Arcutis Biotherapeutics&#x27; CEO Frank Watanabe joins In Vivo’s David Wild to talk about building a patient‑first culture and turning a three‑person startup into a commercial‑stage immunodermatology company. He explains how Zoryve (roflumilast) is reshaping care in chronic inflammatory skin diseases, why Arcutis is pushing beyond dermatology offices into primary care and pediatrics, and how new assets like ARQ‑234 fit into the company’s long‑term growth strategy. The conversation also covers leadership lessons from Watanabe’s time in the US Navy Reserves, his practice of speaking directly with frontline employees and his perspective on capital markets and policy decisions that will shape the future of dermatology innovation.<br><br>#biotech #dermatology #immunodermatology #pharma #drugdevelopment #leadershi

Podcast: Inside Arcutis with CEO Frank Watanabe

Citeline Podcasts

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Citeline Podcasts

## Participants

- **David Wild** (Citeline)
- **Frank Watanabe** (Arcutis Biotherapeutics)

## Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Citeline Podcasts. I'm David Wild, Senior Reporter, and today I'm joined by Frank Watanabe, President and CEO of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, a commercial stage immunodermatology company best known for its non-steroidal topical franchise, Zareev, now approved in multiple inflammatory skin diseases with more indications on the way.

Under Frank's leadership, Arcutis has grown from a small startup into a mid-sized biopharma player, raising more than a billion dollars in capital and bringing several Zoriv formulations to the market in the US and Canada. It's now guiding to roughly half a billion dollars in Zoriv revenue as it moves towards sustained positive cash flow.

Before joining Arcutis in 2016, Frank helped shape cardiometabolic and neuroscience drugs at companies like Amgen and Kythera. He also co-founded a cardiovascular startup and spent 25 years as a commissioned officer in the US Navy Reserves, an experience that he says underpins a mission-fueled approach to leading in dermatology. Frank is also vice chair of the board of directors for Bio.

Today, we'll talk about where Arcutis goes next, scientifically and commercially, and how Frank thinks about leadership, culture, and navigating a volatile biotech market while trying to redefine standards of care in chronic inflammatory skin disease. Frank, thanks so much for joining me today. It's a pleasure to have you on. Thanks, David. It's a pleasure to be here. You've taken Arcutis from an early stage concept to a commercial immunodermatology company with multiple approved products.

Why don't you tell me, what are two or three leadership decisions that most changed the company's trajectory? I think from the outset, we chose to focus on some of the acute needs in the dermatology space, problems that clinicians and patients were struggling with and hadn't been solved. And that's really guided all the work that we've done. That eventually evolved into our corporate mantra, which is meaningful innovation. I often get the question, well, what's meaningful innovation?

And the answer is it's innovation that someone gives a darn about, right? Not all innovation is valuable to the customer. And so we really intently focus on what our customers want and try and solve those problems. And I think that that's led to a lot of our commercial success. I think the other thing is that, you know, ultimately the biopharmaceutical industry is a people business, right? You know, people tend to focus on the science and the products, but the science doesn't get done and the products don't get invented without the people.

And so recruiting the right people and creating the right culture where people thrive, I think is critical and has been a major area of focus for us as an organization and something that I attribute to our success. Can ...

Podcast: Inside Arcutis with CEO Frank Watanabe

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Podcast: Inside Arcutis with CEO Frank Watanabe

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.