Building a Biotech Business That Changes Lives with Deborah O’Neill
In this episode of Scale Her Up, I’m joined by Deborah O’Neill, CEO and founder of Novabiotics.
Deborah shares the story behind building a biotech company in Aberdeen, developing innovative healthcare products for both pharmaceutical and consumer health markets. From respiratory disease treatments to nail care products, everything Novabiotics creates is rooted in the same scientific foundation: understanding how the immune system protects and repairs the body.
We talk about the reality of founding and growing a biotech business, the marathon of product development, how innovation is funded, and why tenacity matters so much in a sector where success can take years.
This is a fascinating and inspiring conversation about science, business, resilience, leadership and the impact that women can have when they back themselves and build something meaningful.
In this episode, we cover:
- What Novabiotics does and the problems it is solving
- Deborah’s journey from immunology research to biotech founder
- The difference between academic and commercial science
- Why biotech is a marathon, not a sprint
- How biotech companies are funded before products reach market
- The importance of building the right team around you
- Supporting early-stage life science businesses in the North East
- Why Aberdeen is becoming an exciting place for biotech innovation
- What Deborah has learned about herself as a founder
- Why founders need tenacity, flexibility and sticking power
- Advice for women considering life sciences or starting a business
Memorable moments from this episode:
- Deborah’s reflections on spinning the business out rather than keeping it as a side project
- Her honesty about the long and uncertain road to market in biotech
- Why there is no such thing as a wrong answer in an experiment
- Her point that success is often not exactly the destination you first imagined
- “If there’s a little voice telling you to do it, listen to it.”
- “Throw the map away.”
