Q&A with Jeff Aronin, Chairman and CEO of Paragon Biosciences
Jeff Aronin, Chairman and CEO of Paragon Biosciences, has spent more than two decades in one of the most challenging areas of the biosciences sector. He and his teams have worked to find treatments for patients with especially complex and often rare diseases – diseases sometimes affecting less than 200,000 Americans – who do not attract the research interest of companies pursuing “blockbuster drugs.”
Paragon Biosciences creates leverage for Aronin’s quest because Paragon is a life science innovator that invests in, builds, and advises a portfolio of bioscience companies which develop potentially more effective treatments for severe diseases.
Under Jeff Aronin’s leadership, Paragon Biosciences and the support model behind its growing portfolio of companies endeavor to transform the lives of people suffering with diseases that currently lack adequate treatment options.
Insights Care Magazine named Jeff Aronin one of the most influential leaders in healthcare, citing Aronin’s track record of success in leading the development of breakthrough medicines. In 2018, he was named Innovator of the Yearby Best in Biz Awards and in 2019 received the Northern Illinois University (NIU) College of Business’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.
Jeff Aronin also contributes significant time to civic and philanthropic pursuits with wife Lisa Aronin as co-founders of the Aronin Family Foundation– centered on health, education, community and economic development. Aronin also founded the Chicago-based healthcare startup incubator MATTER that’s helped launch 220 healthcare companies over the past five years.
What inspired you to start Paragon Biosciences?
There are over 7,000 diseases that currently have no FDA-approved treatments. The current pace of novel drug development (approximately 40-50 new approvals per year) offers scant hope to people impacted by diseases without approved treatments. Paragon Biosciences seeks to change that.
How does this work in practice?
It all starts with the patient. We begin by identifying unmet patient needs. Then we explore and innovate potential therapies to address those needs. Promising therapies are either further developed by an existing portfolio company that already specializes in that therapeutic area, or we launch a new portfolio company to focus on a new therapeutic area.
Are there any new trends that excite you?
I think there’s a lot of promise in targeted gene therapies and their potential to lead to new treatments and potential cures. Artificial intelligence and its application in healthcare is also an exciting opportunity to improve diagnosis, drug development speed, and health outcomes.
What are the central values that have guided your work as an entrepreneur?
I’ve learned to prioritize the needs of patients rather than get overly enamored by high science or interesting technologies, unless they offer a better solution to a problem. Remaining focused on patients’ unmet needs properly focuses everything else. Also, finding and working with a great team of experts has worked really well for me.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Always remember that for a business idea to be viable, you need to tackle a problem that makes a difference in people’s lives that they are willing to pay you to solve.
What’s one of the most important entrepreneurial strategies you use?
Hire mission-oriented, talented people; trust them to go execute; and require that they take responsibility and accountability.
What strategy has helped you grow your business?
Staff the team with entrepreneurial problem-solvers who are committed to our mission and have an exceptional track record of earning FDA approvals.
What failures have you had to overcome as an entrepreneur?
Drug development is incredibly difficult, and it’s even harder to develop drugs for rare diseases. Failure is common in our industry.
Persevering through challenges requires a belief in yourself and your team’s ability to overcome formidable challenges, as well as the conviction that you are doing something that truly matters.
Do you have a book recommendation for our community?
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is a great, relevant read. I reread it recently and still appreciate its emphasis on effective decision-making.
What is your favorite quote?
I have two. The first one is from Henry David Thoreau: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
The second is from Winston Churchill: “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
More about Jeff Aronin at
