Erik van den Berg asserts that the primary value of biotech leadership is making decisions with limited information. Because time is the most critical resource, delaying decisions is not a neutral act of caution. It actively wastes money and increases the overall cost of investment and drug development.
Memo Therapeutics CEO Erik van den Berg explains the BK virus, dormant in 90% of the population, reactivates under severe immunosuppression required for organ transplants. This doubles the risk of kidney graft failure and triples the risk of death for these patients, who currently have no available treatment.
Erik van den Berg highlights a critical paradox in the current standard of care for BK virus infections post-transplant. The only available intervention is lowering immunosuppression to fight the virus, but this simultaneously increases the probability that the patient's immune system will reject the newly transplanted organ.
Having sat on both sides of the table, Erik van den Berg defines the distinct roles. Management's job is to execute the plan, solve daily problems, and create operational options. The board's role is to challenge assumptions, provide high-level connections, and act as a strategic coach for the leadership team.
To overcome the industry bottleneck of few validated solid tumor targets (15-20), Memo analyzes tumor-infiltrating B-cells from patients with superior outcomes. This approach aims to identify unique antibody-target pairs, unlocking new biological pathways for next-generation therapies like ADCs and CAR-Ts.
Frustration with traditional antibody discovery, which captures only 1% of a sample's B-cell diversity, led to Memo's microfluidics platform. CEO Erik van den Berg states their technology retains over 80% of the B-cell information, enabling the discovery of rare, super-potent human antibodies that would otherwise be lost.