Scientists with a Mission

An interview with Ton Rijnders,Vice-President of Organon Research, Oss

Back in 1986, 32-year old molecular biologist Ton Rijnders decided to swap the rarefied world of pure research in academia for a more hands-on job in applied science at the pharmaceutical company Organon, now a part of Schering-Plough. It was a decision he never regretted. Now Vice-President of Organon Research in Oss, the Netherlands, Rijnders is a shining example of the opportunities that are open to the best and brightest graduates in a company like Schering-Plough.  

“I did my PhD in Adenovirus DNA replication at Utrecht University, which is pretty far removed from developing medicines,” explains Rijnders, who for the past five years has been head of the 500-strong R&D community at Organon’s Oss site, one of Schering-Plough’s worldwide network of six research centers.

“It was only when I was doing postdoctoral research at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University Rotterdam, part of which involved a study of oncogenes in prostate cancer, that I started to get pretty close to where I eventually wanted to be. Eventually I left the university because I wanted to apply the knowledge I had built up to help develop drugs that could change people’s lives. But although I was saying farewell to academic life, I wasn’t saying goodbye to science."

Rijnders first job at Organon was developing diagnostic tests in a microbiology laboratory. It was a position that enabled him to gain a better understanding of what medicine development entailed and gave him an insight into how the company’s values individual initiative entrepreneurship in its employees.

“Organon at the time was investigating possible new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis,“ says Rijnders. “So in addition to my regular work, I took the initiative to establish contacts inside and outside of Organon to make a research project possible. Eventually I got the go-ahead from the company and even though it failed to result in a treatment Organon was able to gain a great deal of knowledge about rheumatoid arthritis.”

A Scientific And People Business

Rijnders’ appointment as head of Immunology gave him the opportunity to combine his focus on scientific issues with his desire to improve his management skills. After being appointed head of Pharmacology, a department with 150 employees active in a variety of disciplines, Rijnders was able to take those skills a step further.

“To be able to effectively manage a research team, you need to be on top of everything that is going on,” he says. “Organon and Schering-Plough need talented young scientists who both understand what is involved in developing medicines and at the same time have the potential to develop the requisite management skills to take this company forward. People with flimsy management credentials who assume that they have what it takes to lead a research group are sadly mistaken.”

When asked to describe the caliber of people Organon are looking to recruit, Rijnders is unequivocal:

“Obviously we want talented scientists with the drive to want to contribute to the creation of new and effective medicines, but they must be able to work as part of a team. Modern R&D work is multidisciplinary and that means a scientist needs to be able to see the bigger picture and think outside his or her own field of expertise. That, in a nutshell, means people who are willing to share knowledge with other disciplines, who are prepared to work hard to produce commercially viable products, and who are also team players.”

In recent years, Organon — like most of the pharmaceutical industry — has increasingly joined forces with other companies and research agencies in collaborative ventures to ease the burden of going it alone in research.

“We’ve come to the realization that we don’t have to do everything ourselves to develop a treatment therapy for a disease or disorder,” says Rijnders. “We can rely on others to achieve this. But it also means we make greater demands on our scientists because we expect them to have the expertise and the social skills to be able to properly represent our interests in any collaborative projects with universities and other companies.”

Greater Diversity, Ambitious Women

Although Schering-Plough’s acquisition of Organon will provide a more solid platform for the company to spread its wings as a global pharmaceutical company, Rijnders would still like to see greater diversity in the composition of the research teams and in particular a better influx of high-quality women graduates. At present R&D in Oss only has one female department head.

Says Rijnders: “We’re making a concerted effort to find scientific talent abroad, but we’re also keen to attract more women with the ambition to rise through the ranks to management positions. This is essential to the long-term health of the company. Why? Because women have a different approach to business. We want to combine the best from the talent available to us, irrespective of the background or gender. In the end, this can only help Organon’s and Schering-Plough’s performance.”

Despite the inevitable reorganization that naturally follows any two companies coming together to form a single larger company, Rijnders is upbeat about the future and believes the Dutch arm of the business will flourish in the enlarged Schering-Plough.

“When it comes down to it, our mission remains unchanged,” he concludes. “And that is to deliver the best medicines we can to meet unmet needs. At the research level, we must never lose sight of the fact that the work we do is not something to be conducted in an ivory tower, it ultimately has to result in an effective treatment that can improve lives. And that is only possible if we recruit the best and the brightest people.”