Meet the Maker: EPM talks to Owlstone Medical's Neil Tween

EPM speaks to Neil Tween, CFO at Owlstone Medical, who tells us why diagnostics still have a vital role to play in healthcare and the lessons he's learned from working in the industry.

Could you give us a brief description of yourself and what you do at Owlstone Medical?

I am a chartered accountant by trade, having trained with Deloitte within their audit practice. After six years with Deloitte, I moved into industry to be Financial Controller at a technology company before joining GW Pharmaceuticals plc just after their listing on the NASDAQ market in 2013. During my time there, we grew from a 180-person R&D company into a fully commercial organisation spanning multiple countries.

At Owlstone Medical, I am the Chief Financial Officer. I have only been in the position since the end of March so I am still learning the ropes, but my group is responsible for the delivery of all elements of internal and external financial reporting and operations, as Owlstone Medical looks to scale up in our search for breath biomarkers. I also help steer matters from a board and leadership team agenda.

Please describe your average day in five words

Varied, fascinating, and moving forwards.

At what point did you decide to be involved in the pharma market?

At Deloitte my mix of clients tended towards pharma and technology, with various FTSE groups, and I’ve always been interested in companies looking to do something novel. Only at GW did I finally manage to immerse myself fully within a pharma setting, and that gave me a great opportunity to begin to understand the complexities within the sector. I was lucky enough to be part of GW’s Phase 3 clinical trial successes with Epidiolex: manufacturing scale-up, first FDA approval and US & EU commercial launch – and trusted to have a wide operational involvement. Bringing a new product to market, where there was such an unmet medical need, really cemented my passion for pharma and my drive to help improve patient lives.

What has been your biggest achievement?

It was the lessons I learned in scaling up at GW; the organisation really exploded in size. In finance, we went from a team of five generalists and I built out specialisms (treasury, tax, controls, budgeting), ending up with a team of over forty people by the time I left. This was while we had to start complying with substantial Sarbanes Oxley financial control requirements and raised over $1bn on NASDAQ in equity funding.

What would you say is your worst trait?

I tend to be very committed to getting things right and sometimes I struggle to let things go when I should do so. I have learned some important lessons, and I think I’m now a lot better at seeing the overall picture.

What do you love about your job?

Owlstone Medical’s mission is to save over 100,000 lives and $1.5 billion in healthcare costs – but in the novel area of Breath Biopsy. I am fortunate to have lived through the growing pains at my previous companies and to have the opportunity here to really help lead and shape the company to achieve this goal is one I relish. Working with passionate people who share this aim is a privilege.

If anything, what would you change about your job?

I enjoy working with people and although video conferencing and calls are now of such high quality, I wish I was able to go into the office every day and work side-by-side with my team and other senior leaders. At least it should only be a matter of time… (due to the coronavirus lockdown).

If you weren’t in the pharma industry what job would you like to do?

I’ve always had delusions of being a sports journalist. However now I am older, I do fear that the reality of copy deadlines and last-minute goals and drama forcing panicked re-writes in a cramped press box would be somewhat different. I think I would rather stay where I am now!

What challenges do you foresee being important over the next 10 years?

There are many people who seem to believe that the healthcare model is broken, with national health services struggling to pay for drugs and treatments, even if efficacy has been proven through rigorous clinical trials. As a result, a real shift in mindset is emerging, towards the earlier detection of disease and its prevention where possible, so that outcomes can be maximised whilst minimising costs with a rational deployment of resources – which is where I hope Owlstone Medical will help play a key role.

In your opinion, what will offer the biggest opportunities in the future?

Much like the challenges, I think our focus as a sector needs to be on preventative measures – both diagnostic and lifestyle. So many health conditions are caused or exacerbated by poor diet and lifestyle decisions which business – led by pharma – needs to play a key role to help inform the effects and evolve our understanding of causality.

For example, there are some amazing projects which monitor health conditions against pollution, and if this can be partnered appropriately with the right technology and diagnostic program, tailored treatment is now realistically possible.

We really have the chance to accomplish something with precision medicine. I then believe there will be opportunities for prevention (lifestyle), early detection (diagnostic) and cure (treatments) to form a cost-effective and appropriate approach for any individual.