Page 222 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Leadership from All Le vels 207

team hired a statistician to evaluate similar drugs, surveyed
doctors, analyzed likely reimbursement rates, and compared
these to internal costs. The results were compelling and made
the case with hard data.
Nonetheless, the system had failed to build significant rev-
enues for oncological applications, which meant that Baxter
subjected the cardiac application to much higher hurdles of
proof for the opportunity’s revenue potential. The original
Nexell product had failed to achieve anywhere near revenue
expectations for cancer-related indications, so some managers
within Baxter were concerned about repeating the same mis-
take. How could this underperforming business ultimately
make a meaningful contribution to Baxter’s growth simply by
transferring the technology to another application?
The Cellular Therapies project team persevered, created a
solid plan for engaging the cardiac community, and built a
solid business case, while Riedel and Hunt continued to shep-
herd the program. However, while the CSO’s office could keep
a Phase I FDA trial protected within its confines, Phase II tri-
als posed a greater challenge. A Phase II trial required upwards
of $25 million to conduct, representing more than 5 percent of
the company’s entire R&D for 2007.
It became imperative for Riedel and Hunt to muster support
from Baxter’s core business leaders. As Hunt recalled, “It was
a constant, uphill sales effort to build the support we needed,
but we didn’t have a choice. . . . You’ve got to reach out to peo-
ple early and often, and just continue doing so. It’s not easy to
take a company in a new direction, even if it looks like just the
right thing to do.”
Given that Cellular Therapies did not fall within the purview
of any business unit, making the case for Phase II funding pre-
sented a significant challenge. Because it meant taking Baxter
in new directions, the Cellular Therapies team faced much