After almost a decade as a research scientist and then another in pharmaceutical business development and product launch, Anna Gran has unparalleled insight for getting novel therapies to market. At Sound Bioventures, the role of Principal allows her to help guide biotech breakthroughs from the lab to patients.
“I’ve always been a scientist at heart,” says Anna Gran, “even when I was a little girl.” Although, as a child, she imagined herself doing research in the field. “I thought I’d be wearing wellies somewhere in the rainforest. Then I chose a lab coat, and I was just swept away by the biomedical side of science.”
Originally from Finland, Gran’s first jobs in research were when she was still studying at the University of Helsinki. She completed her master’s in 2004 and immediately began pursuing a doctorate in biochemistry while working as a full-time research scientist at the university’s Haartman Institute. However, after receiving her Ph.D., Gran left the lab — moving to the United Kingdom to enroll in the MBA program at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School.
“I wanted to jump to where someone else has already made the discovery and then it’s carried out of the lab and developed further,” she recalls. “I decided to take a career break and go back to school to study business and surround myself with people who knew more about business than I did.”
“Where I really like to be is in the middle…where discovery becomes an innovation.”
Gran began working in big pharma right out of business school in 2011. She started at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson in Finland as a project manager and medical advisor, eventually moving into a role with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the company’s external innovation and partnering office in London, while based in Copenhagen. As the New Ventures Lead for the region, Gran’s role entailed spotting innovation opportunities for investment and collaboration throughout the Nordics and Baltics. In 2020, she joined Novo Nordisk, where her focus has included commercial business development, mergers and acquisitions, and post-merger integration.
Looking back at her career so far, bisected into either side of the path between scientific discovery and developed product, Gran admits she’s equally drawn to each one.
“I’ve seen both ends of the innovation value chain,” she says. “Where I really like to be is in the middle, that translational space where discovery becomes an innovation.”
An understanding of the entrepreneurial journey
Turning a research breakthrough into a treatment for patients is never easy. But Gran understands how best to navigate that tricky journey thanks to her time in the pharmaceutical industry.
Yet, of all Gran’s big pharma experiences — including overseeing product launches, serving as the Nordic launch lead for a blockbuster drug, and taking point on Nordic business for two blood cancer brands — the one that’s likely had the most personal impact on her wasn’t connected to drug development or the industry.
While at Janssen Nordic, Gran led a 7-year-long employee engagement project supporting the founders of a social business in Nepal. The initiative overcame many challenges to launch a cleaning service company that became an industry benchmark while employing the underprivileged and enabling their families to have a better standard of living, as well as providing educational opportunities for their children.
Co-developing the strategy and business plan, Gran saw firsthand what it takes to create a company from scratch.
“I really came to appreciate how the work of an entrepreneur is in the nitty-gritty details,” she explains. “It’s not about great strategies and PowerPoint presentations. It’s about making sure that the lights are on, that you deliver on time, or that whoever meets with your customer is professional. Those might be little things from an investor or big company’s point of view, but they matter a lot.”
“…it shouldn’t be an unsolvable equation to be a good person, a good collaborator, and a good investor at the same time.”
What eventually led to Gran joining Sound Bioventures began as a conversation with a recruiter in the fall of 2024. It was a chat about another potential career pivot, one to a role that would allow her to focus more on working with innovators and aiding start-ups in their development. Her contact immediately suggested Sound Bioventures to Gran, who was ready to sign on by the spring of 2025.
“What I liked about Sound Bioventures was their approach that it shouldn’t be an unsolvable equation to be a good person, a good collaborator, and a good investor at the same time,” she explains.
And the focus on novel medicines close to the clinical development stage also puts Sound Bioventures in the ideal place for Gran between scientific innovation and pharmaceutical products.
“I think that’s where I belong,” she says, “where I can help those innovations be further developed so they can actually change or save lives.” Learn more about the amazingly rich experience of our unique team at Sound Bioventures!
