CG Life CEO David Ormesher has only been in his position atop the agency for a few months but his impact has been pronounced thus far.

After taking over in early November, the former Closerlook and Fishawack Health leader guided the 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree through a rebranding effort at the start of this year.

The communications firm is now Shaped by Science — with CG Life leveraging researchers and medical marketers to speak directly to pharma and life sciences brands.

MM+M recently caught up with Ormesher to talk about the initiative’s launch, how his brief time at the helm has fared and what the future of generative AI holds for the industry.

This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

MM+M: Talk to me about the brand refresh announced earlier this month. What went into that?

Ormesher: CG Life has been around for 20 years; so I’m the new kid on the block. In some ways I’ve been learning the business, but sometimes after 20 years it’s a good idea to go back to your roots. 

Shaped by Science declares what has always been true over the 20 years of CG Life: we respect and celebrate the science and scientists who shaped the most critical and crucial medical innovations. 

As we thought about it — whether we’re talking about tools, diagnostics, medical devices, or biopharma therapies — we’ve been Shaped by Science. Whenever I think about a company’s positioning, I always start with what’s authentically true about a company’s heritage, its founding story and its people. 

To say that CG Life is a science-first communications agency for the life sciences is authentic and aligns with my vision as we grow the company into a science-first, tech-enabled communication agency for biopharma and life sciences. 

MM+M: How do you take a healthcare brand’s message of research-based innovation and convey that to the general public?

Ormesher: I think of it in two ways. 

First of all, I reflect on how science has shaped medicine to have a life-changing impact on patients. There’s an emotional connection there that can’t be denied. Something that I’ve always said is ‘You have to touch the heart to move the mind.’ 

Our aim as communicators, as marketers, as storytellers is to connect emotionally with our audience members who acknowledge our shared humanity. Once we’ve built that connection — I would even suggest only after we have built that connection — do we earn the right to communicate intellectually as marketers. The idea of being Shaped by Science brings us back to what is core about all of us, what we have shared and that’s our shared humanity. 

On the industry level, with the explosion of innovation coming out in universities and biopharma laboratories… there’s a need for this science-first approach to biopharma communication and commercialization. That’s why it’s key for CG Life to bring ourselves back to the core of who we are and what we stand for.

MM+M: What have conversations been like with your clients and peers across the industry to start 2024? How do you evaluate the medical marketing world as it stands right now?

Ormesher: So while we didn’t have a recession last year, there are other interesting challenges and headwinds that biopharma is facing.

I think people underestimated the potential impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on drug pricing for therapies that represent the largest expenditures by Medicare and that’s having a ripple effect throughout the industry. There’s certainly a lot of scenario-planning going on. 

In conversations with the executives that I talk to, they’re suggesting that one of the implications is the need for speed and taking a molecule or a technology through clinical development, launch and growth. 

We see our role in this as the combination of translating deep science so providers and patients can understand and embrace a new therapy, then leveraging technology driven omnichannel strategies to reach them at the time of need. That will help shape demand, inspire go-to-market planning and support omnichannel activation. For many executives, this will accelerate the speed of new product uptake and allow products to maximize their patent life. 

There are those headwinds, but everybody was already thinking how to manage those headwinds, which in some cases, means getting products to market faster for early, clinical-stage biotechs. Investor sentiment has been soft over the past year, interest rates, a weak IPO market and, in many cases, just the sheer volume of opportunities, has made funding rounds more challenging. 

For those early stage companies, including a number of ones we’re working with that have promising products, management needs strong communication support. This ranges from public relations and corporate communications to science-focused medical communications and we have years of experience working with these early stage companies to get them ready for primetime. Our most recent example is the work we did for Tome Biosciences and their $213 million launch out of stealth.

MM+M: What do you make of the generative AI boom and what it means for your business?

Ormesher: I always go back to the Gartner Hype Cycle; so generative AI peaked, it’s on its way down, but there’s a real role for it. 

In many ways, what I’m challenging people here at CG Life is everybody needs to find their AI copilot. There are a lot of apps out there we are already using across the business, but it’s a tool that we can use and will only get better. 

I think if genAI is as good as it is now, it will only get better. We are using it, biopharma companies are using it and I think the idea of it being a co-pilot is the right metaphor, at least for now. 

And for pharma clients who may be thinking, ‘Oh, do I even need an agency to develop content?’ I say, ‘Well, OK, but are you going to take on the personal career liability of relying on something online to do your content, then do the proofing and submit it to regulatory agencies?’ I don’t think so. 

That’s why, in some cases, agencies bring creativity but also bring a kind of risk management for pharma. So to the extent that we can help more companies get to market faster by using genAI to speed up our research, proof and footnote before submitting to MLR, there’s a real role for it.

MM+M: How has the partnership with Shore Capital affected CG Life’s operations and strategic vision?

Ormesher: The relationship with Shore Capital has been phenomenal, they’ve been supportive of the business as well as our vision and strategy. They’re supporting us with capital as well. We’re not only growing organically but also, in order to fulfill the vision that I have for where we can go, it’s going to involve some programmatic M&A. 

We have some key capability areas that I want to develop and some of it we’re going to be doing through some key executive hires, but we also have a couple of companies that are in the pipeline right now for acquisition that we’re going through due diligence on. Shore has been supportive of that inorganic growth as well.

MM+M: As it relates to the dealmaking front, do you think this will be an active or quiet year for medical marketing agencies?

Ormesher: This will be an active year. It might be the second half, but certainly in conversations I’m having with my peers — most of whom are PE-backed now — some of the firms are getting towards the three, four or five-year holding period. That means PE shops are itching to do a deal and I think many of them are.

I’ve been spending 2023 getting ready for that, so I would expect to see a fair amount of activity in 2024, especially in the second half. When I’ve talked to my friends at the investment banks as well, they’re gearing up for a very active 2024.