For nearly the past four years, Martin Gilligan has served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Phathom Pharmaceuticals. Phathom, a relatively new player in the gastrointestinal (GI) space, is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing new treatments for GI diseases. Gilligan has three decades of experience under his belt to help lead Phathom’s sales and market distribution, including creating brand strategy, brand vision, product pricing, and leading other critical areas of Phathom’s burgeoning commercial function.
The Professional Journey
Gilligan began his tenure in the sales and marketing of health care products in the 1980s and since then, has been part of seven company mergers and acquisitions. Gilligan has launched and marketed products both nationally and internationally, with expertise in driving successful marketing campaigns and increasing sales of primary care and specialty medicinal products. His years of experience have taught him how to develop and implement unique solutions to accomplish results, both at the individual and organizational levels.
Currently, Gilligan is a vital part of the Phathom Executive Team and plays a critical role in the organization’s transition from a late clinical-stage company to a commercial organization. He is using his vast commercial experience in the fields of dermatology, cardiology, primary care, and allergy, to help Phathom not only build its commercial capabilities, but also successfully grow the organization as it launches first-in-class gastrointestinal treatments.
During our discussion, Gilligan spoke about the importance of marketing. “I’ve found that to be a good marketer, you just need to be a good businessperson. Once you become an expert in the functional areas of marketing, you can easily learn the rest. I’ve always followed this school of thought, and it’s how I’ve handled very successful product launches in areas I’d never worked in before.”
Before joining Phathom, Gilligan was a Corporate Vice President at Celgene Corporation. When he saw the job opening at Phathom, he expressed interest without hesitation. He recalls his motivation behind the decision:
“When I learned Phathom’s lead product candidate was offering a new mechanism of action in a category with no major innovation in decades, the opportunity to help quite literally build everything from scratch –the commercial organization, key internal capabilities, a commercial product and brand– I jumped at the opportunity. I am now working with great people who are passionate about what they are doing. This type of opportunity doesn’t happen very often, so I embraced it immediately.”
The Core Cultural Values
Gilligan enjoys the collaborative culture at Phathom, noting that everyone willingly works cross functionally to meet their goals. He appreciates the team effort from the HR and Communications teams to ensure each and every employee feels that they belong in the company, that they have joined something bigger than themselves, and that they’re part of what Phathom endearingly calls the “Phamily”.
“As a result of the collaborative and inclusive culture, all employees are focused, driven, and passionate about their tasks and company’s objectives,” he states.
Gilligan further shares that the experienced management team is humble, transparent, and highly communicative about the organization’s future objectives. To carry those characteristics through various facets of the organization and drive communication within his team, Gilligan prioritizes discussions with the Commercial team to talk about future goals, work with his team to brainstorm how they can help the company grow and outline the steps necessary to accomplish those goals.
Building A Successful Startup
As Phathom is a relatively new and small company, Gilligan is focused on expanding the commercial organization and building key in-house capabilities. He and his team follow two guiding rules: first, before making any big decisions, the team has a discussion to ensure any pending decisions align with the company’s vision. Second, the team works diligently to hire skilled employees who can attest to the company’s values and embody the culture.
“We are really thorough in our hiring process. We conduct multiple interviews, with various members of the organization included on each interview panel, to make sure that prospective employees understand our culture. We want people who match our values, see our vision, and of course believe in our future,” Gilligan says.
Gilligan explained that Phathom’s rigorous hiring process is designed to ensure Phathom is hiring candidates that have the necessary skillset and experience for the role and also align well with the company’s unique and compelling culture. He is also laser-focused on hiring a strong salesforce that can deliver on the brand vision.
Adjusting And Responding to Rapid Growth
Phathom Pharmaceuticals may have started as a small company, but it has grown and scaled quickly. Gilligan and his team are keeping an open mind in the ever-changing workplace landscape as they focus on organizational growth. Gilligan shares his thoughts, saying: “I believe building a company is like building a melting pot: there’s no one right way to do it. That’s why, instead of following one set path, the team comes up with new ideas to achieve individual, team, and organizational goals.”
Gilligan believes that the best way to make your team feel empowered is by giving them the ability and support to make decisions that can help in the company’s growth. Another thing Gilligan stresses to his team is maintaining a work-life balance, saying “Building a company is very hard work. So, you should give a tremendous amount of respect to individual personal time. Moreover, having a good work-life balance allows you the time and space to put things into perspective and develop fresh approaches.”
To ensure respect for work-life balance, colleagues try not to pressure team members on their off-hours and firmly believe a uninterrupted time off work makes people healthier and happier.
Working Through the Challenges of the Pandemic
While the Covid-19 pandemic seems to thankfully be a distant memory, Gilligan had only worked at Phathom for two months when the pandemic hit and the company had to quickly shift to, and embrace, remote working. At that time, Phathom was just beginning to expand its workforce, the Phathom Management Team had to work hard to ensure the newer employees truly felt part of the team and culture.
To do that, the team organized virtual webinars and workshops to connect with new employees, and keep teams connected through conference calls to ensure every member felt included.
“We were a face-time company because everyone was multitasking and communicating with each other through online video calls. We constantly asked our new and old employees different questions such as ‘How are you adapting? What is working well and what isn’t?’.”
For Gilligan, the biggest priority during this period was keeping his team engaged. Therefore, he worked hard to keep people connected and prevent colleagues from feeling isolated from the company while working alone in their homes. Nowadays, Phathom is operating under the hybrid working model where employees can often work from home and the office – another way Phathom encourages the prioritization of work-life balance.
Future Goals and Objectives
Phathom is now focused on launching new acid-related GI treatments. And delivering on the blockbuster potential of their novel medicines.
“It’s exciting, but also very challenging to bring a prescription product to market. Everyone is used to the standard-of-care products that have been around for decades, but it takes a lot of work to introduce a completely new class of treatments to customers. So, we’ve worked to build a team that is energized by our perspective and approach to changing a space that has remained stagnant for far too long.”
Gilligan is finding new people who, in addition to being experts in their respective roles, fit these criteria and the Phathom culture. He wants to build the team with people who are sure about their skillset and do not hesitate to showcase their talents; people who are ready to take advantage of this opportunity and contribute to something potentially revolutionary.
While successfully managing the marketing, market access, commercial insights, and now the inaugural sales team at Phathom, Gilligan is excited about the future of the company. His team is now hands-on in the hiring of nearly 350 members of the sales force and is looking for trailblazers committed to leading and trying new things.
With a fantastic company culture, promising new medicines, and an energized Management Team, Phathom Pharmaceuticals has the foundation set for a great future as they work to deliver on their mission to change the GI treatment landscape.
Interested in Joining Phathom?
Phathom’s unique and rewarding culture has been recognized with countless Comparably “Best Places to Work” awards as a result of candid employee feedback. The company is growing quickly and hiring many critical roles to deliver on its mission.
Visit the “Life at Phathom” page here to learn more about their employer awards, company culture, and open positions.
