As a child, I was fascinated by the phenomenon of a message in a bottle.  The interesting thing with a message in a bottle like this is that you never really know where the message is really going.  You don’t know who will receive it, or if indeed it will ever get to another person.  If they do receive it, you don’t know what that message will mean to them.  It was these unknowns that captured my imagination so much.

Since then, many years have passed and my life has been full of experiences.  I have studied at two universities, moved from the UK to California and then to North Carolina.  I have had a career spanning 30 years in biopharma and have held many roles in that time, in research, development, MS&T, validation, operations and quality management.  I’ve done work in the UK, on the West Coast of the US, the East Coast of the US, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Australia.  Ultimately, this series of events results in me telling you this story right now.  I am truly a product of my experiences.

The funny thing about this story is that here I am, no longer a child, but a grown man, the result of all this life experience, and yet it strikes me that in my chosen career in biopharma, my colleagues and I still, together, send a message.  This message is also contained in a small bottle, such as a vial or syringe.

Together, now, we are all sending this message in this bottle.  It might be interesting to reflect on all of your education, experience and hard work that has equipped you for this and led you to this moment.

Just like the messages that so captured my childhood imagination, we do not know the people who will receive this message in a bottle.  However, there are some things that we can know:

The person who receives this bottle is someone’s child, or brother, or sister, or wife, or husband, or parent.  They, and their loved ones, will worry about the illness that makes the bottle necessary and will worry about whether the content of the bottle Is safe and will help them get better.

I want to say to that person that I know you worry and that I know you need this medicine.  I want to tell them that I know my colleagues, I look them in the eye, and can see this same understanding with them.  I know that each of those colleagues has a story of their own, of learning, working hard, gaining knowledge and experience, that has led us all here today, with the privilege and capability to send this message, in this bottle, to you.

Our message in that bottle is that we have done everything we possibly can to make this medicine safe and effective, and while we know you worry, we want you to know that because we understand how important this is, because we have grown and developed our capabilities and apply our skills and effort every day, that we can say that it is safe, it is effective, and it will help you get better and remain healthy. 

We do all we can, all that is necessary, to send this message each and every day. 

This blog, “The Message in the bottle”, is about what it takes to honor this commitment and to do our best.  I’ll be writing about a wide range of topics, covering leadership, management and technical aspects of the work of developing and supplying medicines.  It will be nothing more or less than my thoughts and opinions, shared in the hope that it helps my colleagues perform this important work.

Thanks for reading this far!  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how to do our best as we make medicines.

Mark.