Why did Owen want to change his job?

W: Why they move into industry?
M: I got to the stage where I wanted to apply my research to actually treating diseases. As an academic, the only way to do that is to set up your own bio-tech company or to move to a pharmaceutical center. Also, although Cancer Research UK was an excellent place to work, it was a very flat structure and you ran a lab. That was it. I wanted to do something more than that before I retired.
W: What were your first impressions?
M: It is a cultural shock. No question! The main difference is the share size. A large pharmaceutical company may have over 10,000 people in R&D. This means you have to fit into a larger R&D process. I have to interact with many other parts of the organization. You have to have a team mentality to be able to wave a project goodbye in giving up to another department. In academic research institutes, you are much more isolationist. Your success depends on what is your own CV but not on other people’s. Another difference is that the goal is more short-term in industry. You have clear time lines and if you do not meet them, you have to explain why. You don’t have a less solved important topic even if it takes ten years, type of scenario. These are only surface differences. Both centers are driven by first-class science. Innovative science would be the keys to success in pharmaceutical companies.
W: What about the financial side?
M: In industry, there are excellent levels of funding. The salary packages available are good. Then, we don’t know anyone who says salary was a main driver to move from academia. It wasn’t for me. Today, institutes like Cancer Research UK pay scientists pretty well. In industry, financial rewards are often achievement-based. The better you do, the better you are rewarded.