M2M ENCORE: Zero to a billion… A CDMO original

Raman Sehgal (0:09)

Hey, guys and girls, welcome back to Molecule to Market where we go inside the outsourcing space of pharma and biopharma services covering every stage of the global drug development and commercialization life cycle. I am your host, Raman Sehgal, and today's episode is another on-core remix special where we go back into the back catalog and bring together a kind of old school episode that you might have missed from the vault that we wanted to bring further into the future so you did not miss it. Back in 2023, I sat down with Thomas Eldred, who is the co-founder of Recipharm and is now Executive Chairman of Flerie for a two-part conversation about what I would say is one of the most remarkable journeys in our sector. Thomas helped build Recipharm from a small Swedish contract manufacturer to a global CMO, employing, I think it was like 9,000 people over 10 countries. Long came acquisitions and IPOs and multiple exits, which he also did with Cobra Biologics as well. Originally, we did these two, there was like two part episodes, so we did these two different episodes, but we've kind of smushed them together for you into one complete episode, so you can hear it in one go. Whether you're hearing this for the first time round and are discovering Thomas' story for the first time or whether you're back again for the encore, it is an absolutely belting episode, I have to say. Originally, we called it zero to a billion, a CDMO original.

A little bit about Thomas as well before we get into it.

As mentioned, he had co-founded Recipharm back in the 90s and kind of took it from a local Swedish contract manufacturer into one of the world's leading CDMOs, and I had the fortune of actually working with Recipharm for many years. I actually did a company strategy day in Madrid, I think it was in 2019, and I did a presentation to the entire company, and that was an incredible privilege to be there for such good people. I know many of those people now, some of which have actually ended up being on the podcast multiple times, which is pretty cool.

During that time, he also founded Flerie, and where he today serves as executive chairman. Flerie is a long-term life science investor focusing on developing companies around scientific innovation and unmet medical needs. And Thomas serves as a chairman and board member across a number of life science businesses.

He is also an MSc in industrial engineering and management as well during that period of his very successful life and career. Really, really good guy who I've had the pleasure of meeting a few times in life. Incredible success in the industry. And yeah, I think it's important for us to bring some of these episodes back to newer listeners that have maybe missed this on the journey of listening to Molecule to Market. So we really, really hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you do enjoy it, please make sure you subscribe and like and maybe share it with a colleague as well. So please enjoy this encore episode. This episode is brought to you by Bora Pharmaceuticals. I've got a real soft spot for Bora. I first met Bobby Scheng, CEO, back in 2017 And it's been amazing to watch the business grow and expand to become truly top tier global CDMO. Bobby was in fact one of our first ever guests on Molecule to Market. A great, great guy. Bora now supports many of the biggest pharma companies across the globe. Bora has become known as the CDMO that brings a genuine partnership to clients, as shown through their shared risk promise, their white glove service, and their peerless on-time info delivery record. If you want to feel more confident about your CDMO, then I suggest you head to boracdmo.com. Hi, Thomas. Welcome to Molecule to Market.

Thomas Eldered (4:21)

Hi, Raman. It's great to be here, and thank you for the invitation to come here.

Raman Sehgal (4:27)

Well, I'm absolutely honored, Thomas. You are someone I've certainly looked up to for many years. Your kind of entrepreneurial success in the pharmaceutical space has been truly phenomenal, and I'm very excited to unpick some of the backstory and ultimately share your journey with our listeners today. So let's start with the start, then, Thomas. Obviously, you're very well known for the various kind of businesses that you founded and exited, and obviously, the great work you now do at Flerie as well.

But when did it all start? Talk us through that kind of early 5 to 10 years of your career, kind of pre-Recipharm.

Thomas Eldered (5:11)

Oh, that's going back quite some time back in history. But yeah, that's a good starting point. And I studied at the university. I have a Master of Science degree in Industrial and Management Engineering.