Member Perspective: Kimberly McCormick

Guest Commentator: Kimberly McCormick, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs,  Marinus Pharmaceuticals @MarinusPharma

In what ways can Greater Philadelphia improve access to health care and treatments for all citizens in order for our region to flourish as one of the healthiest and most livable communities in the Northeast?

While pursuing my PharmD at the University of the Sciences, then the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences, I immersed myself in the culture of University City, West Philadelphia, and all the other captivating areas of the City of Brotherly Love that I had never experienced to that extent before. I was able to take my pharmacy education and use it as a lens to outwardly view the city around me, which made it clear that there were pockets of citizens who were not receiving access to top medical treatments. Over the years since my graduation from pharmacy school, I have seen Philadelphia transform itself into a hub, seeking solutions and access to care for patients suffering from many illnesses.

Over the last decade, Boston has become the academic center for early stage drug development because of its proximity to some of the greatest universities in the world, like Harvard and MIT. However, Philadelphia has been and continues to be the leader in later stage clinical trial and commercial drug development. For the past five years I have had the pleasure of working for Marinus Pharmaceuticals, a company located just outside the city, in Radnor. During this time, Marinus has tripled its employee base, presented positive late-stage clinical data in a very rare form of pediatric epilepsy, and continues to prove that biotech is thriving in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Marinus is a quintessential story of a blossoming biopharmaceutical company with early Connecticut roots, that relocated to the Philadelphia area. The company was created in 2003 with the purpose of innovating treatments for underserved patients suffering from rare forms of epilepsy and other neuropsychiatric diseases. This includes developing treatments for patients with status epilepticus, the second most common neurologic emergency in the US, to pediatric seizures such as CDKL5 deficiency disorder, an illness that occurs in about 75 live US births a year. These diseases are rare and large pharma companies typically shy away from them, but at Marinus we are laser focused on helping these patients who do not have many treatment options. We have worked tirelessly through the global pandemic to be able to continue our clinical trials and believe we have succeeded by being agile and dynamic.

Being in Philadelphia has provided us with access to the best, broadest, and most diverse talent pool available in biopharma, and our employees are proud to represent the biotech ecosystem here. One that serves the local communities, while also pursuing much needed innovative treatment options for patients.