A Global Approach to Oncology: Q&A with Justin Holko

Justin Holko
Senior vice president
Head of global oncology/hematology commercial business unit
Regeneron

Justin Holko, senior vice president and head of the global oncology/hematology commercial business unit for Regeneron, spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about the company’s work to become a global oncology leader. According to him, this involves both strategizing ways to get the company’s current pipeline to patients across the world, developing new ways of connecting with HCPs, and figuring out news way to innovate in a changing global environment.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What’s on the horizon for Regeneron in solid tumors and blood cancers?
Justin Holko: There's a lot to look forward to, but I also don't want to miss out on the great opportunities that are in front of us today. We've done quite a bit of work in establishing ourselves within the PD-1 market, which really sets the foundation for what's to come. We have potential additional launches within that space, and we are hopeful those will happen in the next several months. We also have a couple of T-cell engagers in the hematology space for multiple myeloma as well as lymphomas that really have us excited. On top of that, we closed a pretty significant business development deal a couple of years ago where we bought back global rights to our anti PD-1, which we had previously shared that with a partner. Historically, we bought those rights back a couple of years ago. We're still also very much in the throes of global expansion from what was once a US-based organization that now has a footprint in markets around the world.

PE: More broadly, what are the trends you see for commercial biopharma in the coming year?
Holko: I think one of the things that you can be certain of within oncology is that data is always going to be king. What we aspire to as a broad enterprise, particularly when it comes to oncology hematology, is that we want to ensure that we're delivering the best data sets and showing that our technologies can deliver for patients in ways that either prior iterations or other technologies cannot. Our first aspiration is to have the best data. Certainly, being there first is important as well, but at the end of the day, what really sets you up for success is having data that is differentiated and really meets patient needs and meets physician needs in terms of where those opportunities might ultimately be. One of the things we've seen as a trend over the years is access to physicians has become more difficult, and this was certainly something that was exacerbated by COVID.

In historic times, you really invest the most in your sales team, because they're the ones who ultimately do the selling. They're the ones who can share with physicians. We still must do that, and we invest in them as our number one resource, but we also must recognize that physicians may take in their data through other means (such as digital sources or other ways) where access is just not going to be where it was in the past. We must constantly be innovating and finding ways to ensure that physicians have the relevant data, but also that we have a share of voice in a market that has become increasingly noisy and increasingly difficult to access the physicians who ultimately need to use our drugs.

PE: What does it take to be a global oncology leader in 2025?
Holko: As we look at the goals that we've set for ourselves in 2025, we want to deliver on the base business that we have. We want to grow it and increase our presence and become top of mind with thought leaders and our customers. At the end of the day, to be a global leader is something that takes commitment over years, if not decades. If you think about our customers, they are not going to change but the drugs that they ultimately have access to will. What we want to show is that throughout the entire Regeneron enterprise, whether it's showing up on the commercial side or our medical affairs or clinical teams, we want to ensure that people see that we have the commitment to the space that we are invested in. There's still a ton of need when you think about oncology. We want to ensure that we're on that next cutting edge, and that when our clinicians, thought leaders, and our practitioners think about the leaders, it's not just the leaders in terms of market share where we are today, but it's the leaders who are really pushing the science of the innovation to that next level.