Building a Biotech Business That Changes Lives with Deborah O’Neill — Scale Her Up: Female business stories and expert tips for business growth and success

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.”