Chief Executive Officer placed at rapidly growing hemp biotech startup

The Strategy

Medterra Pharmaceuticals in partnerships with Baylor, Texas Medical Center, and Houston VA was launched in 2020 with seed funding given from Medterra CBD, their commercial B2C business, to explore the therapeutic benefits of CBD and other natural compounds.

Medterra Pharma needed a new CEO who knows relevant investors to sell the business and help strategize capital fundraising to continue drug development. Because CBD & cannabis can cause some skepticism, we needed to find them a results oriented candidate with the ability to be hands-on, and experienced in establishing and building up R&D companies

The Approach

LifeSci Search primarily focused on specialty, generic, and small capital companies in the pharma and biotech industries searching for CEO’s experienced with working in unique areas, startup environments with a background in fundraising and has deep relationships with investors & bankers.

Medterra is young and new, so some candidates found it too small or heavy of a lift, but LifeSci was able to overcome this obstacle by framing this as a blank canvas opportunity for the right person to help shape the future of the company’s success. Medterra’s leadership team was open-minded and leaned on Search’s market feedback and strategic advice which led to a smooth process and LifeSci Search identifying and placing Peter Suzdak, CEO at Sonoval.

The Outcome

We successfully identified and placed Peter Suzdak as CEO of Medterra Pharmaceuticals. He was the ideal profile with his entrepreneurial spirit, being results oriented, and has successfully built-up multiple R&D organizations which led to the filings of IND’s, NDA’s, and sNDA’s. He also has raised more than $43M in venture capital and $75M in public financing. LifeSci completed the search in 5 months.