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Andrea Wagner’s journey from two exits to PharmaPhixx

When Dr. Andrea Wagner, CEO and cofounder of PharmaPhixx, joined Molecule to Market host Raman Sehgal, she shared candid stories from building and selling two sterile manufacturing companies, and what those experiences taught her about leadership, operations, and problem-solving in the pharmaceutical sector. 

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Andrea's journey in pharma & entrepreneurship

Andrea’s early career was steeped in science, with degrees in chemistry and a doctorate in environmental health and toxicology. But it was at Tufts University, managing an innovation program, where she discovered her talent for turning complex concepts into clear, compelling pitches.

That ability to communicate science and sell ideas became her calling card, and the foundation for her first entrepreneurial venture.

"I had a natural ability to sell... if I fell in love with a toothbrush, I was selling the toothbrush."

In 1999, Andrea became a co-owner of Hyaluron, a sterile drug manufacturing company, and joined full-time in 2001. With limited capital and little direct manufacturing experience, she and her partners learned on the job, growing the business over nearly a decade before selling to AMRI (now Curia) in 2010.

The experience was rewarding but also taught Andrea one important lesson: when you sell, leave quickly.

"It's kinda like selling your house and you have to live in it with the new owner. You don't really wanna do that because the new owners have different lifestyles than you."

In 2014, Andrea and her cofounders launched Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing with a clear advantage. They already knew the market, the regulators, and the mistakes to avoid.

The company grew rapidly, leading the industry in isolator technology for clinical-scale and small-volume commercial filling. By 2018, buyers were interested. In 2020, they sold a quarter stake to UDG (later Sharp Packaging), with an agreement to potentially sell the rest three years later.

Those years were some of the most enjoyable of Andrea’s career. She worked alongside her three children, watched the company thrive, and grew as a leader, largely thanks to lessons learned in the Women Presidents Organization (WPO).

 

Lessons in leadership

One of Andrea’s most impactful changes as a leader was breaking the habit of bypassing managers to “help” fix problems.

"When there's three people and then you grow it to 250... you have to give up the thought that you need to control everything. You don't help [people] by walking around them to fix the problem... we empowered the people whose job it was that fix it until they needed help from the next level up."

She began empowering teams using a “decision tree” framework she learned through the WPO. This framework clarified who should make which decisions.

  • Leaves – daily, on-the-spot decisions made by operators at the ground level

  • Branches – supervisors who handle departmental or shift-level issues

  • Trunk – managers responsible for broader operational decisions

  • Roots – top leadership, making strategic and company-wide calls

The idea was to keep decisions and actions flowing through the right levels instead of skipping over people. This reduced chaos, gave employees more ownership, and strengthened the chain of command across the company.

Lessons in business development

Andrea’s learned a valuable BD tip while growing Berkshire Sterile from Shari Levitin: ask clients about their biggest problem before you pitch.

“We started asking people, before we even started in on our spiel, ‘Hey, we're here to help you. Tell us your number one problem'... this enabled us either to tailor our presentation to what their need was... or we referred onto the next person... If you can't do it, be honest about it, and get these people help."

Andrea also stresses persistence. In sales, “no” usually means “not now,” so follow up.

"No, meant 'later' to me... people would often say, 'I don't know how you can be so optimistic in the face of this sudden death situation.' I'm like, 'well, you can't look at it that way... it's just another opportunity, another path to forge.'"

How PharmaPhixx was founded

Andrea’s newest venture, PharmaPhixx, was born from a conversation about downtime in pharma manufacturing.

After selling her second CDMO, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Andrea Wagner began investing in women-owned companies through Herizon Funding. At a WPO meeting, she met another founder who ran an engineering services firm. Her team specialized in aerospace and oil & gas – sectors where a single piece of equipment going down for a few hours could cost millions.

As Andrea listened, a familiar frustration surfaced.

“Most of the equipment is made overseas, so we would have to wait at least weeks, sometimes months, to get the appropriate service, and it was everybody's problem."

The other founder described how her engineers were trained to diagnose and fix complex systems under pressure, often with incomplete information and in environments where safety and compliance were non-negotiable. Andrea immediately recognized how those same skills could be life-saving in a pharmaceutical manufacturing setting.

Within weeks, they began assembling a team of engineers who could be deployed across the U.S. on short notice.

PharmaPhixx launched in September 2024, and by the time Andrea spoke on Molecule to Market, the network had grown to 32 engineers stationed nationwide.

"We parachute in and we help fix something, and then we get out. So our goal is not to stay permanently. Our goal is to help and then leave."

Listen to the full conversation

Listen to the full interview on Molecule to Market for more on Andrea’s story, her double-exit journey, leadership philosophy, and what’s next for PharmaPhixx.

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