Tarun Walia on Leading Data Science and Mergers & Acquisitions at Novo Nordisk

Pharma Now: Welcome to Pharma Now, Mr. Tarun Walia. You're currently the Senior Director of Data Science Evaluation and Integration at Novo Nordisk. It's a pleasure to have you here with us today. Can you tell us about your journey to this position and what the role of Senior Director of Data Science Evaluation and Integration actually entails?

Mr. Walia: Of course, the title is confusing, and I'll talk about what I do at Novo Nordisk. My journey actually started in India, where I completed my engineering in biotechnology from the Kurukshetra University. Then, I worked with a few companies. I handled business development strategies for small and large biotech companies. Then, I went to the USA and pursued my MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and that was a great experience. After MIT, I joined McKinsey & Company in Boston, where I led their efforts in strategy and business development, which focused on life sciences and pharmaceutical companies. I was an associate partner at McKinsey & Company.

After about 1.5 years in McKinsey & Company, I joined Novo Nordisk. Here, I'm leading a group called DDI, which is Due Diligence and Integrations. It has two different components: one is completing due diligence for opportunities that we (Novo Nordisk) intend to acquire or license and the second component is integrating opportunities (into Novo Nordisk) once we’ve acquired them. We have to devise plans to make sure that the new opportunities are properly integrated with Novo Nordisk. Even within that, there are two components: the opportunities that we evaluate can be molecular—like small molecules, large molecules or any modalities—or digital opportunities. Digital opportunities can be data tools, digital tools, or digital biomarkers. So, there are many ways that the DDI evaluates opportunities and then helps integrate them within Novo Nordisk.

Pharma Now: It's certainly a unique and important role. Did you ever imagine that you would end up in such a role while pursuing your engineering?

Mr. Walia: Never, I never imagined it. I think there was such a dearth of information at that time. My father actually still makes fun of me. He says, “You did your engineering in biotechnology, so you're neither an engineer nor a doctor.” He still makes fun of me with that, but my answer is, “I know a little of both.”

Pharma Now: Yes, certainly. After completing your engineering, you chose to pursue an MBA from MIT. How was your experience at MIT? Were you in India the whole time?

Mr. Walia: I already had more than 10 years of experience when I decided to do an MBA. I spent some years in India and some in the US. I was working for BioXcel.

Pharma Now: That's very interesting. So, you started your career in the biotech area. Then, you took a break and went to MIT. It must’ve been very hard.

Mr. Walia: Oh, it was a very hard time. I mean, I already had a kid by then, and it was a hard choice.

Pharma Now: So, what motivated you to pursue MBA after such a long career? What inspired you to make that decision?

Mr. Walia: Constant learning. I felt like I was hitting the roof here in India. Again, there are great organizations in India, too, but I wanted to work at the intersection of data, business, and science, and there is no better place than MIT to learn all of that together. So, I was talking to a mentor, and he said there is a big need for people who understand data and business really well. There are people who understand business well. There are people who understand science well. There are people who understand data well. But at the intersection, there are very few people working correctly. So, I thought, “How can I be that leader working at this intersection?” I didn't think there was a better place than MIT to learn this. Boston is the hub. Cambridge is the hub of innovation, and I felt I had to be there too.

Pharma Now: It was a very courageous decision, breaking the revenue site, having a kid, and going back to education. Coming back to your current role, you're responsible for a lot of integrations and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). What exactly does this entail? 

Mr. Walia: There are various stages of M&A. The first stage is search and evaluation, where you identify what opportunities you want to acquire. Of course, you have to have a strategy, for example, I want to focus on a particular therapy area. In our case, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other areas are the areas we (Novo Nordisk) are focused on. 

Once you've done the search and evaluated a handful of companies, you do due diligence or evaluation. There are various elements that you evaluate during due diligence. You focus on clinical trials, you use biostatistics and pharmacometric tools, you look at the real-world data, and you use AI technology. So, using various ways, you evaluate the availability data and the candidate companies and say yes, “This company fits with our portfolio well, and we think that we should go ahead and acquire it.” There's a big team that makes this happen.

I won't say that I'm more of a due diligence person who's doing the due diligence. Once we have done due diligence, the deal team takes it forward and closes the deal. Then, we do integrations.

Pharma Now: So, what are your organization's priorities right now in terms of M&A?

Mr. Walia: I think it's all reported in our public domain documents. We focus on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some rare diseases.

Pharma Now: From what I understand about the pharma industry, the pharma industry and big multinational companies (MNCs) are focused on inorganic growth. So, is this an opportunity for Indian companies?

Mr. Walia: I think it's a great opportunity. The one thing that Indian companies have to focus more on is novel compounds. We've been so driven by our expertise in the chemistry of small molecules that we are experts in generics. But if we want to be a global leader, we need to build this capability in other modalities as well, like gene therapy biosimilars and antibodies.

If cutting-edge innovation happens in India, it can help drive a lot of investment as well. Then, we can become one of those M&A targets. Why do large pharma companies acquire these companies? Because of innovations. So, of course, you have innovation happening in a large pharma. 

Some of these smaller companies are so agile and so focused on the next clinical trial and approval that they are very focused on their risk-taking ability. I think we, in India, have the objective here: Can we focus on cutting-edge innovation? If we can, we’ll become interesting to some of these larger companies.

Pharma Now: So, there are so many entrepreneurs in India that want to build a company to a particular level and then, of course, to get into M&A and sell their company to any MNCs. Because you handle M&A in an MNC, what would be your message to such entrepreneurs? What areas should they focus on to make their company more attractive? 

Mr. Walia: I think they should use AI and ML to identify compounds, small molecules. There are so many technologies. The Alpha fold is a good example of how molecules bind with different targets in the body, and it reduces the cost of identifying targets. Indian companies need to leverage technology to identify molecules that can then be tested in humans, and it can reduce the time to market and the cost to market. There is no other country which has the strategic advantage of technology that India already has. 

Pharma Now: Fantastic. One last question: You are an Indian who moved to the U.S. and now has many achievements there. Today, there are many students and young professionals who want to achieve some of your achievements or have a similar career. What would your message be to these people, how they should look at these as an opportunity? 

Mr. Walia: I think one thing I would say is “Don't stop dreaming.” When I was studying engineering, I couldn't even communicate really well because I come from a small town. You need to know how to convert your weakness into your strength. And find those mentors constantly. When I was at MIT, I reached out to one of the fathers of molecular biology, Dr. Harvey Lodish. He has been teaching at MIT for the last 56 years, and he was looking for a teaching assistant. Fortunately, I got that role, and I asked him this question.

It was such a pleasure to be in his presence. His students have won Nobel Prizes, and I was like, "I come from a small town in India, and I have this opportunity to be the teaching assistant.” The one thing he said was, “For people like us, we want to give back to the young generation and we are looking for people who have energy like you to give it back to.”

So now, I'm in that phase where I am also learning, but I can mentor young people. So if there are people who have that energy, they can absolutely come up. So, don't stop dreaming. Reach out to people when you can. If you don't hear back once, that's fine, reach out again, but don't stop dreaming. 

Pharma Now: Yes, I agree with you. Many times, people give up after the first time. But, you need to try again. I believe this was a short discussion but it was a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you for joining Pharma Now. I hope we get another chance for a more exhaustive interview.

Mr. Walia: Absolutely, thank you. It's my pleasure.