors don’t miss out on treatment options due to a lack of information, understanding, and administrative hurdles.
Ronald Brus started myTomorrows in 2012 after losing his father to an aggressive form of lung cancer. “As a physician and founder of several biotech companies, I thought I could help him find and access a treatment in development. But I was surprised at how complicated and slow the process was. I decided this had to change, so I dedicated myself to creating an easier and faster way for patients to access treatments in development.”
New CEO on board
In the latest development, Michel van Harten, MD, COO, has been appointed as CEO of myTomorrows, replacing the founder and current CEO Ronald Brus, MD.
Michel first joined myTomorrows as Medical Director in 2017, and he was soon promoted to Head of Medical Affairs and then Chief Medical Officer. In 2020, he was appointed COO of the company with shaping clear objectives for the future.
In an exclusive conversation with Silicon Canals, Michel van Harten, says, “Under my leadership, we succeeded on all points and are now growing fast.”
His mission
As the CEO, Michel will work side-by-side with Ronald. Talking about his rapport with Ronald, Michel shares, “In the last few years, Ronald was mainly involved in the strategic outlook and funding of myTomorrows. Our Supervisory Board wanted to have a CEO who can drive the company from both a medical and business perspective and is 100 per cent dedicated to making this a success, with a hands-on approach, setting out the strategy and targets and helping in the execution when needed.”
He continues, “Ronald and I will fulfil the CEO position together for now. As a founder and main shareholder, Ronald will highly likely be part of our Supervisory Board in the future to support the growth of myTomorrows.With his experience in the industry, as the former-CEO of Crucell, his experience of the market/industry won’t be lost.”
Why myTomorrows?
Michel earned both his BSc in Economics and his Medical Degree at the University of Amsterdam. He worked as a physician at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, a specialised cancer hospital and research institute in the Department of Surgical Oncology.
About his journey with myTomorrows, Michel shares, “I was at a point where I had to apply for resident positions, but I felt that my ambition was more on the business side. So when I discovered the position as a Medical Director at myTomorrows, this would be the opportunity to combine both worlds: Health & Tech / Business. When Ronald told me his personal story and about his mission and the ambition to become a global platform that could transform the lives of millions of patients, I decided to go for the opportunity, and I never regret that decision.”
As a physician, Michel understands the challenges both physicians and patients may face in finding and accessing treatment options.
Future plans
Talking about his immediate and long-term plans, Michel tells Silicon Canals, “On the long term we want to become THE go-to platform, fully integrated with the healthcare system, where we match patients with an unmet medical need (coming in via different channels) with clinical trials and Expanded Access Programs, in an unbiased way.”
As the short-term goal, the Dutch company is focusing on growing its pharma client base on the supply side and physician community on the demand side.
Additionally, myTomorrows is doubling down on its digitalisation by:
- Creating tools for physicians and patients
- Building the required infrastructure
- Automating internal processes for scaling-up.
Growth, and revenue
According to Michel, the company has witnessed a good amount of growth so far in terms of patients (100 per cent) and physicians (120 per cent).
“In Q1-Q2, all our key drivers have grown rapidly versus the same period in 2020,” shares Michel. “The number of compounds on our platform grew 30 per cent.”
In the first six months of 2021, the company’s net revenue grew by 10 per cent MoM and 150 per cent compared to last year. He adds, “We are on track to generate €10M in 2022 and growing towards €50M in 2024.”
Business model
The Dutch company helps physicians and their patients by finding and facilitating access to treatments in development worldwide, such as clinical trials and expanded access programs. Notably, the services are free for patients and physicians, however, they charge pharmaceutical companies for the services.
Discussing the business model, he says, “myTomorrows charges pharma for finding patients, managing Expanded Access Programs (regulated access to drugs in development outside of a clinical trial), and collecting Real World Data (RWD) that supports pharma companies in the development and getting their drugs to market.”
Raised €20M
In terms of funding, myTomorrows has raised €20M in total from various investors, including Sofinnova Partners, Balderton, EQT Ventures and Octopus Ventures.
Michel shares, “We aim to raise additional funding in the second half of this year to further grow our client & physician base and develop our platform to automate selected steps in the physician and patient journey to prepare us for scale.”
Hiring
At present, the company employs around 50 people across various backgrounds like engineering, growth, medical, pharma & business development.
“We are really looking to hire a Product Marketer, to support the marketing side of our digitalisation,” he concludes.
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