Insights for those considering a less traditional medical career
Today’s early-career doctors are entering a healthcare world that’s more complex, connected and commercially dynamic than ever before. Many are beginning to wonder: Can I make a difference beyond the bedside? Could my medical training be the foundation for something more entrepreneurial?
For Dr Jon Edelson, the answer has been a resounding yes. With a medical degree from the University of Chicago, training from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and decades of leadership in healthcare ventures, Dr Edelson has founded, scaled and led multiple successful healthcare companies, while always keeping patients at the heart of every venture.
We spoke with him to reflect on how he built a career blending medicine, research and business. We wanted to understand what lessons aspiring healthcare entrepreneurs can take from his journey. His story offers valuable advice for anyone considering how to use their medical degree to drive change in healthcare in a less traditional way.
Discovering the business side of medicine
“The other company got the data they needed, gained approval first, and secured around 70% of the market share as a result of being first to market.”
My evolution into business actually started back in medical school. After my third year, I applied for a fellowship in clinical epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. I took a year off, and as it happened, the project I was assigned to had a strong business component.
It was the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and the team was working on developing a blood test to help protect the blood supply by screening donations for HIV, much like we do for hepatitis. What made it especially interesting was that there was a race between two companies to be the first to bring this type of test to market.
In the end, both companies received FDA approval, which was a success overall, but one got there first. What I learned was that the company that won the race already had experience developing other blood tests. They knew exactly what kind of data the FDA would need for an approval and tailored their study accordingly.
My mentor, who was a top clinical investigator but had not done this before, took a different approach. He designed a more complex study, what you might call an A+ in terms of design, but it took longer to complete. The other company got the data they needed, gained approval first, and secured around 70% of the market share as a result of being first to market.
There’s a saying: perfection is the enemy of the good. You can and you should do your best, but in business, sometimes doing more than necessary can slow you down. And in this case the good was getting an effective test in use as soon as possible to protect the blood supply from HIV.
Understanding how data meets dollars
After returning to medical school, I trained in internal medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and during this time was able to combine this with studies in clinical research methods at the Harvard School of Public Health. While I was able to publish two papers in JAMA, which advanced my academic career, what shaped my thinking came from another area of focus.
During that time, I began working in clinical economics and became particularly interested in the cost-effectiveness of different treatments, a relatively new field then, as managed care was starting to emphasize better quality care at lower cost. That work gave me a valuable mathematical framework for understanding the economics of medicine, not just at a systems level, but also in terms of running a business. It pushed me to think more critically about the financial dynamics of healthcare and how those principles could be applied more broadly.
Realizing the limits of academia and the power of business
“This led me to question whether there might be a more practical, hands-on way to translate research into real-world practice.”
As I conducted my research and observed the academic environment, I began to recognize a persistent challenge: there is often a significant delay between the publication of research findings and their implementation in clinical practice. For example, in the area of drug therapy, I could cite several instances where, even after robust evidence was established through large, double-blind studies, it took ten to fifteen years for widespread adoption — and in some cases, that adoption never occurred.
This led me to question whether there might be a more practical, hands-on way to translate research into real-world practice. It became clear to me that business could serve as the engine to drive that change.
Learning to spot a business opportunity
The final factor in my business evolution was personal: I got married during medical school. My wife, still my partner today, was a successful marketing executive.
I hadn’t grown up around business; my parents weren’t in that world, and I hadn’t encountered it much in college. But hearing about my wife’s work sparked my interest. After completing my training, we decided to launch a business together. It was a classic startup, though instead of a garage, we worked out of our apartment.
The focus was prescription managed care, where I had conducted research. At the time, prescription drug costs were the fastest-rising part of healthcare spending and had become a growing challenge for employers. My wife and I saw an unmet need and an opportunity.
Within a year, we had a few clients. A larger company, backed by a venture firm, acquired our business, integrated our products, and brought me on as medical director. That company went on to become one of the major US prescription benefit managers (PBMs).
Today, PBMs are central to how Americans access medications. Most people now carry prescription cards that offer discounts and check for drug interactions. This infrastructure barely existed when we started, but has since become the dominant model for drug coverage in the USA.
Lesson 1: Learn by doing and learn from the best
After building our first business, my next chapter took me to a company called ValueHealth, where I joined its prescription unit, ValueRx. I saw this as a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience alongside a team of accomplished business leaders; executives who had previously run Cigna’s billion-dollar HMO. As someone without formal business training, the chance to learn directly from them was invaluable.
The team was generous not only with their insights into running a business but also with opportunities for me to grow. I began as medical director, and not long after, was promoted to lead sales, marketing and account management. That role gave me a comprehensive view of the external-facing side of the business.
The experience was incredibly rewarding for my career growth. The company went public, reached a market cap of over a billion dollars, and was eventually acquired. For me, it was unparalleled on-the-job training, an experience that gave me the confidence and credibility to raise venture capital and eventually step out on my own again.
Lesson 2: Embrace innovation, seize opportunities and know when to pivot
I moved to New York City and began launching a string of venture-backed businesses as CEO. The first was a company called Physicians Online. This was back when the internet was on the cusp of true transformation, and interactive advertising was a novel concept. We created a platform that provided doctors with access to scientific literature and introduced the first medical email system. Our business model was fuelled by interactive advertising on the site. Our advertisers included ten of the largest pharmaceutical companies, with Pfizer as our largest customer. We grew the platform to serve about half of the highest prescribing doctors in the USA. Eventually, that company was acquired by another firm.
I then ventured into a new company focused on software and services. We developed pioneering electronic prescribing software, an innovation that was unheard of at the time, as well as applications for ordering laboratory tests and receiving results digitally. In addition, we offered business services to manage the operations of doctor’s offices, such as claims processing, which doctors preferred to outsource. I successfully took this company public on the Nasdaq.
My entrepreneurial journey next led me to the life sciences with a company called Aureon Labs. Our focus was on developing molecular diagnostics for cancer care, specifically for prostate cancer. The challenge we addressed was distinguishing between men who merely had prostate cancer and those at high risk of dying from it, as many men live with the disease without it being fatal. I assembled a team of molecular pathologists, image analysis software experts and mathematicians skilled in machine learning techniques, methods that form the basis of today’s AI, to develop an effective diagnostic test.
I eventually transitioned out of Aureon Labs as the company was moving toward becoming an operating laboratory; a direction that didn’t align with my interests. This change paved the way for my current venture in pharmaceutical development.
Lesson 3: Great innovation benefits from clinical insight
At that time, I became increasingly interested in the innovations happening around drug delivery technologies, work largely being done by chemical engineers at universities. Many of these inventions showed promise in delivering drugs more precisely or safely to targeted parts of the body. However, I noticed that many of these engineers didn’t have the clinical background to fully understand how or where their inventions could be most effectively applied.
I began evaluating drug delivery systems through both a clinical and commercial lens. One approach that caught my attention was a nanoemulsion, a way to encapsulate a drug in a nanosized droplet of oil, which had some remarkable properties. What particularly intrigued me was its ability to deliver large molecules through the skin via a topical cream or lotion.
At the time, conventional wisdom held that molecules larger than 500 daltons (Da) couldn’t penetrate the skin. I became curious about what large molecules we might be able to deliver this way. One of the largest is botulinum, the active ingredient in Botox, with a molecular weight of about 150,000 Da. Delivering that through the skin seemed like an impossible task, but I was willing to try.
Working with a chemical engineer, we invented a botulinum nanoemulsion and conducted early tests that suggested it could work. We filed patents, which were eventually issued, and I went on to found a company around the technology called Anterios.
Over the course of a decade, we developed the company and completed three phase II (proof-of-concept) studies. In 2016, Allergan, the maker of Botox, acquired the company. As part of that deal, some of the assets were spun out into a new company, Eirion Therapeutics, where I’m currently based.
At Eirion, we’ve expanded our portfolio beyond botulinum-based products. We’re developing both a liquid injectable and topical botulinum, and have since added a small molecule treatment called ET-02, which targets androgenetic hair loss in both men and women, and even aims to treat or prevent hair greying. Each product has been in, and gone through clinical trials, with promising safety and efficacy results. Most recently, ET-02 completed its trial with what we consider breakthrough results, showing the potential to outperform existing medications.
1. Start with an unmet need
The first principle is start with something that is truly an unmet need. Find something people want but don’t currently have.
A good, recent example is our most recent product, ET-02, developed for hair loss. Existing treatments are only minimally effective and often come with side effects. Yet, around 80 million people in the USA experience hair loss, and many are actively seeking better solutions.
Similarly, there is currently no pharmaceutical treatment for hair greying, despite the fact that tens of billions of dollars are spent globally on hair dyes to cover it up. Consumers are clearly seeking solutions to both hair loss and greying.
In the field of aesthetic medicine, these are arguably some of the greatest unmet needs.
2. Develop and protect a solution you believe in
The second principle is to identify a potential solution that you really believe in.
In the startup world, you rarely have enough data upfront to prove something will really work or be entirely safe. But you can look for indicators, whether from a scientific or intellectual property perspective, that indicates the idea is promising. You need to believe it is something you could protect through intellectual property to have exclusive right to.
3. Build the right team
The third principle is about execution. Once you’ve identified an unmet need and a promising solution, you need to build a business and bring it to success.
In my experience, many businesses don’t fail because the idea was bad, they fail because the execution was poor. And the number one factor in execution is the people.
I spend a lot of time thinking about team-building: finding people who are smart, hardworking and kind. Earlier in my career, I sometimes worked with people I didn’t enjoy being around for the sake of expedience. I don’t do that anymore. Today, I place a premium on building teams that work well with me and with each other.
This concept extends beyond the internal team to external partnerships. No company exists in a vacuum. You’re always interacting with manufacturing partners, clinical trial organizations, licensing collaborators, and potentially acquirers. They’re all managed by people too, so having a focus on working well with others, not just inside your company but outside your company I think is absolutely critical.
Ultimately, businesses are built by people. When you think about it that way, it changes your perspective about how you manage.
4. Focus on the building, not the exit
While acquisitions are often seen as a successful outcome—and they certainly can be, under the right circumstances—you can’t run your business with that as your focus.
Your primary focus has to be on building the business. Yes, senior management and the board should stay aware of potential strategic opportunities, but the real focus, from the CEO to the team of employees, needs to be directed toward the core business.
Whether the ultimate exit is an acquisition, an IPO, or continued independence, it should be a byproduct of building a strong, valuable business. I believe very strongly that the focus of the entire company needs to be on the business and not on the exit. The exit will take care of itself, if you build a good business.
It’s a high-risk environment. Statistically, most products don’t make it, whether due to lack of efficacy, side effect concerns, or that the idea was poorly executed.
One of the key strategies, in my mind, is to focus on your opportunities. When you discover an exciting technology or idea, it’s tempting to explore all the potential directions it could take. But startups don’t have the resources to try them all. You need to focus your resources, both money and people, on one or two opportunities and push hard to get those things done.
I qualify that by saying, you have to stay open to the unexpected. R&D is, by nature, a discovery process. You’re navigating uncharted territory, and sometimes that means changing course. You may start out pursuing one direction, only to uncover something that takes you 30 degrees off your original plan; something you hadn’t planned for, but that could turn out to be more valuable.
It’s a balancing act between focusing while scanning the landscape and making sure you’re still heading in the right direction.
When you put something out into the world, you don’t always know exactly how it’s being used or how many lives it’s touched. But all my work has been focused, ultimately, towards improving the lives and care of patients. It’s something I care deeply about.
Take one of my earliest companies, Medical Decision Resources. Our aim was to help physicians prescribe the best possible medication for each patient, given their condition. That might sound obvious, but it doesn’t always happen, and still doesn’t. I believe the information we provided helped doctors make more informed choices and reduce the risk of adverse drug reactions.
With Physicians Online, the mission was broader. We wanted to make it easier for doctors to access additional information about a medical condition through clinical articles in a much friendlier and easier way. We believed, and I still do, that knowledge is power and that better-informed physicians are more likely to make better decisions for their patients.
Then, with our diagnostic tools for prostate cancer, we tried to solve a very specific problem: identifying which patients needed aggressive treatment, and which didn’t. I hope that those tools helped physicians counsel patients more effectively, guiding some toward necessary interventions, and sparing others from overtreatment.
I think AI is a tremendous accelerator. This biopharmaceutical world is a data-rich environment, it depends on information at every stage, from understanding the mechanisms behind disease pathogenesis, to identifying therapeutic interventions, to designing and running complex clinical trials, and ultimately delivering treatments that are used in the real world.
There’s data at every step of that journey, and the volume is massive. To make sense of that data, and truly harness its potential, you’re probably going to be using AI.
One of the most exciting applications is in analysing real-world data, how a drug performs once it’s actually being prescribed and used outside of controlled trials. There are now large, rich datasets that track usage, outcomes and side effects. Analysing that information with AI can significantly improve how existing drugs are used and also inform how future drugs are developed so they perform better when they reach real-world settings.
So if I had to name the biggest trend shaping the future of biopharma, it would be: AI integration at every step of the biopharmaceutical development chain.
Thank you for reading.
More about Dr Jon Edelson
Dr Jon Edelson is currently the Chairman, CEO, and President of Eirion Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing prescription products for aesthetic medicine. Eirion is currently investigating a series of treatments targeting wrinkles, androgenetic alopecia, hair greying and primary axillary hyperhidrosis.
Dr Edelson is an experienced healthcare entrepreneur with over 25 years of leadership across multiple healthcare companies. He holds numerous patents, has published in leading medical journals and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. Dr Edelson completed his medical training following a BA from Yale, at the University of Chicago, and Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
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