CEO Check-In Series: Warren D. Cooper, MB, BS, BSc, MFPM

A NEW POSITION BRINGS NEW PERSPECTIVES

When Ashton Tweed last talked with Dr. Warren D. Cooper in 2015, he was president of Coalescence Inc., his own healthcare and pharmaceutical development consulting practice. Currently, he is Chief Medical Officer and a Managing Director at HealthCare Royalty Partners (HCR), a global private investment firm headquartered in Stamford, Conn., that invests in life sciences companies with commercial or near-commercial stage products.

Dr. Cooper recently updated us on why he moved over to the investment side of the business:

Why did you join HCR in January 2017? It appears to be a departure from what you’ve been doing.

I was faced with the choice of joining HCR and being involved in situations across multiple companies, products and therapeutic areas or taking a CEO position at another company that would’ve been a natural fit for me. The CEO position, while challenging, would have meant doing essentially one thing and I was looking for more variety. I can get bored easily.

It seems like a big change but it really isn’t. Fundraising as a CEO means working with investors, although from a different perspective. But I felt moving to the investment side would be more intellectually challenging for me. It’s an exciting time in the evolution of therapeutics, of companies and of their financing. You never stop learning and new environments can provide more of that opportunity.

What do you do as HCR’s Chief Medical Officer?

I get involved in every potential investment deal the firm looks at. An investment firm has to screen multiple opportunities quickly and efficiently and say no to those opportunities that don’t fit the investment strategy. I assist in that triage and I can then get deeply involved in promising situations by assisting deal teams with in-house medical, regulatory and commercial experience.

You’re also on the board of directors for Zynerba Pharmaceuticals. How does that fit into your career?

For me, it’s an opportunity to remain part of a publicly traded company and allows me to keep my hand in the current challenges of running an organization and of its governance.