strategy
Molly Henderson of VirtualScopics, Inc. on…
Building a leading medical-imaging lab by Zach Baliva
looking ahead... “We plan to broaden and diversify our therapeutic coverage and enter new markets. These moves will help position us extremely well and enhance our relationship with our customers so we can simplify services and revolutionize the industry.” —Molly Henderson, Chief Business & Financial Officer & Senior VP
Industry Pulse
“Our industry is changing. Right now, a company must manage six or seven vendors during drug development. That will start to consolidate more as we move forward and newer companies emerge.” —Molly Henderson, Chief Business & Financial Officer & Senior VP
74
profile
july/august 2011
E
ven with ever-evolving technology, many pharmaceutical companies still rely on conventional methods and other tactile sources to determine if a drug is working. In 1990, colleagues at the University of Rochester’s medical and engineering schools realized entire industries would benefit from more precise computer-assisted results in a growing digital age, and so, 10 years later, the entities cooperated to form VirtualScopics, Inc. (VS). The image-analysis company collects and measures data in medical images (MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds, and PET scans) to provide fast, accurate, and detailed information. VirtualScopics draws upon proprietary technologies to aid the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies in their clinical trials. Molly Henderson, chief business and financial officer and senior vice president, says serving such companies has led to initial success. “We can show whether or not their drugs achieve desired results in testing,” she explains. For example, the makers of a drug might use imaging to find out if their compound in development is actually working to shrink or kill a tumor. Precise imaging saves clients hundreds of thousands of dollars because the testing phase becomes faster and more accurate. Old methods—like holding an x-ray to the light for examination by human eyes or using instruments on a screen image of a CT scan to measure tumor size—can be extremely subjective. With VirtualScopics, advanced algorithms remove subjectivity to create reproducible measurements. VirtualScopics’ R&D group created a robust framework of systems and algorithms represented by nearly 14 current and pending patents to supplement a collection of intellectual property. The company operates like a blood lab—imaging centers send data, which the company processes before providing electronic results. The alternative—creating and selling imaging software on the open market—would have made VirtualScopics a software-support company. Henderson and her executive-management team tested both business models; however, they felt an endless barrage of software
Molly Henderson, Chief Business & Financial Officer & Senior VP
updates from imaging-equipment manufacturers would require frequent support and development activities, which would be a difficult business model to support economically. Clients are embracing VirtualScopics because the company communicates simply. “The biggest avenue to success is knowing customer needs,” Henderson says. In its first few years, the firm pushed rapid innovation and impressive technology—only to discover a conservative industry didn’t want to change. “We changed our strategy and decided to make what already existed better and cheaper and faster. We’re still innovative, but we are innovative behind the scenes,” Henderson explains. Henderson joined VirtualScopics in 2003 after stints with Ultralife and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where public clients provided the experience necessary for Henderson to position VirtualScopics for growth and success. She carefully monitored SEC compliance from the beginning to avoid issues when VS went public. Conferences and trade shows are some ways Henderson stays in touch with current and potential clients—the venues also help gauge public reaction to products and services. “If you polled our customers, they would say we are a
profilemagazineonline.com