Pf Magazine February 2021

TALKING HEADS “ A s pharma stepped away to re-assess how it could add value beyond the pill, it returned to engage with customers in a collaborative and consultative way” Page 10

FEBRUARY 2021

A fresh perspective Employee engagement Mental health crisis PHARMAFIELD.CO.UK

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W

Hello.

HEAD OF MARKETING OPERATIONS

Emma Morriss emma.morriss@pharmafield.co.uk EDITOR

Emma Cooper emma.cooper@e4h.co.uk

elcome to the February edition of Pf Magazine.

With Covid-19 still dominating the news, there is a firm understanding that it won’t be leaving us anytime soon.

There is a feeling of hope on the horizon, however, thanks to three vaccines receiving MHRA approval in the UK and the roll-out of a national vaccination programme.

As we head into a new year, it is time to accept that whilst some things may be different for a while, much will cease to go back to how it was pre-pandemic. For the pharma industry, this will prove revolutionary.

To gather invaluable insight on the year that changed everything, Pf brought industry leaders together via Teams and hosted a roundtable at the end of 2020. Spanning pharma, NHS, specialist services and sales and marketing, these unique perspectives were a privilege to listen to. Our Talking Heads cover story on page 10 shares these opinions and pulls together common threads about what 2020 means for pharma going forward.

Collaboration has proved key to the industry thriving during such a difficult time and this issue recognises the need to look to others following 2020 and see examples of positive change. In our interview with Lee Gittings on page 23, we share how the pandemic has transformed one pharma company from the inside out. Our feature from Mike Crosher at Chugai Pharma, on page 14, looks at employee engagement in the wake of Covid-19 and stresses the importance of looking after your team.

Following a year which shone a light on the incredible talent working in the pharma industry, looking in and ensuring they feel supported will be important. With services being cut and support withdrawn, mental health in the community will also be a big concern going forward. Our feature on page 28 looks at how digital technology can deliver mental health care and encourage patients to feel empowered about their health.

As well as coronavirus, the confirmed Brexit trade deal will have an enormous effect on industry. According to the ABPI, every month at least 45 million packs of medicines are exported from the UK to the EU, and 37 million packs are supplied from the EU to the UK. What does the post-Brexit landscape look like? Claudia Rubin offers her insight on page 24.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Pf and please do share your feedback by getting in touch at hello@pharmafield.co.uk, tweeting us @Pharmafield or following us over on LinkedIn.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Emma Warfield emma@pharmafield.co.uk GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Olivia Cummins olivia@pharmafield.co.uk SENIOR EDITOR E4H

Amy Schofield amy@pharmafield.co.uk COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Hazel Lodge hazel@e4h.co.uk FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

Fiona Beard finance@e4h.co.uk Pf AWARDS

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Karl Hamer karl@e4h.co.uk HEAD OFFICE

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M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 1

February HAVE YOUR SAY: If you’d like to share an idea for a feature or collaborate with us on a captivating advertorial, please get in touch.

GET IN TOUCH: hello@pharmafield.co.uk

Contributors

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@pharmajobsuk

Pf Magazine

OLIVER HARRISON

DR PETER SARGENT 

GRAEME DENNIS 

Peter is Head of Business Development at the NIHR, leading a team that supports businesses from across the life sciences sector to access the UK research and health system.

The future of clinical research, page 18

Graeme is commercial director, Preclinical Pharma at IDBS. Prior to IDBS, Graeme held scientific informatics roles in academia and industry, including Accenture, Dotmatics and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Streamlining the system, page 30

Oliver is CEO of Koa Health.

Prior to joining, Oliver practised as a medical doctor for six years in both Psychiatry and Public Health, worked for five years in the McKinsey Healthcare practice, and spent seven years helping to build a modern healthcare system in Abu Dhabi.

Addressing the mental health crisis, page 28 FARAH ALI

Farah is General Manager at Warman-Freed Perrigo Learning Pharmacy.

Increased footfall in pharmacies, page 20

In this issue CLAUDIA RUBIN 

Claudia has over a decade of experience supporting healthcare and life science organisations to navigate the NHS. A specialist in strategic planning and market access, her knowledge of the healthcare policy environment and the challenging pathways to product reimbursement, give her unique expert insight.

Bringing in change with Brexit, page 24.

MIKE CROSHER 

Mike is Managing Director of Chugai Pharma UK. Responsible for the leadership of the UK & Ireland business, his passion is people.

Employee engagement, page 14.

RICH QUELCH

Rich is an experienced global marketer within the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector and has led the development of the Origin brand.

Part of the package, page 32.

LEE GITTINGS

Lee is Psoriasis Business Unit Director at LEO Pharma. He has held numerous senior in-country and regional positions in both big and medium-sized pharma including; sales, marketing, business development and go-to-market transformation.

A fresh perspective, page 23.

04 NEWS

IN CONVERSATION

Bringing you the latest headlines

Addressing the mental health crisis: Embracing digital innovation

COVER STORY

10

30

Unique industry insight into the year that changed everything

Streamlining the system: Outlining an overhaul in biopharmaceutical data management

INSIGHT

14

32

Employee engagement: Why it has never mattered more

Part of the package: Pharma packaging and supply trends in 2021

18 NHS

MOVERS & SHAKERS

The future of clinical research: What can we learn from 2020?

Who’s moving where in the industry?

PHARMACY

20

PHARMAJOBS

Increased footfall in pharmacy: Making the most of it

Finding a job & recruiting in 2021

23

28 INSIGHT

INSIGHT

34

36

24

“It is no exaggeration to say that the vast UK life sciences and healthcare industry has now entered a whole new era of regulatory oversight”

With a post-Brexit deal agreed, it’s time to dive into the detail

Claudia Rubin, page 24

IN CONVERSATION

A fresh perspective: How the pandemic changed one pharma company from the inside out

POLITICS

QUICK DOSES A S TR A Z E N E C A’s Forxiga granted US priority review for chronic kidney disease.

• V I I V H E A LTH C A R E granted Marketing Authorisation by the European Commission for Tivicay (dolutegravir) 5mg dispersible tablets, as treatment for paediatric patients.

• TH E N ATI O N A L I N S TIT U TE FO R H E A LTH A N D C A R E E XC E LLE N C E ( N I C E ) recommended GSK’s ZEJULA® (niraparib) on the NHS in England for women with advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer.

• Positive Phase II trial results of E LI LI LLY’s donanemab shows significant slowing of decline of cognition and daily function in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease.

• A S TR A Z E N E C A’s Imfinzi (durvalumab) has been approved in the European Union (EU) and the UK for an additional dosing option in locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

• C E LLTR I O N G R O U P announces positive top-line efficacy and safety data from global Phase II/III clinical trial of COVID-19 treatment candidate CT-P59 • Scientific study in Wuhan showed 80% fewer Covid-19 hospital deaths when patients given vitamin C • TH E U S FO O D A N D D R U G A D M I N I S TR ATI O N (FDA) approved P F I Z E R ’s Xalkori (crizotinib) for the treatment of paediatric patients and young adults with relapsed or refractory, systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).

4 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

MENTAL HEALTH

Collaborations

O

ne of the UK’s leading providers of digital health services, Doctor Care Anywhere (DCA), is collaborating with Koa Health, a digital mental health care provider and Kooth, a leading online mental health platform, to develop new, best-in-class mental health services and support.

Through these collaborations, in addition to DCA’s GPs being able to identify and advise on complex physical and mental health conditions for their patients, they will also be able to provide them with access to additional and specialist support as part of an integrated mental health solution.

Pf View: Mental health will be a big focus for 2021 and ensuring accessible treatment is essential. Are digital solutions the answer? Read our interview with Oliver Harrison, CEO at Koa Health on page 28

Pf IN NUMBERS

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

PLANS TO DELIVER OVER

2 BILLION

P f N E W S : B R I N G I N G YO U T H I S M O N T H ' S E S S EN T I A L H E A D L I N E S

T

COVID-19

Joining forces Bayer has signed a collaboration and services agreement with CureVac, in which they will support the further development, supply and key territory operations of CureVac’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV. To this end, Bayer will contribute its expertise and established infrastructure in areas such as clinical operations, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical information, supply chain performance as well as support in selected countries.

Based on the collaboration agreement, CureVac will be the Marketing Authorization Holder for the product, while Bayer will support CureVac with country operations within the European Union (EU) and selected additional markets.

Bayer holds further options to become Marketing Authorization Holder in other markets outside of Europe. The companies plan to combine their strengths for CureVac to be in a position to supply hundreds of millions of CVnCoV doses around the world, once approvals are granted.

DOSES OF THE COVID-19 VACCINE WORLDWIDE BY THE END OF 2021 Part of the package, page 32

COVID-19.

A MOMENT IN HISTORY

he first patient received the Oxford/ AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, as the NHS began to roll out its vaccination programme.

Dialysis patient Brian Pinker, describing himself as Oxford born and bred, became the very first person to be vaccinated by the hospital’s chief nurse in a major milestone in the phased vaccination programme.

The first vaccinations were delivered at a small number of hospitals for the first few days for surveillance purposes, before the bulk of supplies were sent to hundreds of GP-led services.

After a total of over 3.8 million received their first vaccine dose in the UK, the next stage of the vaccination programme was put in place, for those aged 70 and classed as clinically extremely vulnerable.

Whilst vaccinating the first two groups remained the priority, vaccination sites which had enough supply and capacity for vaccinating further people were allowed to offer vaccinations to the next two cohorts.

This will allow areas that have already vaccinated the majority of care home residents, frontline health and care staff and people aged 80 and over to keep up the momentum and start vaccinating further at-risk people, helping the NHS to reach the Prime Minister’s commitment of offering vaccinations to the first four priority groups by the middle of February.

DERMATOLOGY

Skin health Miiskin, a skin tracking digital health platform and app, and the British Skin Foundation, have announced a continuation of their three-year partnership in the fight against skin cancer. The Miiskin app helps to track skin and moles for changes by using photos to create snapshots of the skin’s appearance. With the support of the British Skin Foundation, Miiskin has now been recommended to patients by over 100 hospitals in the UK.

CANCER

NEW DRUG A new study funded by Cancer Research UK and Wellcome shows that scientists have finally found a way to target the KRAS mutation – a common mutation found in several hard-to-treat cancers.

By targeting two components of the KRAS signalling pathway, a new drug was much better at stopping the growth of pancreatic tumours with a KRAS mutation in mice compared to standard KRAS inhibitors, which only block one component of the pathway.

The drug, which has already shown promise in one sarcoma patient whose tumour had a KRAS mutation, will next be tested in patients with a variety of cancers in a larger Phase II clinical trial. The results have been published in Annals of Oncology.

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 5

PHARMACY

Sharp statistics As the first community pharmacies across the country begin to administer the Covid-19 vaccination, the necessity of community pharmacies and dispensaries has been thrown into question once again. Online pharmacy, Medicine Direct, has conducted a study using data published by NHS digital, addressing the potential decline of pharmacies and what the government has referred to as ‘clustering’, where multiple pharmacies exist within a 10-minute walk of one another.

Key statistics include: • Salisbury residents have the worst access to a pharmacy with an average of 5,956 people being served by each pharmacy.

• Those residing in parts of Central London have the best access to a pharmacy, with those in the EC postcode area having access to sites responsible for 1,132 people each.

• 16,794 physical pharmacies remain in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• The total number of high street pharmacies in England has decreased by 26 each month over the last two years.

• The final high street pharmacy will close within many of our lifetimes (January 2069) if the current rate of closures continue; with half of existing pharmacies closing by 2045.

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CELL AND GENE THERAPY.

FUNDING BOOST

I

xaka Ltd, an integrated cell and gene therapy company focused on the natural power of the body to cure disease, has launched.

Previously Rexgenero Ltd, a UK-based company pioneering the development of cell therapies to treat serious diseases such as cancer and chronic limbthreatening ischaemia (CLTI), the launch of Ixaka follows integration of its nanoparticle gene therapy business in France and a shareholder restructuring.

The new business will continue to develop Ixaka’s proprietary technologies – concentrated multi-cell therapies (MCTs) and targeted nanoparticle (TNP) therapeutics. Ixaka’s technologies enhance the naturally therapeutic power of cells by targeting curative cells at the site of disease, or by directly modifying cells within the body to improve disease targeting and boost their restorative function.

ACQUISITIONS

Angelini Pharma acquires CNS specialist Arvelle Therapeutics Angelini Pharma will now have the exclusive license to commercialise cenobamate in the EU and other countries in the European Economic Area. Angelini plans to launch cenobamate after receiving approval from the EMA, expected in 2021.

P f N E W S : B R I N G I N G YO U T H I S M O N T H ' S E S S EN T I A L H E A D L I N E S

B

NHS

Supporting staff The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) has launched a report identifying the most important factors for successfully supporting staff in the wake of safety incidents.

The report reiterates that the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how important effective staff support is for those suffering high levels of psychological harm, because it has a direct impact on patient care. Whilst the report was developed to focus on patient safety incidents overall, it provides insight that could help organisations develop their own programmes of support for any situation.

Evidence that informed the key findings came from reviewing current or relevant research, as well as capturing the insights of interviewed NHS staff.

The report also details three different examples of staff support approaches – two in Trusts in England and a medical centre in the US. The findings were then grouped into four key themes which identified the most important areas for successfully developing programmes.

• Context – for example, the culture and leadership of the organisation and normalisation of the need for support.

• Individualisation – for example, identification of staff members or groups at particular risk, offering different routes for support.

• Delivery – for example, accessibility out of hours, proactive delivery and resourcing of peer supporters.

• Investigations – for example, a clear focus on learning, clear timelines and communication and participation of individuals in resulting service improvements.

The report features a first-hand account from a junior doctor, charting the impact that a patient safety incident had on his life and his experiences of support; emphasising the importance of creating a ‘normalised’ culture around accessing support.

TECH.

QUANTUM COMPUTING

oehringer Ingelheim has become the first pharmaceutical company worldwide to join forces with Google in quantum computing.

The partnership will focus on researching and implementing cutting-edge use cases for quantum computing in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D), specifically including molecular dynamics simulations.

The new partnership combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s expertise in the field of computer-aided drug design and in silico modeling with Google’s resources as one of the leading developers of quantum computers and algorithms. The partnership is designed for three years and is co-led by the newly established Quantum Lab of Boehringer Ingelheim.

PF IN NUMBERS

Average cost to develop a new drug

$1.3 BILLION Streamlining the system, page 30

The number of people using

digital therapeutics & wellness apps will grow from

627 million IN 2020 TO MORE THAN

1.4 billion in 2025 Addressing the mental health crisis, page 28

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 7

G

HEALTHCARE

Joint Working Agreement

8 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

COVID-19.

GLOBAL

PF IN NUMBERS

80%

OVER

ViiV Healthcare and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are continuing their innovative partnership to transform HIV patient care with the launch of a new service. Klick leverages digital technology to provide patients with improved access to the most appropriate care. Created under a Joint Working Agreement, Klick uses digital clinic tools to triage patients according to clinical need and is supported by a mobile app allowing patients to manage appointments, complete health assessments, review results and communicate with their healthcare team.

The new service is being gradually launched to patients at the Kobler Outpatient Clinic, one of the largest centres of HIV care in Europe and is then planned to expand to larger patient populations across multiple sites at the Trust in the coming months. The launch follows impressive results generated through a pilot, also in the form of a Joint Working Agreement, which were presented at last year’s British HIV Association (BHIVA) Annual Congress and demonstrated exceptionally high levels of patient satisfaction and quality of care.

uardtime has announced that Estonia, Hungary, and Iceland are the first countries to sign-up to pilot VaccineGuard – its newly developed platform to support the global Covid-19 vaccination programme, ensuring reliable vaccines, vaccination certificate interoperability and pharmacovigilance.

AstraZeneca Estonia will participate in VaccineGuard product testing, enabling an end-to-end solution with a feedback loop between manufacturer, care provider, patient and public-health authorities.

The product is based on a six-month collaboration with the Estonian Government and World Health Organization (WHO), with additional governments expected to join the pilot network in the near future.

VaccineGuard will be the first solution adopted by national health authorities that links decisioncritical data like vaccinations and authentic vaccines across multiple systems integral to the successful delivery of the Covid-19 vaccination programme and enabling global travel.

OF PEOPLE REPORTED THAT THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED THEIR DAILY WORK LIVES Employee engagement, page 14

COVID-19

Approval Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for supply by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

This is the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for use by the MHRA and is the second mRNA vaccine following approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Seven million doses have already been ordered by the UK government, however, it is unlikely they will be available before March.

ACQUISITIONS

SANOFI ACQUIRES IMMUNE & INFLAMMATORY DISEASE SPECIALIST KYMAB

The transaction will result in Sanofi having full global rights to KY1005, a fully human monoclonal antibody that has a novel mechanism of action. KY1005 binds to OX40-Ligand and has the potential to treat a wide variety of immunemediated diseases and inflammatory disorders.

P f N E W S : B R I N G I N G YO U T H I S M O N T H ' S E S S EN T I A L H E A D L I N E S

PHARMACY

CODE WORD SCHEME

V

Pf IN NUMBERS

11,400 PHARMACIES IN THE UK HAVE THE CAPABILITY

TO VACCINATE

1.3m

PEOPLE AGAINST CORONAVIRUS

EACH WEEK Increased footfall in pharmacies, page 20

ICYMI

ictims of domestic abuse will be able to access much needed support from thousands of pharmacies across the UK, in a new scheme backed by government.

Initially available through 2,300 Boots stores across the UK, as well as 255 independent pharmacies, the Ask for ANI scheme allows those at risk or suffering from abuse to discreetly signal that they need help and access support.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

HOW PHARMA CAN ENHANCE ITS DIGITAL PRESENCE

Traditionally reliant on face-to-face communication and selling, pharma has had to adopt a digital presence in order to maintain awareness of its products and services, as well as clear communication with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and customers. Rachel Murray shares which platforms can help enhance a digital presence.

MORE THAN JUST PRINT. We publish daily news and exclusive articles on www.pharmafield.co.uk.

Here’s a look at some of the exclusive content you may have missed.

REFLECTIONS ON REGULATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN 2020

David Gwyn explains what Covid-19 revealed in the way of regulatory information management (RIM) related shortcomings and why pharmaceutical companies need to step up their digital transformation plans for 2021.

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 9

TALKING HEADS After a year unlike any other, Pf Magazine brought a group of senior industry leaders together to hear their take on 2020.

WORDS BY

Emma Cooper

WHO DID WE TALK TO?

KARL HAMER

DR ANNE CONNOLLY

STEPHEN HEPWORTH

JILL CLOWES

Managing Director, E4H

GP and Chair of the Primary Care Women’s Health Forum

British and Irish Isles Operations Lead, Bone Unit, UCB

Cluster Commercial Operations Manager, Kyowa Kirin

RYAN WOOLLER

CHRISTINA MCCOURT

ANDY CAMPBELL

Business Unit Director, Product Fostering, Star OUTiCO

Global Player Capability Director, AstraZeneca

Head of Sales, Dermatology, Leo Pharma

A

s we enter a new year and a next normal, taking time to reflect on the challenges and opportunities that 2020 presented to pharma and the NHS feels important. In less than 12 months, three Covid-19 vaccines were developed and approved for use by the UK

10 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

government and considering that the fastest vaccine to date – the mumps vaccine – took four years to develop, it is an incredible accomplishment. Digital transformation swept through the NHS with the roll out of virtual consultations, the scaling up of existing electronic patient record systems, and the deployment of Attend Anywhere and Microsoft Teams at scale across the service1.

Attitudes and digital habits of the general public also changed during 2020, with an Accenture report 2 stating that 71% spent more time online during the pandemic, 45% completed online education and 1 in 5 people who ordered their last grocery shop online did so for the first time. Tellingly, 77% expect this behaviour to continue post-crisis. How do these shifts shape the landscape of 2021?

C OV ER S TO RY

MEETING IN THE MIDDLE

NOT WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR

As patient needs changed and demand began to rise when the pandemic hit, Primary and Secondary Care were affected in different ways. 2020 saw a huge move in primary care to some form of online patient consultation.

At the peak of the pandemic last year, around 71% of GP consultations were conducted remotely by telephone or video and 25% were conducted face-to-face. This is compared to the same period in 2019, which showed the opposite: around 70% were conducted face-to-face and 25% remotely 3 .The concept of using triage to access Health Care Professionals (HCPs) increased and it quickly became routine that consultation calls began with a triage call to a professional who was not a GP. With Secondary Care, there is little doubt that the pandemic hit access to services the hardest. Day services, dermatology services, fracture liaison clinics; just a few examples of services which almost completely disappeared during the first lockdown, due to re-allocation of staff and the closing down of units. Although some of these services resumed towards the end of the year, access to customers in secondary care continues to be a concern for pharma entering 2021.

Turning to digital trends and embracing technology proved invaluable when it came to sourcing solutions. As companies began downloading Teams and making video connections with customers, it completely transformed the way they worked. So much so, that for some, the connection with Primary Care customers was able to return almost to normal.

As well as improving outcomes and continuing connections, the pharma industry’s quick reaction and thoughtful response has undoubtedly improved its standing with customers.

From both a pharma and healthcare point of view, there is no doubt that supporting people through a pandemic has been incredibly tough. GPs who thrive on human interaction and community spirit began to feel like call centre operators. Practices in the higher tiers have had to be vigilant about seeing people if not deemed absolutely necessary and close their doors to any non-urgent need patients and pharmaceutical sales representatives.

The latter is a challenge that will prevail.

Following initial shock at the start of the pandemic, there came a realisation for everyone, both personally and professionally, that things may never go back to how they were before. Some companies saw individuals and teams push back and almost go through a process of grief, as they realised that their role would change, and their skills must be adapted.

MENTAL HEALTH

As an industry, pharma leapt forward with such force in 2020 that, with the best will in the world, it is ok that some felt left behind.

It is ok that some people have taken longer than others to adapt. The industry needs to be mindful of looking in, as well as out as it moves into 2021. 2020 shined a spotlight on the talent in the pharma industry and it is essential to support, protect and develop that talent internally so that it can continue to thrive.

There is no doubt that adapting, and evolving is both beneficial and essential, especially when a crisis hits. But, on a day-to-day level this is easier said than done and living in fight or flight mode can be draining. NHS staff and those on the pharma frontline are working tirelessly, with little respite.

When focusing on the mental health of people out in the community, it would be remiss to ignore the needs of those in the industry who have the talent to transform lives. How that is shaped and by managers and leaders in the industry will be important in 2021.

SPECIALIST SERVICES – BEYOND THE PILL

For many pharma companies, the operational strategy put in place at the start of 2020 would prove unrecognisable by the end of the year. Whether big or small pharma, what organisations have achieved so far internally is astonishing. Keeping the patient at the forefront of everything, the industry has supported very vulnerable people in a way that suited the individual.

Although the pandemic is far from over, pharma and the NHS already have a better understanding of how to work together to meet patient needs. There is agreement on both sides that moving away from transactional to true partnership is the way forward. 2020 forced industry to take the time to put aside commercial targets and understand patient care and how people were getting through the crisis. Pharma respected frontline HCPs as the pandemic took hold and asked itself how it could offer solutions beyond the pill. This sudden shift and internal reflection has shaped services that are fit for purpose moving forward.

Keeping the patient at the forefront of everything, the industry has supported very vulnerable people in a way that suited the individual

The pharma industry’s quick reaction and thoughtful response has undoubtedly improved its standing with customers

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 11

C OV ER S TO RY

SALES AND MARKETING

The ability to access customers remotely has increased significantly during the pandemic. For sales representatives there have been no geographical constraints and no travel time. It no longer matters where a rep lives and how this might fit into territory designs.

This will have a big impact on recruitment practices in the future and, as organisations look to future-proof, managers will be considering how candidates come across virtually and how their skills and capabilities hold up in the digital world.

Multi-channel selling has been a higher priority in sales teams, as well as multi-channel content management, and Veeva approved email has allowed personalised, compelling dialogue with customers. Understanding that customers need key information during the pandemic has also stimulated pharma marketers to be better, to do better, and improve the quality of their output.

However, for all the work that the pharma sales force is doing remotely, how can they ensure they get the same response that traditionally came from face-to-face interaction? How can the industry track that and measure it through a robust marketing programme?

Despite an incredibly difficult year, there has been a reversal of fortune for the pharma industry and the size of the prize is enormous

TRUST

When we talk about trust and pharma, conversation often comes back to the COVID-19 vaccine. But what effect did 2020 have on the industry’s reputation? At the start of the pandemic, most GPs had never seen a panic like it. Pharma, and indeed patients, responded in a similar way; quietly and respectfully, which gave the NHS room to breathe.

Many patients felt they did not want to bother GPs with concerns which would not be deemed urgent. In some cases, this proved detrimental, with doctors encouraging patients to come forward with their health concerns, despite Covid-19 concerns.

As pharma stepped away to re-assess how it could add value beyond the pill, it returned to engage with customers in a collaborative and consultative way. It gave them time and space when they needed it and re-engaged in a way that suited them, rather than itself.

Thanks to its flexibility and transparency, the reputation of the industry has been transformed in a short space of time.

CONSIDER THE CHALLENGES

As impressive as it has been to see pharma’s response to the pandemic, there is no doubt that there have been, and will continue to be, challenges heading into 2021. In terms of digital transformation, the general consensus seems to be that it has proved relatively straightforward to transition an already established relationship, whether internally or externally, to a virtual platform.

Where you have people trying to forge new relationships, break into a new territory, introduce themselves to new customers or are new to the industry themselves, there are obstacles to overcome.

Part of adding value is proving to customers that an organization is more than a commercial commodity and this may take longer to establish remotely than if there was a face-to-face relationship.

When throwing people into digital world, is enough being done to ensure that they have the skills to stay afloat?

1 2 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

MOVING FORWARD

It is clear there are threads to weave together here and a complex mix of things to consider as the industry navigates a new year and more challenges. With new ways of remote working, needs to come clear guidance from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (APBI).

Crucially, how can pharma’s response to Covid-19 be replicated in other areas of healthcare? One might argue that only a crisis can produce such transformation under pressure. However, if you move the microscope away from coronavirus for just a second, there are other areas on the cusp of a crisis. At the end of 2020, Cancer Research UK announced cuts of £45 million from its research budget. This was on top of the £44 million cuts made to current grants at the start of the pandemic, meaning the charity was unable to fund any new clinical trials in 2020. These cuts led to 24 fewer research programmes, 68 fewer projects and 12 fewer fellowships, and a projection from Cancer Research UK that there would be around 328 fewer researchers working on their research 4 .

How can pharma foster the opportunity that 2020 presented it with? Despite an incredibly difficult year, there has been a reversal of fortune for the pharma industry and the size of the prize is enormous. What might pharma achieve by the end of 2021?

As Clap for Carers returns under the new name Clap for Heroes, Boris Johnson has reportedly told colleagues5 in a meeting that there should be a ‘clap for big pharma’. How times have changed.

References 1 https://tinyurl.com/y3w3l5lf | 2 https://tinyurl.com/yxmbyp9k | 3 https://tinyurl.com/y3ecq5sc | 4 https://tinyurl.com/y77m4e5t | 5 https://tinyurl.com/y3xe4bhj

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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Why taking time out to nurture your team during the pandemic is important.

I

t seems that unprecedented times can last for much longer than expected. As the Covid-19 pandemic continued, the impact on our team was on my mind. As with many companies, we organised events to ensure we came together, including all-company Zoom meetings and virtual social events.

In the first phase, these digital get-togethers were a cornerstone of our culture. A way of protecting everyone’s basic right to feel part of a safe, stable, and vibrant working environment. Now, our needs are evolving.

As time moves on, our employees deserve a more sophisticated approach from pharma as we begin to learn and adapt to living under this crisis.

14 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

ADDING VALUE

A great tranche of our work has transformed. Roles look unrecognisable.

Take, for example, representatives – the principal point of contact between our business and customers. The role has always relied on faceto-face meetings to maintain relationships. At first, the crisis demanded that our field teams alter their approach as these avenues were no longer available. They used different channels to find a place where they could still add value to the healthcare environment. And perhaps as a result, almost a year in, we find ourselves reimagining the meaning of the role.

Reviewing our success in 2020, we have seen that field teams provide more value than just face-to-face interaction with their customers.

They have become trusted advocates and experts for the appropriate use of our medicines. Despite the change in methods to engage with customers and the rise of digital, our expert field teams are still the central thread through our business. They understand deeply our customers’ needs and how we can add ultimate value to patients.

INSIGHT

WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Our work life has also transformed in the last few months. A survey by McKinsey from July this year 1, found that remote-working had untold benefits for the employee experience.

Teams that regularly worked from home felt more engaged and had a stronger sense of well-being than those in jobs with little flexibility. At the same time though, these statistics say something about our working experiences. Over 80% of respondents reported that the crisis was materially affecting their daily work lives – people have widely varied experiences, perspectives, and outcomes. I have personally found that feelings of isolation, managing care commitments, and health concerns can become even more of a challenge when you try to work alongside them from home.

As this crisis continues, it is more vital for us to understand these changing experiences than ever before. As Managing Director (MD), it has been my responsibility to create an open, available, and visible setting to address my employees’ most pressing needs. To maintain a healthy, happy, and productive team, we have established a culture where people can draw their own boundaries between work and home life. A trusting work environment, where people feel their concerns are heard and understood.

TRUST AND COMMUNICATION

To maintain a healthy, happy, and productive team, we have established a culture where people can draw their own boundaries between work and home life

WORDS BY

Mike Crosher

When we initially went into lockdown, the first thing I did was to remind our team that we believe that they are doing a fantastic job. I told them I did not need to receive reports on how many people they had spoken to, how many materials they had developed, or what hours they had worked. I had faith that they would perform despite the challenges of lockdown and wanted to give them the space and freedom to do so.

I personally believe that working effectively and efficiently from home comes from having open conversations like this. This is easier for us than for most, because of our size. Even as MD, I can be close to every member of our team, know the names of their family members, their housemates, their pets. And not just because of interruptions to their video calls.

So, throughout the crisis, I have maintained an open line of communication with my team.

I want people to feel that they can be fully transparent with me, and not just tell me what they think I want to hear. One of the things that we have lost in this crisis, is the ‘grabbing coffee’ conversation – those random chats where you really see the people you’re working with, and somehow get a truer sense of who they are and how they are feeling. We have tried to protect this as part of our culture, and I often spontaneously pick the phone up just to ask my team how they are.

Not to be confused with a stand-up routine, we launched ‘Open Mic with Mike’ earlier in the year.

This was an idea suggested by my team – where people can dial in and get an informal business update, ask me anything they want, or just see some familiar faces that they may not have worked with recently. We have also appointed four mental health first aiders and have scheduled meetings for people within the organisation to openly speak about how they feel, and to find out more information about external organisations they can reach out to if they need to do so.

REIMAGINING ROLES

Covid-19 has been trying for us all. But these difficult times bring about opportunities for unthinkable change. Covid-19 is an opportunity for pharma to rethink the employee experience in ways that respect individual differences. An opportunity to re-imagine our roles, forge relationships based on trust rather than key performance indicators (KPIs) and create new opportunities for social interaction. This year, our efforts to protect our culture have been recognised in our independent accreditation as a ‘Great Place to Work’ by Great Places to Work® UK. And, now that we have a better understanding of how to manage Covid-19 and vaccines are being rolled out, we should not forget the lessons we have learned from this experience as we move forward. Mike Crosher is Managing Director at Chugai Pharma UK. Go to www.chugai.eu Reference 1 McKinsey & Company. COVID-19 and the employee experience: How leaders can seize the moment.

Available at https://tinyurl.com/y455k5ds

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 15

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THE FUTURE OF CLINICAL RESEARCH What lessons can be learnt from the prioritisation, set-up and delivery of Covid-19 research?

Clinical research is advancing, and, in fact, the pandemic has meant that many advancements have been accelerated

WORDS BY

Dr Peter Sargent

18 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

C

linical research is the most expensive and often most timeconsuming phase of drug development.

This fact puts huge commercial pressures on businesses and, in turn, can be a barrier to promising new drugs reaching patients.

These increasing costs and ever narrowing commercialisation windows can quite easily ground new drugs early on in development.

The current pandemic has added an additional layer of pressure on businesses developing new drugs. Large numbers of trials around the world have been placed on hold, with clinicians focusing their time on front-line care and urgent Covid-19 research. Access to nonCovid-19 patients for research has also been affected, with national lockdowns and near-capacity hospitals resulting in patients staying at home.

REFLECTION

On the face of it, the picture looks bleak.

However, clinical research is advancing and, in fact, the pandemic has meant that many advancements have been accelerated. Over the last 10 months the United Kingdom’s (UK) research system has shown what is possible; a single, collective system-wide approach was set up, bringing together the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Public Health England, UK Research & Innovation, Health Research Authority, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and others, to facilitate the rapid prioritisation, set-up and delivery of Covid-19 research.

This has enabled some studies to progress from prioritisation, regulatory and ethical approval, to first patient recruited within days, rather than the many months it took before. The use of platform trials, adaptive trial design and virtual trials have also been essential during this period, enabling the system to evaluate innovations rapidly.

NHS

UK LANDSCAPE

The UK is recognised worldwide as a leading destination for clinical research. However, the country knows it must continue to evolve to keep up with the competitive market and changing research needs of new medicines.

Through the UK’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, Sector Deals and R&D Roadmap, the UK Government has committed to enhancing its clinical research system, addressing many of the challenges industry faces.

One such mechanism of achieving this change is through the NIHR. The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) invests over £1.2 billion annually through the NIHR to fund translational, clinical and applied health research spanning the whole innovation pathway.

This investment funds the people, research programmes, centres of excellence and systems, across the UK’s health and care system and leading universities, making it one of the most integrated health research systems in the world.

The system has already been focused on tackling many of the challenges around clinical research, accelerating its set-up and delivery. The NIHR Clinical Research Network, which has been a core part of the NIHR since its establishment in 2006, links sites across the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) into a network that allows set-up and delivery of research across the country’s entire health and care system.

Working closely with industry, the NIHR has continued to embed improvements in research delivery year on year. Some of these include the national costing template, multisite contracting templates, and pre-formed national collaborations allowing rapid access to the country’s leading expertise.

More recent advancements include the establishment of five NIHR National Patient Recruitment Centres, allowing for streamlined set-up and delivery of late phase commercial research.

As well as continuing to commit more funding to research infrastructure, the UK Government has also increased the amount of funding available to researchers through the various funding programmes it deploys. The NIHR, for example, now has eight different funding programmes that can support innovators to translate and evaluate their therapeutics within the NHS and social care.

ADVANCEMENTS AT A GLANCE

The Combined Ways of Working pilot: Bringing together a single Clinical Trials or Medicinal Products application for Clinical Trials Authorisation and Research Ethics Committee opinion.

MHRA Scientific Advice service: Allowing companies to gain early advice from the regulator.

National Institute For Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Office for Market Access: Providing advice to innovators around evidence requirements.

The Accelerated Access Collaborative: Hosted by NHS England, this will bring together industry, government, regulators, patients and the NHS to remove barriers and accelerate the introduction of groundbreaking new treatments into the system.

MHRA Licensing and Access Pathway: Accessed via an ‘Innovation Passport’, development of new therapeutics will be sped up by assigning a unique roadmap towards market access for that therapeutic, along with allowing the company access to support tools.

THE FUTURE

The UK research system knows it cannot stop there and is continually advancing the way research is conducted. Technologies such as wearables, remote monitoring, decentralised data repositories and digital diary cards enable some trials to move virtually, allowing patients to get involved in research without travelling to a clinical site.

Embedding innovative trial designs more broadly across research allows trials to flex in real-time so endpoints can be achieved in the shortest length of time. Centres and systems are being put in place to enable rapid access to health and research data, access to large, highly-characterised and pre-consented patient cohorts, as well access to leading expertise from across the country to support and collaborate with businesses. Finally, funding programmes are adapting to become more attractive to businesses, including the use of rolling calls and speeding up the application process, busting bureaucracy.

This pandemic has shown what is possible, with lifesaving vaccines and therapeutics being accelerated through the clinical phases and approved by regulators within months, not years. We should be proud of what has been achieved within this time, but it is more important to ensure we take what we’ve learnt and developed from the pandemic and embed it into our future clinical research system for the benefit of patients. Dr Peter Sargent is Head of Business Development at the NIHR. Go to www.nihr.ac.uk M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 19

Increased footfall in pharmacies:

MAKING THE MOST OF IT

Involving pharmacists in the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine roll out programme not only recognises their importance, but also presents an opportunity to reignite conversations around self-care. WORDS BY Farah Ali

W

hilst beginning 2021 with a Covid-19 lockdown was not how anyone wanted the year to begin, there is at least an expectation that this time will be different. With great momentum behind the nation’s vaccine rollout, there is renewed hope that better times are just around the corner. In the immediate term however, the pharmacy and wider healthcare sector knows that the coming months will be vital to beating this pandemic. The Government has set a target to vaccinate over 13 million people in the top four priority groups, a task that will take what vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi MP, has accurately described as a “Herculean effort”.

The first hurdles – developing, approving and procuring a vaccine – have already been cleared. So now, we face arguably the hardest task – physically administering the vaccine to those 13 million people most at risk from the virus. The scope of this inoculation effort is huge and the Government and health service will need all the help it can get.

After some concern and initial confusion around whether or not pharmacies would form part of the roll-out, it was encouraging to hear clarification from Government that they will, indeed, play a vital role in the process. The importance of community pharmacists is finally being recognised. According to the Pharmaceutical Negotiating Service Committee (PNSC) there are around 11,400 pharmacies across the country with the capability to vaccinate around 1.3m people against coronavirus each week.

2 0 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

PHARMACY

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

THE IMPORTANCE OF PHARMACY

ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING

News of pharmacy’s role in the vaccine programme coincided with a study launched

by Public Health England, which found that 8 in 10 adults aged over 18 have decided to modify their lifestyle in 2021, with 7 in 10 adults saying that they are motivated to make healthier lifestyle changes due to coronavirus1. Indeed, recent research from Perrigo suggested that some had already begun to make these changes, with one third of UK adults having developed new self-care habits during lockdown, including exercising more, eating healthier and taking better care of their skin.

The importance of self-care in 2021 cannot be understated, and the public are clearly starting to understand this. The Covid-19 pandemic reiterated an essential need to empower patients to control and have responsibility for their own health, including addressing their own minor ailments without burdening a stretched healthcare system. Indeed, throughout this pandemic we’ve heard the mantra ‘Protect the NHS’ near-constantly. In 2021, resetting the conversation around self-care and capitalising on a sea-change in public attitude will be vital to living up to this mantra.

So, with a clear appetite for a healthier 2021, and the potential for increased footfall in community pharmacies, let’s seize the opportunity to educate more people on self-care.

The process of getting a jab – physically sitting down with your pharmacist, rolling up your sleeve and taking the needle – takes a mere matter of minutes. However, a few minutes might be all it takes to ask a patient if there was anything else they came into pharmacy for, or if there were any ailments or issues playing on their mind. When we consider how many people don’t enjoy, or are indeed very worried about, injections it makes even more sense to ensure that we’re engaging patients with friendly conversation throughout what can be a tense few moments.

As we head into spring, it might be appropriate to ask a patient whether they suffer from hay fever symptoms and suggest appropriate treatment; or considering that the summer months may bring a return of tourism, asking them if they are stocked up on appropriate insect repellents or travel sickness remedies. Recommendations don’t need to be incongruous, and can come naturally in conversation.

We mustn’t forget that, during the pandemic, pharmacies have increasingly become the first primary care point of contact for patients. With access to GPs currently limited, patients may have delayed reporting ailments and symptoms to a GP during the pandemic. As pharmacists, we can help relieve this burden on NHS by addressing patient concerns with robust self-care advice, wherever appropriate.

Though these small interactions might not seem to have much impact initially, they do add up and can empower patients to think more widely about how they can take better care of themselves. On a very basic level, the vaccine roll-out programme and the footfall it may bring can also give pharmacy an opportunity to reiterate the role we play and discuss whether patients understand support available for self-care. As the programme continues throughout the year, opportunities for pharmacists to have these conversations with patients will remain for a long time to come.

Beyond the impact of the individual pharmacist, what will remain important over the coming months is close collaboration between all stakeholders; the NHS, Government and suppliers and partners. In addition, now, more than ever, pharmacists need insight and support to help them navigate the biggest step-change their profession has ever faced. Working together will be essential to achieving this, and at Perrigo’s Warman-Freed Learning Pharmacy, prioritisation is placed on equipping pharmacists with the right tools, training and materials to fit our changing environment, and share real-world learnings and evidence to inform our day-to-day conversations with patients.

As well as being more readily available than a doctor, for many, pharmacists are the authentic face of the healthcare industry. In a 2015 General Pharmaceutical Council study, it was revealed that the ‘vast majority’ of people trust health advice from a pharmacist 2 . Let’s finally capitalise on this trust and not waste the opportunity to ignite a new national conversation on the importance of self-care.

Farah Ali is General Manager at Warman-Freed, the Perrigo Learning Pharmacy.

The importance of self-care in 2021 cannot be understated, and the public are clearly starting to understand this

References 1 https://tinyurl.com/y4qnpls5 | 2 https://tinyurl.com/y5e6ch77

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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N

A fresh perspective Lee Gittings, Psoriasis Business Unit Director, LEO Pharma, shares how the pandemic has changed one pharma company from the inside out.

H

ow has the pandemic affected your organisation? On 16 March 2020, in response to Covid-19, we instructed all our UK field teams to cease traditional face-to-face activity with our HCP customers.

Life has never been the same since.

After an intense period of training, coaching and practice, we were ready to go live with virtual customer engagement on 1 May. Naturally, the teams were nervous about the new and challenging environment but as feedback from the early calls started to come in, the momentum and excitement grew. Since then, we have exited 2020 delivering an overall increase on our total calls in 2019 by 2%. This has been through a mixture of telephone, remote and face-toface activity, as we have adapted to our ever-changing environment.

Covid has challenged many organisations worldwide and, whilst on this front we are not any different, I believe that the way in which we have come together and flown in the face of the everyday challenges, big and small, is really something to be proud of. The pandemic has accelerated an evolution of digital and multichannel activities at a rate that we had not anticipated. The whole organisation came together to rise to the challenge and we have become a more effective and efficient business as a result.

What were the greatest challenges you faced initially? Our biggest challenge was that we did not have remote calling capabilities in our field force. The NHS had to transform overnight to deal with the pandemic and the best thing we could do was stay away from our customers for the short term. This was at odds with our whole ethos and raised many questions, including ‘What does our field force do if it is not seeing customers?’ As with many industries, there was uncertainty around how long this pandemic would last and what the impact would be on our business and, most importantly, our patients. Initially, our internal digital infrastructure was not ready to deal with the level of remote activity we needed to sustain our customer engagement.

What steps did you take to overcome these challenges? A Covid task force was assembled overnight with one key objective – to adapt at pace to our new external environment. As a result of our fast action, our IT system was upgraded to a more sophisticated package, with the tools to propel our remote calling capabilities. We shared our knowledge and best practice across the organisation to ensure we supported our teams, customers and patients. We upskilled our teams on NHS knowledge, account planning and remote calling capability. We dramatically accelerated the development of our digital campaigns to make them relevant to the current climate and to support the NHS.

What feedback have you received from HCPs and patients on the changes you made? The feedback once we were able to interact with our HCPs again was overwhelming. They appreciated that we had stepped back when required and engaged reactively to support them.

Our enhanced digital materials and assets were very well received.

Primary Care HCPs could not thank us enough for our online education and the feedback was very positive. Secondary Care HCPs congratulated us on what we had achieved and told us they had got a lot out of the meetings and conferences we organised. We had delivered on our commitment to be partners to the NHS in dermatology and ensure an undisturbed supply of treatments to our patients.

How did 2020 shape your plans for 2021? 2020 was a challenging but rewarding year. We have adapted, innovated and grown in terms of our collaborations and cross-functional working. Covid has shown us what this industry is truly capable of when it works in alignment and in collaboration with the NHS. In 2021, we hope to continue to utilise various methods of HCP interaction, as our field force has now evolved to a hybrid structure. We have also launched our sustainability strategy, where LEO Pharma teams across the global organisation are committed to sustainability pledges, from reducing plastics to driving fully electric cars. Our Covid learnings have provided us with an array of channels to empower our interactions, both internally and externally, to ensure we accelerate our growth as a leader in medical dermatology towards our 2030 strategy. Go to www.leo-pharma.co.uk

Covid has shown us what this industry is truly capable of when it works in alignment and in collaboration with the NHS

INTERVIEW BY Emma Cooper

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 2 3

There is no doubting the importance of this trade deal, given how closely linked the EU and UK markets are

With a post-Brexit deal agreed, it is time to weigh up the opportunities and the risks for industry. From clinical trials to marketing authorisation, there is much to consider, especially the role the regulator will play.

WORDS BY

Claudia Rubin

2 4 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

T

he Brexit trade deal, welcomed by pharma across the continent, offers plenty of food for thought regarding regulation and trade in our sector, with some as yet unresolved conundrums. Stories emerged early of unintended consequences that, while comparatively small scale, are highly impactful on a personal level. Since the start of the year, British prescriptions are no longer recognised in the EU, so for the handful of epileptic children whose British prescription had entitled them to receive medical cannabis oil from the Netherlands, and doubtless others like them facing similar interrupted supply, the trade deal falls somewhat short.

However, there is no doubting the importance of this trade deal, given how closely linked the EU and UK markets are. There are enormous numbers involved; according to the ABPI, every month at least 45 million packs of medicines are exported from the UK to the EU, and 37 million packs are supplied from the EU to the UK. The UK relies heavily on the EU for its supply of medical devices too, with more than half its £5 billion budget for imported medical technology being spent on devices originating from the EU1.

Meanwhile, it is no exaggeration to say that the vast UK life sciences and healthcare industry has now entered a whole new era of regulatory oversight.

POLITICS

DIVING INTO THE DETAIL

During the first week of 2021, the government published extensive guidance on how things will change now that we are officially outside the EU. Covering everything from clinical trials to applying for marketing authorisation, simply digesting the vast quantities of new information is onerous; but what can we make of the relative benefits, opportunities or risks for industry ahead?

REMODELLING THE MHRA

THE MEDICINES & MEDICAL DEVICES BILL

Nearing its final stages in parliament, the Bill provides the powers needed to be able to update the current regulatory regime for medicines, devices and clinical trials, in response to the end of the transition period.

The three criteria central to this bill stipulate that regulations must have regard to: SAFETY OF MEDICINES AND DEVICES

The government’s stated approach to the future regulation of medicines and medical devices is largely shaped by patient safety, putting this at the very heart of its considerations. From last year’s report by Baroness Cumberlege2 , it is clear that much improvement in the regulation and oversight of medicines and medical devices is warranted. But in setting out our new regulatory regime, a careful balance is to be struck between safety and innovation.

The government must be mindful too of not diverging too far from EU requirements; poor alignment may see developers prioritising the EU over the UK market, leading to delays in access for UK patients.

The final major issue warranting extensive ethical and practical debate is around patient data; though out of scope for this article, the public needs assurance that their data will be protected and used appropriately.

AVAILABILITY OF MEDICINES AND DEVICES

On the second criteria, availability of medicines is clearly fundamental. As with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, all the infrastructure and funding at our disposal counts for little if the product is not available and in the right place for distribution.

ATTRACTIVENESS OF UK

The final piece speaks to the attractiveness of the UK as a major global centre for the life science industry and a favourable place in which to conduct clinical trials or supply medicines and medical devices. It is in this spirit that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has reset itself for this post-Brexit era.

The government has long insisted that outside the EU, the UK will have ‘the freedom to innovate and cut red tape to speed up the approval process for new treatments’, so transforming the MHRA, making the regulator an enabler of innovation, is a key part of this.

The MHRA has confirmed it will set a 150-day assessment timeline for all new high-quality marketing authorisation applications and has also provided updates on the processes needed to submit changes to marketing dossiers for medicines, as well as for amendments to clinical trials. The UK will have its own orphan status regime – expected to use the same threshold of less than 5 per 100,000; the MHRA will review applications for orphan designation at the time of a marketing authorisation application.

The guidance offers welcome clarity, too, that there are no plans for significant divergence from either the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the cohort of other regulators, on a large number of matters.

It also gives business good time to prepare for these changes, given that existing instruments will remain in place for some time yet. The UK will continue, for example, to recognise the CE marking on medical and in vitro diagnostic devices that have demonstrated their conformity with EU regulation, until July 2023. Meanwhile, since the end of the transition period, our replacement to the CE mark, the conformity assessment – or the UKCA mark, is now available for industry to use for medical devices placed on the market in Great Britain. Whether the UKCA mark will be recognised by the EU is, of course, crucial and, as yet, unclear.

Two very practical areas of deep concern are around the risks of regulatory divergence on medicines and medical devices between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where key issues remain unclear and unresolved, with much uncertainty around how the dual systems will work in the future.

The second real concern is how the MHRA is to be staffed and resourced to meet the huge challenges of its future role as the UK regulator of all medicines coming into the UK. It is a much-respected body, but its capacity and expertise will need to be hugely expanded to meet its new obligations and duties. A significant funding boost is surely in order.

More positively, the MHRA has provided details of its equivalent to the EMA’s ‘rolling review’ process, designed to speed up access to novel medicines. A new licensing and access pathway, which aims to reduce the time to market for innovative new medicines, has been launched, lending some welcome substance to previous verbal commitments to greater collaboration. The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) developed by the MHRA, should enable better coordination and monitoring of product development activities; harnessing expertise from the MHRA, Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC), The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) in close partnership with drug manufacturers and patients.

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 2 5

POLITICS

THE ROLE OF NICE

NICE and the SMC will work with the MHRA to consider if a product meets the criteria to be designated as an innovative medicine and be granted an ‘innovation passport’. The ‘passport’ acts as the gateway to the creation of a ‘Target Development Profile’ – a product-specific plan for market entry that should also provide opportunities for enhanced regulatory and other stakeholder input, consideration of impacts on health technology assessment, as well as early engagement with patients.

According to NICE, the ILAP ‘aims to smooth the journey from clinical trials through to NHS patients through closer collaboration and planning’ between the agencies involved in each step, so that NHS patients have access to innovative new medicines sooner. The government makes similar claims; that the new pathway represents a ‘totally new way of thinking’, leading some to question if they should be encouraged or dismayed that good partnership working between industry and the healthcare ecosystem should be considered new thinking.

PROJECT ORBIS

The MHRA is a muchrespected body, but its capacity and expertise will need to be hugely expanded to meet its new obligations and duties

Taken together with the previous announcement on the UK joining Project Orbis – an international framework for cancer medicines – we could see shorter regulatory timelines, allowing UK patients with cancer to receive earlier access to medicines in future. As the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) notes, Project Orbis includes the American, Canadian and Australian regulators, and since nearly all innovative oncology products are launched in the USA, this new regulatory path ‘may become a key route by which the UK remains an early and priority market for global launches’, post-Brexit.

Without faulting the approach and optimism, it remains uncertain how this will actually translate to faster and more positive approvals by NICE and the SMC. Speeding up regulation without solving reimbursement challenges side-steps a fundamental issue.

References: 1 https://tinyurl.com/yyrg69nz | 2 https://tinyurl.com/yxgmc7uh

FRICTIONLESS PATHWAY

SURVEYING THE STRUCTURAL ISSUES

Building the ‘frictionless pathway’ that so many of us want to see, will certainly be aided by working early with companies on clinical trial design, ensuring optimal data is generated for both regulatory approval and health technology appraisal. NICE also envisages a greater role for the Scientific Advice and Office for Market Access services; though we know that these offerings, while a useful early engagement point for companies, often hold no sway when it comes to crunch time in front of a NICE appraisal committee.

NHSE&I, together with commitment from the Treasury, need to address the reimbursement issue head on, not least to demonstrate that they are living by the spirit of the VPAS scheme.

The aims of stakeholders are aligned; safe and faster access for patients to the healthcare that they need by facilitating smooth progress along the pathway. With the aims not in doubt, the practical considerations are still to be resolved; will potentially faster regulatory approval timeframes mean NICE has to shift its own expectations for completing its work? Will it continue to be able to honour its target of positive approval within 30 days of marketing authorisation? To what extent will it expect to offer more conditional approvals, given the work it will have been involved in with companies at an earlier stage?

While recognising promising intentions, a sobering recent thought from Nicole Farmer of Sanofi Genzyme is pertinent; that, “with Brexit, the MHRA has a great opportunity to fast-track licences ahead of EMEA, enabling us to start collecting real world evidence to shape access in the rest of Europe, so more people can benefit. However, there is no point racing ahead with a licence if reimbursement is not forthcoming.”

Without this commitment, and reform at NHS England, we risk having a structural problem attracting research and development (R&D), manufacturing and even medicine launches to the UK. Whether we are talking about vaccines or medical research, the nature of science today is innately collaborative, and it is this collaboration both within industry, as well as between private and public organisations, that enabled truly unprecedented, astonishing science to rapidly to deliver vaccines that may bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control. Positioning the UK as a major life sciences champion requires further partnerships just like these – ones based on mutual trust and close collaboration – to more efficiently connect medical innovations to the patients and healthcare professionals who need them. Claudia Rubin is Senior Director at Newmarket Strategy. Go to www.newmarket-strategy.com

2 6 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

KKI/UKIRE/NPR/0093 January 2021

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ADDRESSING THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

How digital technology can deliver high-quality mental health care.

A

s the nation deals with enforced isolation and increased social distancing measures to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19, concerns have been raised about the profound impact this could have on people’s mental health.

Each day we find out more about the mental health effects of the pandemic. Early on, the Office for National Statistics found that one in five Britons1 reported symptoms of depression, compared with one in 10 before. And, according to a recent study 2 led by the University of Nottingham and King’s College London, stress, anxiety and depression were all significantly higher in participants compared with ‘population norms’, with 64% of the participants reporting symptoms of depression and 57% reporting symptoms of anxiety.

Waiting lists can be long and the NHS is understandably struggling to meet the demand. Disadvantaged communities, such as ethnic minorities, older generations and younger people are particularly badly affected.

HOW DIGITAL SOLUTIONS CAN DELIVER

Having worked as a doctor in NHS psychiatry services, it’s clear to me that the solution addressing this scale of challenge must involve technology. Provided such solutions are evidence-based and effective, this is the only way for us to provide the level of supply that will meet the widespread demand and improve mental health care.

Through simple force of necessity, COVID-19 has prompted many people to explore the benefits of telehealth and digital therapeutics, from the comfort of their home. In fact, it’s estimated3 that the number of people using digital therapeutics and wellness apps will grow from 627 million in 2020 to more than 1.4 billion in 2025.

I believe that clinicians and the public have realised that digital solutions can deliver high-quality healthcare, with lower barriers to access, and significant benefits in cost and time effectiveness.

OVERCOMING HURDLES

But there is progress to be made. Digital mental health solutions, and the companies that provide them, must overcome some important hurdles to ensure better user experience. At present, very few mental health apps have study data. It’s critical that these are grounded in science, with activities being evidence-based. For example, we use the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness and positive psychology – all based on in-depth research. In addition, ethical practices must be rigorous, with more being done to ensure companies store and utilise data ethically and responsibly.

This needs to go beyond simply complying with GDPR; digital mental health companies need to develop and implement their own ethical frameworks and ideally have them externally audited.

If we want to move towards a new era of effective mental healthcare, we must take steps to deliver accessible, evidence-based services that meet the highest standards of data and ethics.

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I N C O N V E R S AT I O N

PUTTING THE KEY QUESTIONS ACROSS

H

ow important is it to focus on mental health following 2020?

No year in recent times has been more taxing on our collective mental health than 2020. Students of previous pandemics will know that getting back to ‘normal’ and ongoing uncertainty mean that mental health will be a critical topic for driving recovery for years to come. For these reasons, it’s never been more important to focus on our mental wellbeing.

What effect is digital innovation in healthcare having on mental health?

Digital innovation is changing the way in which mental healthcare is delivered. Evidence-based, ethical and personalised digital solutions are the most accessible path to quality mental health care, especially given the ubiquity of hardware like smartphones. Clinical staff are in incredibly short supply in the UK, and therefore digital technology is the only practical solution capable of scaling quickly enough to meet the rapidly growing demand. It can also be scaled at a fraction of the cost of training new psychiatrists. Apps are needed now more than ever to form part of integrated care plans, complementing traditional practices such as counselling. People are recognising this, and that’s exactly why usage and investment is so high.

How important is personalised healthcare when it comes to mental health?

Traditional healthcare relies heavily on standardisation, where all patients are treated with the same set of procedures. This does not work for the ongoing care needed for mental health support. Mental health improvements depend on changes in a person’s behaviour, and overworked clinicians cannot always provide the immediate, individualised care needed to encourage patients to follow through for the long-term. Personalisation via mental health apps can help practitioners motivate patients to trust the process, ultimately increasing effectiveness and reducing the costs. With these tools, patients are also more likely to adhere to treatment and reach a wellbeing state faster.

What are the ethical challenges that come with digital personalisation and health? In order to deliver truly personalised products, data on the individual is required. This has been a stumbling block for so many companies. In fact, on ORCHA, the organisation that NHS Digital uses to evaluate apps, only 15% of mental health apps evaluated meet the minimum criteria for data privacy, clinical assurance and user experience. This is too low, and more digital health providers must build ethical practices into the very heart of their offerings. At Koa Health, we follow a rigorous ethical framework with all of our research and products.

How can digital healthcare help patients feel empowered to take control of their care? When we put more control in the hands of the individual by giving them personalised mental health solutions, they’re empowered to be a part of delivering their own care and self-advocate for their own health. This gives them the greatest chance of improving their behaviours and health over the long-term.

Digital solutions also empower people to get help discreetly via an app, and as a result they’re much more likely to access support. It’s easier to build healthier long-term habits with practical tools that offer immediate help and advice that’s evidence-based and customised to the patient’s unique problem set.

Oliver Harrison is CEO at Koa Health. Go to www.koahealth.com

WORDS BY

Oliver Harrison

If we want to move towards a new era of effective mental healthcare, we must take steps to deliver accessible, evidencebased services that meet the highest standards of data and ethics

References: 1 https://tinyurl.com/y6gymeab | 2 https://tinyurl.com/y2b728kz | 3 https://tinyurl.com/yyyr9cuk

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 2 9

STREAMLINING THE SYSTEM Why an operation overhaul in biopharmaceutical data management is due in 2021.

R

arely, if ever, has the process of drug development garnered so much public and media interest as it has over the last year.

The unrivalled task for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies – creating and testing a vaccine in months rather than years – appears to be hugely successful. People all over the world are now poised to receive novel, life-saving vaccinations. In this whirlwind process, the biopharmaceutical industry has learned a lot, not only about what is possible, but also about new efficiencies to sustain and old methods to retire.

Even today, a whopping 60% of work is carried out in paper or spreadsheets

WORDS BY

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Graeme Dennis

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

There remain fundamental challenges across research and development (R&D) to be addressed as we move further into this decade of industrialised biology and biopharma 4.0. Despite great innovations in some of the essential areas (ie, high throughput process development and in silico data science), the biopharmaceutical industry awaits the benefits of digital transformation. It is here – in a massive, but still-fragmented data framework – that much of the opportunity for improvement lies.

This is because as therapeutic possibilities increase, so do complexity and volume – much of it in the form of an endless stream of data back and forth from numerous specialty departments, R&D centers across cities and continents, and regulatory systems. These elements all contribute to a multidimensional data eco-system that presents a staggering challenge from which to store, manage, and draw insight from. In 2021 and beyond, the industry will need to embrace technologies that address longstanding issues in workflow, process quality, collaboration, and data analysis. This puts strain on the capabilities of current electronic solutions, like Laboratory Information System (LIMS) and Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN). Overhauling and streamlining the process with management systems that span the entire development lifecycle is a critical step in solving many of the current roadblocks. As innovations deepen and technologies advance, gaps in these areas will transition from simple deficiencies to unsustainable risks.

INSIGHT

OPERATIONAL ROADBLOCKS

The time and cost of delivering new therapies and vaccines remains one of the biggest challenges for our industry. Current research1 suggests the average cost to develop a new drug sits at $1.3 billion. With development timelines ranging from 8 to 16 years and attrition rates as high as 88%, it’s clear that the current state of biopharma drug development is an intolerable barrier to the timely and cost-effective treatment of disease.

As mentioned, a major contributor is poor data management – in particular, its current, inefficient, highly siloed nature. Data collection often occurs in a single notebook, instrument, or database; there is no true collaboration platform allowing staff to observe it, talk about it, analyse it, and draw insights from it. Even today, a whopping 60% of work is carried out in paper or spreadsheets.

This type of disjointed collection often requires highly skilled process scientists and engineers to devote as much as half of their workday finding, reconciling, and assembling data maintained in disparate systems, a lamentable and expensive use of their time. Also cumbersome – and costly – is the fact that up to 30% of work is subject to rework because the data describing process execution and outcomes simply can’t be located. This creates a serious roadblock to efficiently accessing process and quality data to make forward progress.

The costs are compounded by the highrisk nature of biologics development – risky because even under the best of circumstances, biological production conditions are a major source of unpredictable behavior, from environmental condition variation, to contamination, to equipment issues. In the context of these risks, operational burdens manifest in an inability to understand root causes of unexpected outcomes and to make informed, timely decisions as a therapeutic candidate progresses. These handicaps threaten the progress of any single development campaign, affecting time to market, attrition rates, time to trials, ability to make informed decisions on drug candidate progression and more. These impacts are in the order of 6–18 months.

Ineffective data management clearly has huge effects on the time and cost of developing a new drug, especially factoring in the substantial quality and auditing overheads involved in demonstrating integrity and compliance in manual data management. Regulatory filings and tech transfer take significantly longer and are more cumbersome than they need be.

Our team has calculated that, taking into account all the variables that can slow development, without an effective data management system spanning the entire lifecycle of a drug, the development timeline of a biologic can be prolonged by up to three years.

This significant delay impacts not just a company’s bottom line, but the patients who will benefit from the therapeutic.

STREAMLINING THE LIFECYCLE

Navigating the complex, and evolving, R&D landscape with legacy tools is clearly not sustainable. The remedy is a BioPharmaceutical Lifecycle Management (BPLM) platform – an operational foundation for drug development process workflows, with components that allow complete integration into the development ecosystem, all the way from early development to clinical supply. This new product category addresses the many challenges presented by current digital solutions, and leads to fewer human errors and improved accuracy.

Removing paper and bringing process and analytical data together right where the process is executed, contributes to a contextualised data ‘backbone’ that streamlines the entire lifecycle. Such a system permits comprehensive search capabilities that help users find what they are looking for in critical context, which reduces the need for unnecessary duplication. A BPLM will enable companies to navigate the complexities and inefficiencies of the drug development lifecycle much more effectively, while reaping the transformational benefits that come from a well-curated process and quality data backbone. Importantly, a comprehensive data management platform like this will fully support the requirements of advancing process science and in silico methods.

The time and cost of delivering new therapies and vaccines remains one of the biggest challenges for our industry

Here at IDBS, we have developed Polar™, which is designed to be rapidly deployed to solve workflow, process quality, collaboration and data analysis challenges that afflict currently available software.

It will reduce manual data processing and transcription, leading to fewer human errors and improved overall accuracy, and includes comprehensive search capabilities that help users find what they are looking for, reducing the need to unnecessarily duplicate processes and driving innovation.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Many companies are still struggling to fully embrace the power of digital infrastructure, even now, when increased efficiency and data driven insight make all the difference in the race to market novel products that will transform patients’ health and quality of life. Those who embrace rigorous approaches to unlocking the potential of their data will emerge as industry leaders in the coming decade, and be rewarded with the greatest commercial success, as well. Those who accept businessas-usual will miss these rewards, costing themselves time, money, human error and rework. More importantly, they will delay life-changing pharmaceuticals from reaching the market and patients. Graeme Dennis is Commercial Director of Preclinical Pharma at IDBS. Go to www.idbs.com

Reference: 1 Wouters OJ, McKee M, Luyten J. Estimated Research and Development Investment Needed to Bring a New Medicine to Market, 2009-2018. JAMA. 2020;323(9):844–853.

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 31

PART OF THE PACKAGE From smart packaging to sustainability, what does the pharma packaging and supply chain look like in 2021?

2

020 was an immensely challenging year for the pharmaceutical industry. But it is also a year that will go down in history for being transformational.

As activity came to a halt in many sectors around the world from early March 2020, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry leapt into action. On the ground, medical staff were dealing with the devastating impact that coronavirus had on people’s health. In manufacturing facilities, companies pivoted to produce and ship vast quantities of treatments and personal protective equipment (PPE). In research labs, scientists raced to produce a novel vaccine and the supply chain readied itself to deliver it at speed.

Looking forward, it’s likely to be another hugely challenging year.

However, going into 2021, we are in a much better position than we were, even just a few months ago. Aside from conquering the pandemic, we are also likely to see progress and exciting new developments in other areas, such as sustainability, smart packaging technologies and child-resistance.

So, let’s look forward to what we can expect from pharmaceutical packaging and the supply chain in 2021 and beyond…

A NEW DAWN

By the end of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to deliver over 2 billion doses1 of the Covid-19 vaccine worldwide – a momentous challenge for the pharmaceutical industry and its partners.

Whilst challenging, this has the potential to revolutionise the pharma supply chain for many years to come. Despite linking the laboratory to the marketplace, the supply chain hasn’t received the same focus and investment given to the discovery, development and marketing of pharma products. And cracks are starting to show.

The benefits of a modern pharma supply chain that is fit for today’s challenges, as well as tomorrow, will long outlive the Covid-19 pandemic. It will provide cost-saving and efficiency gains for years to come, while simultaneously helping the industry to fulfil its social responsibilities. These include the need to both pioneer more sustainable manufacturing processes and produce more effective and safer medicines the entire world can afford.

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INSIGHT

BREXIT WILL (FINALLY) HAPPEN

It’s nearly 5 years since the UK voted to leave the European Union and 2021 will be the year it finally happens.

Whilst the conditions under which the UK leaves the EU were undecided for a long time, it has always been clear that the pharmaceutical industry was pro-deal to avoid border delays, inflated costs and opening up vulnerabilities for criminals to exploit.

If there are additional supply chain complexities and extra checks at the border, we may see some medicines disappear from the UK market if they become uneconomic to supply. This could leave some patients without their lifesaving or life-changing medicines.

There’s also the real danger of disruption with a complicated Brexit deal, creating vulnerabilities in the supply of medicines to the UK, which could be exploited by sophisticated criminal groups.

Without a Brexit deal, the UK would no longer have fallen under the protection of the Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD) which requires pharma products to comply with anti-counterfeiting regulations such as incorporating visible tamper-proof packaging and a 2D barcode.

This would also mean UK organisations would have lost access to the EU central database and been unable to upload and store product data.

Let’s be realistic though. No matter what happens, the UK is likely to enforce a similar set of laws around anti-counterfeiting to protect citizens from the dangers of falsified medicine. It could even have the opportunity to take current regulations a step further and blaze the trail for other nations to follow.

SMARTER AND SAFER

In 2021 we can look forward to exciting new advancements in pharma packaging design and technologies, delivering functionality and efficiency gains while protecting patients and minors from harm.

We can expect to see user experience benefit from the mass adoption of QR-enabled packaging, helping to increase health literacy and patient compliance. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, using electromagnetic fields, will continue to support anti-counterfeiting efforts by identifying tampering. Another key development is the application of thermochromic inks, used to print reactive temperature indicators on packaging, as will smart sensors that can detect changes in humidity, light and temperature.

In the area of clinical trials, smart packaging (featuring RFID tags) and wearable devices are promoting greater secure interaction between patient and doctor by using real-time data to monitor compliance, identify side effects faster and improve health outcomes for both volunteers and, in the longer term, the wider community.

Advancements in child-resistant packaging (CRP) will continue in 2021, spurred on by investment and innovation in the expanding CBD market. The shift towards non-re-closable designs will become more widespread, providing a higher level of protection to the medicine, plus a longer shelf-life.

Ziplock bags are another popular advancement; a single-entry design that requires mature dexterity to slide a zipper open to access the contents. The bags can easily be opened and re-secured by adults but provide a barrier to entry for children. Many designs even include a flap that covers the zipper when the bag is closed, disguising the entry point as an added layer of security.

IN 2021 WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE MORE EXCITING INNOVATIONS IN PACKAGING FOR BIOLOGICS TO MEET THE FUTURE EFFICACY REQUIREMENTS WORDS BY

Rich Quelch

NEW MEDICINE TYPES

The rapid rise of small-batch biological medicines marks an exciting new era for pharma, but it also means complex clinical supply chains need to be created to deliver these therapies to patients as intended.

Biological medicines are extremely sensitive to exogenous factors like time and temperature. Therefore, there are strict conditions under which these therapies must be transported and received.

In 2021 we can expect to see more exciting innovations in packaging for biologics to meet the future efficacy requirements.

Fluoropolymers – which don’t use any leachable or degradable stabilising additives – are increasingly being used to form a resistant barrier to eliminate biodegradation issues. So too are cyclic olefin plastics (very rigid thermoplastics) which are intrinsically very inert, composed of just carbon and hydrogen.

These next-generation packaging materials, amongst others, are helping to deliver the next generation of medicines.

QUALITY BY DESIGN

Knowledge-based design will play a key role in creating sustainable and fit-for-purpose pharma packaging in 2021 and beyond.

Quality by Design (QbD) is an approach being prioritised by many trailblazing manufacturers to address the growing problem of pharmaceutical waste, degradation, and contamination from substandard or badly designed packaging.

By designing a product’s primary and secondary packaging well from the outset (including investing ample resources into the process), manufacturers can reduce the amount of materials used and wasted, test new eco materials, ensure safety compliance and efficacy, and benefit from cheaper transportation costs. A virtuous circle, if you will.

Rich Quelch is Global Head of Marketing at Origin. Go to www.originltd.com Reference: 1 https://tinyurl.com/y5cyocb3

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 3 3

Movers &Shakers WHO’S GOING WHERE AND WHY THEY’RE GOING THERE. WORDS BY

Emma Cooper PHARMA

Kimball Hall Kimball Hall has been appointed President and added to the Company Board of Abzena, in addition to her COO role. Kimball said: “I am dedicated to making Abzena the best-in-class provider of fully integrated drug discovery and development services of biologics and bioconjugates.”

PHARMA

AGENCY

Matthew Tomkinson

Simon Doyle

PharmaSoftbox has announced the appointment of Matthew Tomkinson as a Technical Solutions Specialist. Matthew will be responsible for supporting the global commercial team through in-depth cold chain knowledge, market insights, strategy and advice on cold chain implementation.

NeoHealthHub has announced the appointment of Simon Doyle as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a short time after joining the company as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

3 4 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

MOVERS & SHAKERS

CONSULTANCY

Pablo Villoslada Accure Therapeutics has announced the appointment of five neurology experts to its scientific advisory board as the company drives the advancement of its clinical trials and the development of new treatments.

Pablo Villoslada, CSO of Accure Therapeutics said: “We are proud and delighted with the appointment of our expert scientific advisory board members; each of whom is a highly experienced pioneer within his field of expertise. Their exceptional skills, talent and experience will help us to steer and refine the direction of our development.

Their combined connections in academia and industry will help us establish instrumental partnerships.”

The five new appointees are below:

CONSULTANCY

CONSULTANCY

Prof. Larry Steinman

Prof. Jose Obeso

Neurologist and former chair of the immunology program at Stanford University. Pioneer in new therapeutics for multiple sclerosis (natalizumab), DNA vaccination. Member of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine.

Neurologist. Pioneer in clinical development of deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and defined mechanisms associated with myoclonus, tics and dystonia. Director of CINAC neuroscience center in Madrid, Professor of Neurology at CEU-San Pablo University.

CONSULTANCY

Prof. Stephen L. Hauser CONSULTANCY

CONSULTANCY

Prof.

Lawrence Hirsch

Prof. Amit Bar-Or

Neurologist and chief of the division of epilepsy and EEG at Yale University School of Medicine.

Co-director at Yale Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre.

Neurologist, Director of the Center for Neuroinflammation and Neurotherapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Pioneer in the roles of immune cell: braincell interactions and therapies in neuroimmunological disorders.

Neurologist and former Chairman of Neurology at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco), current director of the UCSF Weil Institute for Neuroscience.

M AG A ZI N E | FEB R UA RY 202 1 | 35

PHARMAJOBS

FINDING A JOB & RECRUITING IN 2021 PharmaJobs understands the pressure on finding a job and recruiting so it’s making some changes to help recruiters and job seekers in 2021 WORDS BY Emma Morriss

A

s we begin the New Year, many of us are wondering what 2021 has in store. Covid-19 has changed the face of the world, including the working practices of the pharma industry.

Whilst some areas of industry are going strong, others – especially the pharma sales force, have seen furlough, job losses and fundamental changes to the way they engage with healthcare professionals.

There’s no doubt that the furlough scheme has reduced the number of redundancies across all industries in the UK, but as this comes to an end there’ll inevitably be a rise in jobseekers.

This could also include new entrants to industry from the NHS; those who have worked throughout the pandemic and no longer feel that’s the path for them. Recent reports have highlighted the immense impact of caring for Covid patients on NHS staff.1 With an increase in jobseekers comes a reduction in available roles. Industry is, understandably, evaluating the way it works and the efficiencies that can be gained from digital interactions and virtual engagements. Recent research from Accenture states that face to face meetings between healthcare professionals and sales teams are unlikely to return to prepandemic levels: “Virtual engagement with pharma field representatives is here to stay.”2

FIND TALENT FOR FREE

It means that the equation doesn’t work, more people entering the job market with fewer positions available. This makes it tough for both candidates and recruiters looking to build their teams with the best talent.

Log onto www.pharmajobs.co.uk/ job-packages and follow the process. It’s simple, straightforward and we can get your jobs in front of our candidates quickly.

And you can enhance your vacancies with our additional services.

PHARMAJOBS IS FREE

With this in mind, we at PharmaJobs know that there is a lot of pressure on industry.

To support the community including pharmaceutical and medical devices companies, industry recruiters and candidates, we’ve made it FREE to post vacancies on PharmaJobs in 2021.

If you are advertising for roles in pharma or medical devices, you can now list them on PharmaJobs.co.uk at no cost.

We hope that this helps to support industry to fill their vacancies with the best people, gets the right talent in the right roles and enables pharma to keep putting patients first.

Alongside free job postings, we have developed additional benefits for those with budget to spend who want to enhance the impact of their vacancies on PharmaJobs.co.uk.

These include: • Access to the CV Bank • Featured Job Listings • Featured Recruiter Opportunities • Advertisements on www.pharmajobs.co.uk and in the PharmaJobs weekly newsletter.

Whatever 2021 brings, PharmaJobs will be there for industry, helping to connect the best talent with recruiters and pharma companies. Find the best talent for FREE with PharmaJobs.

Where Pharma Talent Goes www.pharmajobs.co.uk

3 6 | P H A R M A FI EL D.CO.U K

RECRUITERS: GET STARTED!

CANDIDATES: GET STARTED!

With vacancies being listed each day, make sure you’re checking PharmaJobs on a daily basis. For ease, we have a one-click application process. Find your dream job on www.pharmajobs.co.uk: 1. Click Apply for Job, 2. Add your information, 3. Press SEND. It’s really that simple.

To increase your chances of finding a new job you can also create an account and add your CV to the CV Bank. Recruiters are searching the CV Bank on a daily basis, so you can put yourself in front of them without doing a thing! Upload your CV and the recruiters will come to you. Head to www.pharmajobs.co.uk/dashboard and register today.

References: 1 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englandhumber-55579268 |2 Reinventing Relevance: New Models for Pharma Engagement with Healthcare Providers in a COVID-19 World. Accenture Healthcare Provider Survey May 2020

LOOKING TO RECRUIT? It's now FREE to advertise your vacancies on PharmaJobs.

Post a job today.

PHARMAJOBS.CO.UK

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