Purpose at the Center: Craig Martin’s “Rare” Commitment to Biopharma and Patients

Craig Martin is a strategic chameleon in health innovation. He is equally at home in boardrooms, nonprofit leadership, consulting and advisory roles, all with one guiding force: bringing science closer to patients. My Health Unabashed interview (airing August 11^th) with him underscored that every step of his career has been purpose‑driven.

From Communications Strategist to Purpose-Built Leader

Craig began his Boston journey after relocating from Washington, D.C., to join Feinstein Kean Healthcare — a leading consultancy in the life sciences space — as the chosen successor to a founding CEO. There, he furthered his gift for translating scientific and commercial complexity into clear, compelling strategy and narratives. More than a decade later, Feinstein Kean was folded into a holding company, and its name was retired. However, Craig’s Boston roots and passion for guiding life science companies only deepened from there.

Encouraged by his Boston innovation networks, he eventually struck out on his own, founding Rithm Health, a consultancy that advises biotech, digital health, and rare disease companies. It quickly became clear that this wasn’t a sideline gig; it was a mission: supporting companies seeking revenue and impact.

Advisory Leader in the Boston Biopharma Ecosystem

For some 25 years, Craig has advised early- and mid-stage teams—across health categories—on strategy, business development, communications, and patient engagement. His counsel regularly integrates a responsible business mindset and empathy-infused decision-making, often behind the scenes but profoundly influential.

It’s among the many reasons he was invited onto the board of Global Genes years ago and later extended into advisory roles across rare disease nonprofits and biotech initiatives (including the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation).

Craig’s long-standing volunteerism at Global Genes evolved into formal leadership: he chaired the Corporate Alliance and shaped the organization’s strategy for diagnostic and treatment equity, clinical trial access, and diversity.  In 2020, he accepted the role of interim CEO, stepping in at a time of transition purely to serve the rare-disease community. Through the next few years, he helped scale the organization globally while preserving its high-touch culture and mission-aligned focus.

Under Craig, the organization prioritized community capacity-building, integrated, personalized service through RARE Concierge, and connecting patients to diagnosis, trials and support —rather than duplicating work in policy or research. His leadership culminated in the seamless reintegration of RARE‑X, bolstering data sharing and patient-driven research approaches under the Global Genes umbrella.

Launching the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator

Craig built on that experience by founding the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator (OTXL) in June 2024. Recognizing that many Phase 1/2 rare disease therapies stall—not from scientific failure, but because of funding or infrastructure gaps—he designed OTXL as a nonprofit biotech that sources shelved ultra‑rare programs and drives them forward through development via Orphan ClinDevNet—a coalition of partners delivering low-cost, AI‑enabled services for clinical trials, manufacturing, regulatory readiness and commercialization.

In the traditional biopharma model, promising compounds are often shelved—not due to scientific failure, but because their potential market size is considered too small to justify the cost and complexity of development. This is especially true in the rare and ultra-rare disease space, where patient populations may number in the hundreds or low thousands.

Larger pharmaceutical companies, focused on ROI and portfolio prioritization, frequently set aside these “orphaned” therapies despite early efficacy signals. Craig recognized that these shelved molecules represented more than business decisions; they represented delayed or denied hope for real patient communities. His insight was to operationalize around these forgotten assets, championing their advancement through an entrepreneurial nonprofit model that combines development efficiency, community partnership, novel commercialization pathways, and mission-driven focus.

By aligning with rare disease advocates and building a collaborative ecosystem, Craig’s Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator brings new life to therapies that might never see the clinic.

Leading Founding Members include Chiesi and BIAL, with operations supported by Landmark Bio, Uncommon Cures®, Viralgen, DVLP Medicines, and Vibe Bio. OTXL aims to be financially self‑sustaining within 4–6 years, reinvesting revenue from commercialized programs to support growing rare disease pipelines.

Though now operating globally, Craig maintains an active advisory presence in Boston’s biotech and healthtech sectors. He contributes strategy, governance insight, and rare-disease expertise to companies and nonprofits—and mentors emerging leaders bridging science, patient advocacy, and enterprise.

He’s also appeared at conferences such as Advanced Therapies USA 2025, reflecting his growing profile in the global gene-therapy and pricing-access discussion space.

What We Can All Learn from Craig’s Journey

Craig’s story—spanning executive leadership, consulting firm founding, nonprofit board, interim CEO, and biotech founder—offers five powerful lessons:

1. A compelling narrative is a critical component of strategic leadership. Translating complexity into resonance is more than marketing—it shapes how people connect, invest, and act.

• Empathy drives innovation. Patient insight isn’t an add-on; it’s the organizing principle of strategy.
  
  
• New structures empower neglected science. OTXL’s nonprofit biotech model demonstrates how shelved assets can become viable through purpose-aligned stewardship.

• Community builds momentum. Boston’s collaborative ecosystem supported Craig’s leaps—from Feinstein Kean to independent consultancy—amplifying impact.

• Purpose provides continuity. Across roles, his north star has remained: bring science closer to patients in sustainable, human-focused ways.

Craig Martin reflects what I’ve learned about leadership in health innovation: that proximity—to patients, communities, and complexity—makes the difference. As he told me during our conversation: “The science is often there. The challenge is translation—moving from discovery to delivery.”

In every role, in Boston and beyond, Craig is focused on that translation—one program at a time, one community at a time—with purpose at the center.