s team at Biopharm HQ Cover Interview
BY KELLY DOLAN, EDITOR W
hen most people think of scientists, they can be forgiven for conjuring up an old man with crazy white hair and poor social skills who resides in a lonely laboratory surrounded by effervescent test tubes. Yet, Professor Simon Best OBE has cut through the stereotype and promotes science for what it is – something that has lifted the human race out of the dark ages and allowed society to develop and thrive.
In fact, when Professor Best spoke at The Entrepreneur Country Forum, his speech on scientific innovation and how entrepreneurs could get involved didn’t leave the audience bored or confused, but intrigued and inspired. And when Simon spoke to curious delegates and answered questions he gave simple, real world explanations instead of scientific jargon or lines from a medical journal.
Which is why Simon Best isn’t your average scientist. The first in his family to venture into the scientific arena, he moved to Scotland when he was 4 and when starting school immediately excelled in another subject all together; music. Simon then went on to study music at university, describing himself as a “classic student lefty when punk started to erupt and all I wanted to do was change the world.” Simon’s big break upon graduating would then come in the form of a best friend from secondary school, who approached Best to partner with him in launching independent record company Fast Products. Based in Edinburgh, Simon’s childhood friend founded the company and Best worked alongside him for four years.
“We discovered a number of bands, one of which was the Human League who were destined for mainstream success from the get-go” says Simon. “We put their first single out - Being Boiled - and managed to get the money together to keep up with the enormous demand – it eventually sold 80,000, which was a big deal for an independent record label then.”
As a result of this success, Simon and his business partner signed the recording contract over to none other than Richard Branson, although they kept control of their management contracts.
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“As management we still looked after The Human Leagues tours and it was a very exciting time. But if I’m honest, my passion for music was conflicting with the fact that I had to think about it commercially 24-7 and it started to destroy my pleasure in it. I’m also fundamentally quite a serious-minded person so for me it was time to apply what I’d learnt in the music business and take on another challenge.”
Simon tells me that out of curiosity he started to read The Economist and the FT to see what was happening in other industries. “The first thing I noticed was the rise of IT start-ups such as Apple and pioneering counterparts in the bio-tech world such as Genentech. Shortly after in a nightclub in Edinburgh I got talking to two of the regulars who turned out to be molecular biology post-docs at the University. They told me what was going on locally and how their Professor was involved in founding a company called Biogen.
“From that point on I was able to observe close-up how an early Biotech start-up was put together and how four Professors from Edinburgh, Boston, Stanford and Zurich pulled their connections and technology together to raise money. I saw the same changes happening in the Pharmaceutical Industry that I had seen and had been a part of in the Music Industry. I wanted to get involved and I thought I could make a real contribution.”
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