An Inside Look at Organogenesis

Today’s Wound Clinic interviewed Geoff MacKay, President and Chief Executive Officer at Organogenesis. Today’s Wound Clinic (TWC): How long have you personally been in wound care and how did you enter this area of healthcare? Geoff MacKay (GM): I’ve been focused on the developing fields of regenerative medicine, and advanced wound care, for about 15 years. After starting in pharma, I left that world and took a chance on regenerative medicine. I was part of the team at Novartis that handled Apligraf® when Novartis was partnering with Organogenesis in the 1990s. When Novartis decided to go in a different direction and get out of the regenerative medicine field, a team of people from Novartis (including myself) saw the potential in regenerative medicine and decided to join and build Organogenesis.   Since then, that original team has played a major role in transitioning this novel approach to regenerate tissue (damaged by disease or injury) from Petri dish science into a commercially successful business. TWC: Describe your role with your company on a day-to-day basis. GM: As president and CEO, I wear many hats. Currently a large part of my time is focused on our company’s expansion, which includes doubling our workforce. We are also in the midst of building a new living cell manufacturing plant at our Massachusetts headquarters. Upon completion in 2014 we expect it to be the largest regenerative medicine manufacturing facility in the world. TWC: Describe the overall mission of your company. GM: The mission of Organogenesis is to bring the medical marvel of regenerative medicine to patients and standardize its use in everyday medical care. Initially our mission was “to introduce regenerative medicine to the world.” With more than a quarter of a million patients now treated with Apligraf, we believe that we’ve successfully achieved this goal. Apligraf is now the leading regenerative medicine product in the world.   Essentially, we work to build brands and services that help integrate the benefits of regenerative medicine into every day medical practice. TWC: What do you find most rewarding about providing your products/services to medical directors and wound care clinicians? GM: The direct impact we have on patient’s lives. The most rewarding part of working for Organogenesis is seeing, in real time, the power of Apligraf to close wounds and to close them faster. We all know that a non-healing wound is a major amputation risk. With Apligraf we are not only preventing amputations, and helping patients to return to normal function; but in many cases we are also saving lives. TWC: Which would you say is your highest selling product or service, and why do you feel it is so popular? GM: Our flagship product, Apligraf, is our highest selling product and we are proud to say that sales continue to strongly increase each year as more providers and patients learn about the benefits of healing through regenerative medicine. In fact, a patient with a chronic would receives an Apligraf about once every 100 seconds Monday thru Friday in the U.S. TWC: What would you say makes your company unique? GM: Organogenesis was the pioneer in the field of living, cell-based regenerative medicine. Originally, we were founded as an MIT spin-off, and the heritage of the original founders still shines through. Additionally, Organogenesis is responsible for one of the first-ever FDA approvals of a living cell therapy (Apligraf).   To this day, Apligraf is the only advanced wound therapy product that is FDA approved for the treatment of both diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers. Many technologies have tried and failed to meet rigorous FDA end points of 100% wound closure.   Having this proven, FDA-caliber clinical data distinguishes Apligraf from all other options. TWC: How do you make sure that clinicians are properly trained on your products or services? GM: Organogenesis has a best-in-class team of medical science liaisons and tissue regeneration specialists, located all across the U.S., to help train and support clinicians on the use of our products. We also have reimbursement specialists in-house to ensure proper coding. TWC: Please describe any of your company’s goals for the future that you would like to highlight. GM: We are experiencing very rapid growth at Organogenesis. As mentioned previously, we are in the midst of a major expansion, in sales and revenue, in employees and in real estate. We are also currently seeking FDA approval for a new, first-in-class biologic product that we expect will launch a new therapeutic class in dentistry. Additionally, we have a rich pipeline of exciting products that I look forward to sharing with you at a future date. TWC: What challenges are you seeing in wound care and how is your company approaching this challenge? GM: Despite widespread Apligraf adoption by the majority of top wound specialists in the U.S., it is disappointing to see that millions of patients still do not receive the benefit of any advanced regenerative medicine treatments.   One particularly alarming statistic is the rising incidence of foot amputations amongst patients with diabetes. Hence, our revised mission mentioned earlier, guides our actions across the organization. We want to make regenerative medicine treatments available to the millions of patients who deserve it. The minute a clinician can confidently predict a wound is stalled, proven advanced alternatives are in both the patient’s and the payer’s interest. TWC: How can wound care clinicians get in touch with a representative to learn more about your company and products? GM: Clinicians can contact representatives via our Apligraf Customer Solutions line by calling 1-888-HEAL-2DAY (1-888-432-5232).