Focus on Alliance Management

Stefan Walke

“The better you understand your own organization, the better you will be able to help your partner navigate the different structure, processes and even cultural aspects of your company – all important factors contributing to a successful collaboration that maximizes the outcome for both partners” explains Stefan Walke, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Global Head of Alliance Management. And he should know. With more than a decade’s experience working in the Company’s research, strategy, partnering, contracts and alliance management functions, Walke believes the key to managing a partnership successfully is to step into your partner’s shoes. “You need to be able to understand and value the interests of your partner. It’s not about pushing forward our interests, it’s about being the partner’s champion and nurturing the relationship to make it work and be successful.”

With more than 150 active collaborations anchoring the portfolio, external innovation is a fundamental component of Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D strategy, helping the Company to achieve its first4patients ambition to transform the lives of patients by accelerating the delivery of the next generation of breakthrough therapies. As well as supporting the current and future growth of the portfolio, working with external partners creates opportunities to realize even more new ideas and science, and this ‘open door’ principle complements Boehringer Ingelheim’s own extensive research activities.

An Alliance Management function for the future

As Boehringer Ingelheim’s success in establishing new collaborations has increased, so too has the emphasis on Alliance Management with the Company’s model evolving to reflect the growing need for dedicated support for each project – distinct from Contract and Project Management.
Alliance Management focuses on the relationship, building trust among the parties and recognition of the needs of both partners within a given collaboration. It may also mean helping the partner navigate sometimes complex operational processes involving multiple stakeholders, research sites and geographies, as well as facilitate discussions with both parties. Every partnership is different and dedicated Alliance Managers can help to realize the expectations that the partners had when entering the collaboration. “We want to build trust and foster open communication so the joint project teams can focus on the science” explains Walke, who also recognizes the innovation value of bringing together different organizations and cultures to solve scientific challenges that might be too hard to solve alone. “Diversity is a powerful platform that really helps us maximize innovation, and our role in Alliance Management is to leverage the strengths of both partners and create a win:win dynamic to build the best foundation for a strong outcome.”

Long-term commitment

“Many of our relationships last for several years with multiple extensions and additional projects added over time. Partners value our long-term perspective and our commitment to bring the project to success. We accept that sometimes scientific progress and success might take longer than originally expected. It’s not uncommon to require a second or third “shot on goal” before success can be achieved. And while we may have planned for two years, it may be that it’s only after five years that the project ultimately delivers. But with an attractive value proposition it’s worth it.”

Boehringer Ingelheim’s collaboration with the University of Dundee, one of the most innovative universities in Europe, is a relationship that has evolved and grown since the partners first joined forces in 2016. The research collaboration has a bold ambition: the development of proteolysis targeting chimaeras (PROTACs), a completely new class of drugs with the potential to "drug the undruggable". Now into its fifth year, the partnership was expanded in 2018 to focus on targeting and destroying key cancer-causing proteins. The approach has yielded the first PROTAC which shreds SMARCA2, a protein that drives the tumors of more than 20,000 new patients with cancer each year and for which drug discovery approaches have been unsuccessful to date. Working with Professor Alessio Ciulli and his team at Dundee the Boehringer Ingelheim is a prime example of the evolution of a very strong relationship over the years. “It’s a huge commitment from both sides”, says Stefan Walke “but it is always extremely rewarding to see that the relationship is so strong. Our teams work together seamlessly – it’s a family!”

Supporting flexible deal structures

Evolution and agility are key watchwords for Boehringer Ingelheim which has been building a growing portfolio of strong external partnerships for more than a decade. Recent collaborations reflect a broad range of partnership models beyond more classical licensing agreements. These include complex R&D collaborations with biotech companies and academia, to multi-partner collaborations, and portfolio and company acquisitions. Stefan Walke believes a strong and agile Alliance Management function is important to enable this ever-increasing flexibility in deal structures. “To be able to entertain certain deal structures and collaborative models you need strong Alliance Management to support that complexity. We also want to ensure a coordinated partnership with an understanding of the contributions of both parties. With dedicated Alliance Managers with a long-term mandate, we can more easily work with these structures to drive the interests of all participating parties forward.”

People make partnerships

But achieving a successful, long-lasting partnership is the result of more than the initial deal-making. Stefan Walke believes partnerships are fundamentally about people. “Science is complex. And science in partnerships is even more complex. If the relationship doesn’t work and trust is not established, then the science will rarely be successful. But if the people are committed, and there’s a shared interest in making the partnership a success, we have a good chance of creating something special, which might only be possible by working together, and potentially changing patients’ lives.”