How a shift in focus unlocked an ambition to help high-risk patients

A radical breakthrough in personalized medicine

Herna’s idea came about when she noticed a gap in the health care market. “Doctors were prescribing medication based on an old paradigm,” she explains. “They were using information they get from our blood, but not using information from our genes.”

Our genes control how drugs are metabolized and vary from person to person. Herna wanted to ensure treatment would be personalized to the needs of the individual rather than a one-size-fits-all method. It would enable doctors to take three crucial steps to improve patient safety: determine an accurate dose, check the risk of side-effects and check if the patient wasn’t responding to the drug. “The challenge was to create a powerful tool that could change the way doctors prescribe medicine, so that it fits exactly to the patient’s genes” she adds.

With private funding, Herna and her team of 14 people set about developing their product: PGXperts. She was driven by a clear goal, “Our ambition - my ambition - is to fulfil a purpose, and this purpose is that everybody knows HMG as the company who does the interpretation of genes for the wellbeing of people.”

Herna succeeded in developing what she proudly describes as, “the best product in the world for personalized medication.” She also had a dedicated staff with a strong knowledge pool.

Yet leaders of fast-growth businesses can often find themselves feeling stuck. After navigating the nervous days of starting up and creating a viable business, entrepreneurs can be unsure about how to build for the long term.

Having her leadership team involved was helpful as they were able to hear why it was important for them to take ownership and responsibility for certain areas. They were also able to create clearer job roles.

Michael Hußnätter, a lead consultant in Herna’s team, says, “It had a really transformative impact. It gave us a wake-up call, that we need to work on the Customer Driver. As a consequence, my role in the company shifted to address that.”

For Herna it also had a big impact, “My role as CEO has completely changed,” she says. She explains that she sometimes found it a lonely experience shouldering all the responsibility, but realized through the sessions that she didn’t need to – that she had a team willing to take ownership, “That gives me free room to think and to focus on what we need and that is customer and sales,” she adds.

She also realized that she needed to hire more people and has increased her staff by 25%. Communication has also changed significantly: “We are meeting three times a week, that distributes energy and inspiration for every single employee.”

Herna describes assessing her business against the 7 Drivers of Growth as “the best decision I could ever have taken”. Through it she has become closer to Susanne Dangir, who she values as a trusted business advisor and champion of the business. “I see Susanne as part of the future of this company,” she says. “She has been wonderful. When I had really big concerns about some decisions, I'd just call her or send an email and she was always there.”

A personal ambition that benefits others

Herna is proud of the growth they have achieved and believes that diversity is key to their success. From a staff of 14 they have grown to 58, with 11 different nationalities represented. Remembering her struggles to combine a technology job with young children, Herna offers flexitime and employs a high proportion of women.

Ultimately for Herna, satisfaction comes from realizing her ambition to impact patients’ lives, “The 20-year-old me would be proud to see that I achieved creating a company like this. Everybody here has one objective and that is to make a better quality of life for every patient.”