Duncan Thomson: From Veterinarian Science to the Regenerative Medicine Industry
ARMI is pleased to welcome Duncan Thomson to our Industry Advisory Committee (IAC), where he joins a distinguished list of regenerative medicine and biotechnology experts.
Duncan brings a unique breadth and depth of expertise to the IAC, with a career spanning over 25 years and several different countries. With his experience in practice (as a product user), sales, marketing, registration, development and business development, Duncan brings a degree of pragmatism and knowledge of what it takes to translate and to commercialise, and how to minimise risk to avoid some of the pitfalls.
Beginning as a veterinarian, Duncan has always been at the cutting edge of development. “Professional life started as a veterinarian in the largest vet practice in Sydney,” Duncan recalls. “To give you an idea, the first commercially available total hip replacement in dogs was performed under our roof.”
From Sydney, Duncan worked in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States, and completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA). During his time at Novartis Animal Health, he “came to fully appreciate the process of drug development, registration, marketing and sales.” When he returned to Australia, he had his first encounter with regenerative medicine in the form of the company Regeneus.
“There are many things that can go wrong in innovation. You need to have great science, sensible people, good backing and patience, and still, things can go south. The thing that drives me the most though is seeing improved patient outcomes.”
“It was the time of autologous mesenchymal stem cell treatments, and Regeneus was looking for someone who understood the industry to head up Animal Health, and to align the science with the market,” said Duncan. He joined Regeneus in 2010 and saw the company expand and succeed- growing from treating small animals (dogs) to larger ones (horses), moving to allogeneic treatments and then into human products, culminating in a cell therapy treatment license in Japan.
Duncan’s interest in regenerative medicine comes from the fantastic capabilities of the human body. “Although people have been studying medicine for a long time, the body’s mechanisms are the ultimate master controllers. Regenerative medicine aims to harness these repair mechanisms to treat the root cause, not just treat the overlying symptoms.”
Today, Duncan is a consultant at his own private firm, building on the wisdom he has gained working in industry for decades and helping Australian researchers commercialise their work. He firmly believes that Australia has some of the brightest minds in science, but the challenge lies in harnessing these great ideas and translating them into products and services that will have an impact worldwide.
“There are many things that can go wrong in innovation. You need to have great science, sensible people, good backing and patience, and still, things can go south. The thing that drives me the most though is seeing improved patient outcomes.”
MORE INFORMATION
To learn about the other members of ARMI’s IAC, click here.
You can find Duncan Thomson on LinkedIn here.