Dr. Graham Lumsden’s career is a masterclass in versatility, resilience, and vision. Beginning as a large animal veterinarian, he went on to launch billion-dollar pharmaceutical brands, build biotech companies from the ground up, take them public, and raise over $125 million from the capital markets. Today, as a Senior Partner with The Bracken Group, he brings decades of experience in R&D, commercialization, M&A, licensing, and fundraising to clients navigating the complex life sciences landscape.

We sat down with Dr. Lumsden to discuss his unique career path, the lessons he’s learned in both large pharma and biotech, and where he sees the greatest opportunities for innovation in the decade ahead.

From Farm Calls to Pharma Boardrooms

Graham’s journey into the pharmaceutical industry began while he was still firmly rooted in veterinary medicine. “I was always interested in the business aspects of veterinary practice,” he recalls. When Merck was launching IVOMEC (ivermectin)—which would go on to become the first billion-dollar brand in the animal health market—he applied for a veterinary director position.

With a veterinary degree and years of hands-on practice, Graham quickly discovered that his scientific background gave him a unique perspective in commercial strategy. “Not many on the commercial side had the depth of R&D understanding. It allowed me to align business objectives with the realities of scientific research in a way that truly advanced both.”

Big Pharma vs. Biotech: Speed, Risk, and Ownership 

“In large pharma, reputational risk is always top of mind,” Graham explains. “Decisions take time, require multiple management layers, and sometimes the ultimate decision-maker isn’t even visible.” That measured pace can be essential when managing a vast portfolio across multiple geographies, especially in today’s environment of increased regulatory scrutiny, drug pricing debates, and public transparency expectations. But it can also slow the path from discovery to patient impact—an issue that has become more visible as nimble competitors bring first-in-class therapies to market faster.

In biotech, the pace changes dramatically. “Smaller teams, often with deep experience in novel medicine development, move faster. Decision-makers are clearly identified—often the CEO—and calculated risk-taking is encouraged.” This agility has fueled many of the most talked-about breakthroughs in recent years, from the rapid development of mRNA platforms and cell therapies to emerging modalities like radiopharmaceuticals, gene editing, and AI-driven drug discovery. In 2025, much of the innovation spotlight is on small-to-mid-sized biotechs that are advancing targeted cancer vaccines, microbiome-based therapeutics, and next-generation antibody-drug conjugates—often outpacing larger companies in early-stage development.

A Career Spanning Therapeutic Areas

From infectious diseases to cardio-renal disease to oncology, Graham’s therapeutic reach has been broad. He’s particularly fascinated by the shift from chemistry-led to biology-led development: a transformation that is reshaping pipelines across the industry.

“Immunotherapy, especially in oncology, and our evolving understanding of the microbiome are especially intriguing. These advances have fundamentally changed how we think about treatment strategies.” That’s especially true today, as non-personalized, off-the-shelf cancer vaccines and tumor-specific cell therapies move from concept to clinical reality. In 2025, new data from KRAS-targeting cancer vaccines in pancreatic and colorectal cancers have generated excitement by showing durable immune responses in some of the hardest-to-treat patient populations.

Meanwhile, the microbiome field—once considered niche—is now informing treatment in areas from cancer immunotherapy to cardiometabolic disease, even as some recent high-profile trial setbacks have reminded the industry of the scientific and translational hurdles ahead. Increasingly, companies are pairing microbiome research with AI-powered biomarker discovery to better understand host–microbe interactions and predict treatment outcomes.

For Graham, these developments signal a future in which therapeutic strategies are more precisely tailored: not just to the genetic profile of the patient, but to their immunologic and even microbial signatures.

Lessons from Global Product Launches 

Graham’s product launch portfolio includes household names like IVOMEC, GASTROGARD, CRIXIVAN, and NUVARING. But it was the launch of FOSAVANCE that left the deepest mark.

“When FOSAMAX was already a $3 billion global brand, we launched its successor as FOSAMAX PLUS in the U.S., and prescribers saw it as an unimportant update. In Europe, we launched it as FOSAVANCE, positioned as a true advancement in fracture risk reduction, and it was far more commercially successful.”

Two processes—Global Positioning Statement and Label-As-Driver—proved critical to that success. “I still incorporate these into launch readiness and clinical development work for Bracken clients,” he notes.

Scaling Biotech to IPO

The biotech IPO window continues to narrow in 2025. Q2 saw zero IPOs, marking the steepest downturn in over a decade. Across the first half of the year, only a handful of biotechs—mostly those raising sizable capital—have gone public. Investors are focusing squarely on companies with robust, de-risked assets and clear near-term catalysts. Taking early-stage biotechs public is no small feat. For Graham, it comes down to understanding the mindset of professional investors.

“Once you have a differentiated asset in an attractive therapeutic area, you need a deep understanding of sell-side and buy-side requirements, and a targeted outreach strategy. And choosing the right investment bank is absolutely key.”

Fundraising in a Challenging Environment 

Having raised over $125 million from public markets, Graham’s first piece of advice is clear: “Recruit an experienced CFO—one with strong capital raising experience in both private and public markets. If they also have M&A experience, even better.”

That counsel carries even more weight in today’s capital environment, where the biotech IPO window is tighter than it’s been in over a decade and investors are laser-focused on companies with de-risked assets, clear clinical milestones, and disciplined financial strategies. In the first half of 2025, only a small number of biotechs have successfully gone public—most through confidential filings or alternative financing structures such as PIPEs, reverse mergers, or cross-over rounds designed to attract specialist investors ahead of a public debut.

A CFO with M&A experience can also identify funding opportunities, evaluate licensing deals, and navigate strategic acquisitions that strengthen the company’s value proposition before entering the public markets. In other words, the right CFO can make the difference between being “market ready” and being left on the sidelines when capital is scarce.

M&A and Licensing: The Strategic Fit 

For Graham, successful deal-making starts with strategic alignment. “The asset needs to fit within the company’s therapeutic expertise and give investors confidence the team can execute post-transaction. Without that, the capital support won’t follow.”

That alignment is more critical than ever in 2025, as pharma and biotech dealmaking continues to concentrate on assets that fill clear portfolio gaps or strengthen a company’s existing therapeutic leadership. The year has already seen major transactions—such as Johnson & Johnson’s $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies in neuroscience and Novartis’ purchase of Anthos Therapeutics to expand its cardiovascular franchise—both reflecting a focus on therapeutic depth rather than broad diversification.

Investors, too, are applying sharper scrutiny to M&A and licensing activity. In the current environment, deals are increasingly evaluated not just for their scientific merit, but for their capital efficiency, the likelihood of seamless integration, and the speed with which the new asset can reach value-driving milestones. This has led many acquirers to prioritize assets with late preclinical or early clinical validation, where there is enough proof of concept to support investment but still significant room for value creation.

The Future: Prevention Over Treatment

Looking ahead, Graham sees one opportunity rising above the rest: shifting the focus from treating diseases to preventing them.

“Longevity research will likely lead this transition, expanding healthcare access and reducing dependence on medicines for conditions that could have been prevented in the first place.”

This vision is gaining traction across the industry, as longevity biotech investment hits record highs and preventive health strategies—from early cancer screening using multi-cancer detection tests to AI-driven risk prediction for cardiovascular disease—become more integrated into mainstream care. Advances in genomics, wearable health monitoring, and microbiome science are enabling earlier intervention, while public health policy shifts are beginning to incentivize prevention over treatment. Graham believes that as these tools mature, they will not only improve quality of life but also reshape the economics of healthcare by reducing the long-term burden of chronic disease.

Advice for the Next Generation

After decades of global leadership in life sciences, Graham offers biotech’s future leaders a particularly resonant piece of advice: “Be bold. Be resilient. And above all—keep the patient at the center of everything you do.”

Whether you’re positioning a new therapy for market, navigating fundraising in a challenging environment, or evaluating M&A opportunities, Graham and the Bracken team can help you move from vision to execution with clarity and confidence. Contact us to explore how we can support your next stage of growth.