part0020

In Gabriel García Márquez’s classic book, Love in the Time of Cholera , the protagonists Florentino and Fermina have a tumultuous affair in their teens, then reunite in older age, having been apart for fifty-one years, nine months, and four days. They make love on a river cruise. As the ship docks at its final port, Fermina sees people on shore she knows, and fears that she and Florentino will be disgraced. Florentino tells the captain to raise the yellow flag, signifying cholera, so that no one will board. But no port will then accept them, and they are condemned to wander the river forever.

In a time of plague, what must we do to navigate the river, uncertain if, when, or how we will again arrive at a safe harbor? For business leaders, the challenges are compounded: we must contend not only with personal and family upheavals as others do, but also with the impact of such upheavals on the people on whom our businesses rely: our associates, customers, partners, and more.

This is what I have learned so far:

“At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse .” 5 Notwithstanding popular conjectures to the contrary, business leaders are human. Before addressing the needs of those for whom we are responsible, it’s critical that we first address our own. In my case, I have looked for constants to serve as anchors through the crisis—for example, reserving time each day for my nuclear family, and staying in touch with extended family and friends by text, email, and Zoom. (I believe the pleasures of Zoom cocktail parties are likely to endure past the crisis.) I have also kept to my usual diet and have bought exercise equipment for use at home to substitute for my former almost-daily gym routines.

In addition, I reserve time each day to catch up on news concerning the pandemic. As a physician, I am particularly interested in the latest clinical studies, disease trends, testing capabilities, policies, and impacts on our industry and society at large. In this way I can evolve my views of where the river is taking us, and of how much longer we are likely to be confined to the ship. I can then help communicate important information to Acorda’s associates and others in my sphere.

In times of upheaval, just as for individuals in their personal lives, a company’s associates need compasses to help guide them through the storms. Two of the most valuable such compasses are the company’s mission and its culture. The mission defines the “what” of the work, and ideally is clearly defined and understood by all its associates. At my company, Acorda, our mission is to develop therapies that restore function and improve the lives of people with disorders of the nervous system. Culture is harder to define—as with the concept of “beauty,” you know it when you see it. A company’s culture guides the “how,” and even more importantly, the “why” of the work its people do.

Acorda’s culture has been built on a set of Principles and Values (P&Vs) . We incorporate them into our day-to-day conversations, we celebrate and give awards to those who exemplify them, and we provide them on desk ornaments for all associates; they even are etched two stories high onto the glass walls of our headquarters building in Ardsley, New York. They are expressed colloquially, some tongue in cheek; we don’t want to take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the culture, and the work we do to improve patients’ lives, deeply seriously. One more thing: other than on the website, there’s an “inside” phrase that always appears with the P&Vs wherever they appear: “Fresh Fish Sold Here.” There’s a story that goes with it, which has become part of the company’s lore. What’s important is what it signifies: that any list of principles, values, or the like is just a string of words; they are given life and meaning only by the actions of those who subscribe to them.

During the pandemic, we’ve found that our P&Vs have served as a lodestone. For example, “Communication, Communication, Communication” and “We tell it like it is” have guided our leadership team members to send frequent emails to the entire company, including at our headquarters and manufacturing facilities, and in the field. We frankly communicate news and prospects related to the pandemic, as well as about the company’s business, challenges, and progress. I also periodically address the company by video and field questions. Our P&Vs of “We will find a way or make one” and “Teamwork…uh, huh!” have underpinned the remarkably rapid adaptation of our teams to working from home, to finding new, effective ways of communicating and working with each other and with the health care professionals and patients we serve. They continually devise new programs to advance Acorda’s work and mission, as expressed in our P&V “Therapies or bust! ”

The stresses of COVID-19 have been superimposed on what was already one of the more challenging periods in Acorda’s twenty-five-year history; since a court overturned the patents on our lead product over eighteen months ago, we’ve been forced to implement painful reductions that cut our workforce in half and put our development programs on hold. Despite these enormous stresses, in April 2020 we experienced a remarkable, and moving, testament to the impact of our company’s culture, when Acorda was named to Fortune’s Top 10 list of the Best BioPharma Companies to Work For. An overwhelming 94 percent of Acorda’s surveyed employees agreed, versus an average of 59 percent for the industry.

“The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.…We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! ”—William Wordsworth.

We do not know if or when the ship will return to safe harbor; we can only project. COVID-19 is a crisis. It is also an opportunity to reimagine our priorities and responsibilities—to our businesses, our society, our fellow human beings, and our planet itself. It’s an opportunity to recalibrate what will make our time on earth most meaningful. In the late second century AD, an estimated 10 percent of seventy-five million people in the Roman Empire died of what may have been smallpox, as the plague spurred the government and citizens to come together, adapt, and rebuild a society that emerged stronger than ever. 6

This is our time. This is our opportunity.

Ron Cohen, MD, has been a leader in the biotechnology industry for over three decades. He is president, CEO, and founder of Acorda. Cohen served as chair of the board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and continues as a board member. He has received numerous awards, including the NY CEO Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award; he is an inductee of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association’s Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame; and he was awarded Columbia University’s Alumni Medal for Distinguished Service. He was recognized by PharmaVOICE Magazine as one of the 100 Most Inspirational People in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Dr. Cohen received his BA from Princeton and his MD from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is board certified in internal medicine.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc. develops therapies that restore function to people with neurological disorders. The company has 320 associates and has brought three therapies to market, including Zanaflex Capsules for the treatment of spasticity, AMPYRA® to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis, and INBRIJATM , an inhalable powder form of levodopa for adults with Parkinson’s disease. Acorda has been named among the Fortune 100 Best Medium Workplaces in the US, the Fortune 100 Best Workplaces for Women, for Millennials, and for Baby Boomers, and is among Fortune’s Top 10 Best BioPharma Companies to Work For. For seven years, Acorda has been recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York State.