Here at Ossium, we publish monthly internal newsletters highlighting company updates and accomplishments. Each newsletter also includes a brief note from our CEO, Kevin Caldwell. In February’s edition, Kevin reflected on all of the progress we made in 2021, despite facing a host of challenges as a company and society. Check out Kevin’s letter below.
When I was younger, my parents used to tell me that every challenge was an opportunity in disguise. Back then, I thought of those words as an empty platitude, something people said to make themselves feel better about hardship. But, over the years, and especially throughout the pandemic, I have come to understand that my parents were telling the truth: that we only discover our true potential when pushed out of our comfort zones and asked to do seemingly impossible things. They taught me that greatness is forged through hard work and adversity.
The pandemic has also taught us that we must follow our core company value of ‘Truth’ through science. To roughly quote Andy Weir’s The Martian, “in the face of overwhelming odds, [we’re] left with only one option: [we’re] going to have to science the shit out of this.” Over the last two years, researchers and members of the pharma & biotech industries took this phrase to heart, and the progress we’ve made on vaccines and other therapeutics is remarkable. The world has never made and distributed a vaccine for a disease faster than it did for COVID-19. The fact that we had one—let alone multiple—vaccines during the first year of the pandemic is extraordinary.
Here at Ossium, we too have looked towards science and truth to drive progress. In the face of adversity, the team prevailed, and though I will look back at 2021 as being dominated by a global pandemic, I will also look at this year as the time we treated our first patient, got 4 INDs that used Ossium products cleared by the FDA, and grew our team by more than 100%.
2021, much like 2020, has been a year characterized by adversity, challenge, and loss. It was a hard year for many people, including myself, but amidst the chaos and stress of the ongoing pandemic, we have made incredible strides forward both globally and here at Ossium. Though 2022 will bring its own challenges, I am hopeful and optimistic that the world can get better. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that health is the bedrock of civilization. People will prioritize staying alive and well to the necessary detriment of everything else. Simply put, the pandemic has reinforced a phrase that here at Ossium we are quite familiar with: The Greatest Wealth is Health.
The hard work and dedication shown by each and every member of the Ossium team has given me great confidence about our ability to play a crucial role in building a world where everyone has the chance to live a healthy, happy, and productive life, free from the burden of disease.
Cheers to 2022,
Kevin Caldwell
Co-Founder & CEO
