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The Brave New World of Information Professionals: Juggling Career Changes with

The Brave New World of Information Professionals: Juggling Career Changes with. Robin Merrill Elan Pharmaceuticals SLA DPHT Meeting St. Petersburg, FL April 8, 2008. How I got to Elan.

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The Brave New World of Information Professionals: Juggling Career Changes with

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  1. The Brave New World of Information Professionals:Juggling Career Changes with Robin Merrill Elan Pharmaceuticals SLA DPHT Meeting St. Petersburg, FL April 8, 2008

  2. How I got to Elan • About me: background as information specialist/manager at several management consulting firms and other professional services companies • background in business research • little pharmaceuticals/scientific experience • MLS (Simmons College) • BA, German (Smith College) • Came to Elan October 2004: • recruited by SVP who worked at one of the strategy consulting firms and came over with new CEO from Merrill Lynch • named Manager of Market-Competitor Intelligence within newly-formed Corporate Strategy & Alliances, a new position • office located in little brick house in Cambridge, rest of small team in NY and SSF; co-located with people from IR, marketing

  3. About Elan • Medium-sized neuroscience-based biotechnology company headquartered in Ireland with large R&D facility in South San Francisco • 2007: $570MM revenues, 2,000 employees worldwide • 4 marketed products: Tysabri (MS), Prialt (pain), 2 off-patent hospital anti-infectives • Pipeline and pre-clinical research programs in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS/autoimmune • Nanotechnology and contract manufacturing businesses in US and Ireland

  4. Embedded in Corporate Strategy • My role is fully integrated into Corporate Strategy department: • participate in monthly conference calls • attend quarterly and annual offsite meetings • responsible for annual data budget, manage db subscriptions etc • based in tiny Boston office, have remote relationship with small team in NY, SSF • virtual collection – no “library” • formerly compiled weekly newsletter for team with edited therapeutic area/topic news, company/partner financials and events listings (now use LexisNexis Publisher) • provide proactive/responsive research support for team • deal comps • pipeline products • company/competitor research and profiles • market research data • partner with Library, Communications, IR, marketing managers, scientists, Legal, IT

  5. Time of Turbulence • In 2004/5 Elan was in midst of turnaround, repositioning as biopharma/nanotech company from a larger, less focused one • financial, legal, product challenges • new strategies and executive team in place • products sold off and several offices consolidated, shut down • Tysabri taken off market shortly after launch due to AE (since re-introduced) • Stock price dropped 90% overnight

  6. Impact on Information Services • Lots of data redundancies from legacy operations • Conducted company-wide global database inventory, partnering with Library, Finance, other depts, sister company, overseas locations • Market Research dept dissolved – no longer relevant to refocused and slimmed down company • took on information budget, slashed it to match current strategies and products • Commercial Library in San Diego was consolidated within S San Francisco information center and office was closed, Librarian eventually left • S San Francisco R&D Library reported to 2 different depts, staff turmoil, finally landing under my boss in June 2008

  7. AIM Services is Born • Named manager of Library in June, 2007 • Manage 2 FTEs and a part-time contractor in SSF remotely from Boston • Responsible for budget AIM enjoys top-level support and visibility

  8. Promoting/Rebranding and Rebuilding AIM Services Continues • Team of 2 great new information specialists and part-time assistant • Increased presence on intranet, post filtered newsfeeds via LNP • Participate in weekly science group meetings • Adding more databases/subscriptions/alerts based on user feedback and company priorities • In-person visits with R&D managers to assess info needs • Present at all new employee orientations in SSF, in-person & webex trainings • Focus on developing user analytics to guide decisionmaking • Processing lab notebooks and working with Legal on e-notebooks • Company-wide IP/corporate document archiving initiative • Implementing Quosa content management tool for Med Affairs, scientists, etc

  9. Library/Cafe Redesign Underway to Bring Scientists Together in Library wall between library & cafe to be taken down, space created for knowledge-sharing, quiet reading, playing pool with scientists!

  10. Takeaways from my Experience at Elan • Flexibility is key, “rolling with the punches” • opportunities come from challenges • Managing remotely is tricky • need for enhanced & constant communication with staff, travel, hiring challenges • Fusion of roles • both embedded and traditional • More partnering with other departments, not isolated • co-located with other groups • physical library as place for “knowledge sharing” • Need to keep abreast of clientele’s needs continuously, gather metrics and change accordingly • Top-level management support, flat hierarchy is best • I’m glad I didn’t leave when the stock sunk to $3!

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