OnMedica Group

Professor Steven Myint, Executive Chairman, OnMedica Group

21 May 2010

By Ai San Yip and Erwin Chan

Professor Steven Myint was in Singapore (Biopolis) to explore business opportunities and conduct feasibility studies for OnMedica Group.

OnMedica.com provides high quality online promotional and educational campaigns to doctors and other healthcare professionals.

1. Tell us about your background.

I graduated in medicine from Guys Hospital Medical School; my past academic role was Chairman of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Leicester University.

I have held many corporate positions throughout my career. Previously, I was Dean of Medicine & Head of Postgraduate Medical School, University of Surrey in Guildford and Scientific Adviser to the European Centre for Disease Control and Consultant in Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics, Frimley Park and Royal Surrey County Hospitals and Medical Director for GlaxoSmithKline. I was also the Chief Medical Officer for BTG. BTG is an entity that was founded by the U.K. government to commercialise publicly funded research. The company is responsible for commercialising and out-licensing pharmaceuticals and medical technologies to pharmaceutical companies. In January 2010, I moved to be Executive Chairman, OnMedica Group. In addition I am also chairman of Plexpress Oy.

2. What are your thoughts on Singapore’s biomedical initiative amidst the global financial crisis? Is this a multibillion dollar gamble?

The global credit crunch is a golden opportunity for Singapore’s biomedical sector. It is a blessing in disguise for Singapore to provide a model and showcase what Singapore technologies have to offer – precisely what pharmaceutical companies are looking for as pharmaceutical R&D funds have been cut back. Singapore can plough good money into R&D now. It needs the new generation scientists to bring in new science projects (ideas). And some of the best ideas are not developed by the people who are good in science.

3. How can Singapore head towards the right direction?

You have looked for senior people who once had a good career run. These people have been fantastic scientists. They can come to Singapore to expand their career. These senior scientists can mentor or bring in younger scientists to keep the new ideas (science) ‘alive’.

The end result is a creative culture that allows training, mentoring and developing a new generation (breed) of scientists. A good scientist challenges and pushes - this is the thinking we should develop – a good understanding and realization of challenges that can push the technologies forward. You need to re-engineer a generation of Singaporean scientists who think outside the box!

4. What factors should one be mindful while working in biomedical industry/ technology transfer office?

You need to understand the market in 10 years’ time – the failure to understand the ten-year rule will lead to crucial business mistakes.

One example is the gene sequencing methodology. This is really nice science but you are making a personalised gene sequencer (product) for $10,000 today that is already not competitive tomorrow. You need to think ahead of what the competition will do by the time your product gets to market. This is because by the time you start to market or test the initial product in a large market capitalization for the first time, your product might not make it and have no price-taker.

You will also need to know what competing technologies are behind you. Remember that what is behind you could also over-take you. If more money is being invested in the competitor’s technology to launch a better products, their product could over-take yours and be the market leader. So, you need to hit the market before your competitors are ready!

It is not enough to read just the scientific literature; you have to read the patents and the ‘non-published’ literature. Competitive intelligence experts will find this information by interacting with the campuses under a pretext of conducting market surveys. These experts will also go and phone up other people and find out information that away – that is what these professionals do – all the time.

5. Share with us your current role in OnMedica Group.

OnMedica is owned by the one of the richest man in the UK. I was asked to join OnMedica to help them expand and move into new areas. I brought in a new CEO and Corporate Board. We have a new strategy; we are developing all the networks that are important. We have grown from $6 Million to $20 Million by having a new strategy to go into new parallel markets with e-marketing, with the pharmaceutical companies as partners.

Our growth is in the Asia-Pacific region. Last month, I set up the OnMedica subsidiary in India. So, my next target is OnMedica Singapore with Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI), and subsequently OnMedica Hong Kong.

6. How is OnMedica Group going to be revenue-generating?

There is a new generation of doctors who do not read books now. They would read all the information from their (apps) mobile phones. This new generation of doctors will get their educational materials (medical literature) as ‘bite-sized’ chunks.

Getting that information across to this new generation of doctors requires novel and innovative ways. Mobile apps are an important addition to web-based applications. Getting the right information is information you can trust and tailored to your needs. So, what we do is we set up networks! These networks talk to each other, they then pull in information that is right to the network from a trusted source. We also need to provide useful information which is not standard fare. For instance, with regards to the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), we produced a toilet map, so that IBD patient would have access to all the toilets in London. They know they can go out shopping and have a life again.

The biopharmaceutical industry wants to buy into an education package, so-called eCME. For example, when there is a new medicine in a disease area, they want to raise greater awareness of the disease area. Sometimes, new diseases are coming along as well. Pharmaceutical companies need to raise awareness on the diseases to feature their drugs.

7. What is your management (coaching) style?

Training is only a start. You really need good mentors. What I always do with the organizations I have run is to ensure that every single person has a mentor inside the company and a coach (external mentor) who can guide you to be successful. The coach comes from outside the company is a senior who is detached and objective. Eventually, there will come a time when you cannot climb any higher in the company and it is the external people who help and move you on.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ai San Yip at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   and Erwin Chan at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it