While ZAGENO is open for business it's obviously not business as usual. But as a company we are determined to stay focused on supporting our life science customers who, in addition to being on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak, are pursuing scientific discoveries to eradicate countless other diseases.
In this podcast, ZAGENO CEO, Dr. Florian Wegener will address COVID-19 through the actions of our supply partner community whose novel antigens, to help researchers locate a vaccine, are available on our marketplace. We will also touch on the work of customers whose aim it is to develop vaccines that will reach clinical testing within a few months. Further, he will explain how labs are restructuring their staffing to ensure they can stay productive over this unprecedented period of disruption.
Our podcast, THIS IS ZAGENO is now available on a variety of audio streaming services, like TuneIn, Spotify, SoundCloud, BuzzSprout, and Apple Podcasts.
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Transcript
Can you update everybody about how ZAGENO is continuing to operate during the COVID-19 outbreak?
Yes, absolutely. While the COVID-19 outbreak has come at an interesting time for ZAGENO, because of many reasons we are absolutely operational and in fact growing faster than we've ever had in the history of ZAGENO. So while this is a very severe time for society, and a very difficult time for most businesses, it is an interesting time in our life science research industry because people more and more realize that the groundbreaking work that is being done in our industry is key for the health of the entire population.
From a ZAGENO perspective, we are very blessed because we work with the best biotech and pharma companies on earth. We are basically a digital matchmaker for them and ensure that they receive all the goods they need to do their research.
From a ZAGENO perspective, we are very blessed because we work with the best biotech and pharma companies on earth. We are basically a digital matchmaker for them and ensure that they receive all the goods they need to do their research.
In fact, from a day to day perspective, you can think of ZAGENO as a company that helps them to get all the substantial ingredients for them to basically do their research.
And what about ZAGENO’s customers, the scientists themselves who are working in labs? What insight can you provide our audience about how these teams are having to modify their operations to stay focused on meeting their milestones?
So first of all, we are extremely proud, as ZAGENO, to be in this fight together with the researchers. We are an essential part of their supply chain and help them be able to work on the research that will hopefully also find some cure for COVID-19.
I think that it's key to understand that as a software company, ZAGENO can be used from anywhere on earth by mobile (phone).
I think that it's key to understand that as a software company, ZAGENO can be used from anywhere on earth by mobile (phone). And having said that, I think that we are ZAGENO are very essential in providing customers with the best possible product from thousands of suppliers and the millions of products that we offer.
And at the same time it's absolutely possible to make use of our services at home. So in fact, when we speak to our key customers, what you see in the life science research world is that a lot of them have their admin staff working from home and the researchers still have to go to those special facilities.
They have to go to the lab and work from there to ensure that they can basically fight the virus or work on all of the other breakthroughs that they're actually working on. And so you can think of us as a mobile solution. You can think of us as a place where researchers, when they’re at home, can order the right product and prepare the experiment for the next day when they might go back to the lab and interestingly enough, the admin staff can approve any purchase from home.
There's no need for them to go back to a stationary computer and go back into the office, which is how it was in the old days.
We seem to talk a lot about first responders and hospital staff and, and even people who work at pharmacies or grocery stores, the supply chain to ensure that goods and services are available to the public. Isn't it true that our customers are also essential staff?
So it's absolutely true that it is essential that researchers maintain a daily routine. You have to work out of a very special facility or lab to be able to do this research. And we as ZAGENO help them find the right product, we helped them to basically go through the hassle of ordering and receiving the right product by our, our mobile solutions. As I sat in B2B, there are people who buy and decide on the product purchase.
But there are also people who have to approve those purchases, ensuring that the money basically reaches the supplier and that the supplier then ships the product to the right lab.
We are not part of shutdowns; the entire ZAGENO team in Europe and in the United States is currently working from home. In fact, we are nearly doubling our volume being handled through ZAGENO. So while some businesses are suffering from this crisis, in our industry we see a lot of interesting growth.
So, we are enabling those purchases on both sides of the platform and at the same time ZAGENO is mobile so you can use us in times of a crisis. You don't have to work from the office, not at all. We help you to find the products. We are not part of shutdowns; the entire ZAGENO team in Europe and in the United States is currently working from home. In fact, we are nearly doubling our volume being handled through ZAGENO. So while some businesses are suffering from this crisis, in our industry we see a lot of interesting growth.
And just turning back to the topic at hand, COVID-19, some of our customers are actually pursuing vaccines for this, are they not?
Yeah, you're absolutely right. In fact, one of our key customers is a company called CureVac that essentially orders nearly 90% of everything they order through ZAGENO, exclusively. We ensure and are closely working with them to make sure they're getting all of those goods on time, especially in such an interesting time and situation.
Interestingly enough, CureVac is a company that has been on the news recently because they are working on the cure for COVID-19. Obviously there has been a huge interest in their work, both from the German government as well as from the U S government. Again we at ZAGENO are blessed to be working as a U S based and a U S company with them in Germany and in the United States.
And so customers like CureVac represent only part of the story to understand ZAGENO you’d also have to look at the relationship we have with the supply partners.
There are companies from the supply partners side that are involved in the COVID-19 fight. Could you explain some of those companies to us?
Absolutely. So, ZAGENO is a digital matchmaker and we help scientists to find and identify the right product. You also helped them to make the transaction. We are there at the moment of purchase and that is something that suppliers love about our services. We then ensure that all of the invoicing and payment flows happen on time and they happen in the right way.
So one of the very interesting companies out there is ThermoFisher Scientific, another one is Qiagen. So, these suppliers are companies that are moving fast forward and the fight against a COVID-19, as well as Roche; and all of those companies are working on test kits that could help identify if someone, the population is being affected by this virus, which is absolutely essential because this is one of the main drivers to identify who is sick and to decide on who's getting a better treatment.
And at the same time as we're learning every day, it's all about slowing down the spread of the virus in order to offer enough hospital beds and intensive care units to a potential effect of patients in the future.
So as we wrap up, I just wanted to tap into your medical background. As a medical doctor, you have experienced moments when all the plans that were made change and you're suddenly in a reactive mode. Can you provide some insight into what companies like ZAGENO can be doing to help create solutions and an easier path forward for this community?
So the entire medical community is somehow overwhelmed by the potential of sick patients entering hospitals within the next weeks or months. So I think as a main step fighting this overwhelming volume of sick patients that need treatment, the governments in Europe and in the United States have decided, like in Asia Pacific, to ensure that the virus doesn't spread that much anymore and that fast.
And I think that from a ZAGENO perspective, it is key that we help and support researchers and suppliers to reduce time to milestone. What we do with our product is help them win more time to do the real research, to identify diagnostic as well as potentially a treatment for COVID-19.
And I think that from a ZAGENO perspective, it is key that we help and support researchers and suppliers to reduce time to milestone. What we do with our product is help them win more time to do the real research, to identify diagnostic as well as potentially a treatment for COVID-19.
Well, this has been a fascinating discussion. Understanding how the supply chain is so important to keeping things in the lab up and running, and helping these doctors and research scientists do their jobs. Florian, thanks so much for joining me. I look forward to our next conversation.
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About Dr. Florian Wegener
Florian Wegener is the Co-founder and CEO of ZAGENO. Prior to this, he was VP and global head of e-commerce for Qiagen GmbH, where he executed an e-commerce strategy by implementing a new digital marketing and sales platform. Between 2007 and 2013, Florian was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Munich, Germany, where he drove international projects that defined long-term strategies in the biopharmaceutical space.
Florian earned his medical degree at the Universities of Freiburg, Frankfurt, Toronto, and New York University, gaining the title Dr. med., magna cum laude after which he spent two years as a practicing cardiologist. He also earned an MBA from the IE Business School.
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