Harry Finch, senior vice-president of therapeutics, Argenta Discovery, Harlow, UK

For someone who co-invented an asthma drug that is, so far, worth nearly US$1.8 billion, Harry Finch didn't exactly make a flying start. He left school at 16 to work in a tar distillery, with just five exam passes. His only science subject was physics-with-chemistry; he wasn't considered good enough at chemistry to take a whole exam in it (see CV).

Part-time study followed, and a string of awards. Everything fell into place when a far-sighted teacher steered him towards organic chemistry.

“I was lucky because, then, I knew I'd found my niche. Very few people find their true niche, the work that matches what they're best at,” says Finch.

Married with children by the time he gained his PhD at 27, he opted for a steady job. He found one at Glaxo, where he learned biology from colleagues. “I loved it,” says Finch. “And I needed it for drug discovery.”

Serendipity played a role in the invention of the beta-agonist salmeterol, he says, quoting Louis Pasteur: “Chance favours the prepared mind.” He and his team were working on a cardiovascular drug, but kept noticing that their molecule had the activity sought by the asthma-drug team.

“Finally, we went to them and said: ‘Why don't you make this analogue?’,” Finch recalls. “They did, and they only had to make two more changes and that was salmeterol.”

When a merger scattered his 280-strong chemistry group in late 2000, Finch switched to biotech companies. His latest move, to Argenta Discovery, has returned him to a familiar area, as the firm works on respiratory therapeutics.

Having experienced both big drug companies and the “white knuckle” world of small biotech, Finch is aware of the advantages of each. In a small biotech you multitask across scientific and discipline boundaries, he says. But a big company provides more people in more disciplines from which to learn.

“I'd encourage people to get experience in at least two places, medium and small or big and small,” he says. “Try them both as early as possible and get as much variety of experience as you can.” That mix of experience can help young scientists find their niche — just as Finch did after his late start.