Fresh business ideas instead of outdated concepts at Rethinking Pharma Summit

Traditional business models in the pharmaceutical industry are slowly dying out: Over two thirds of the European and US decision-makers in the pharmaceutical sector no longer regard traditional strategies and marketing channels as viable, according to a study by Booz & Company, published in May. The challenge for decision-makers is to now seek out new approaches to cushion the shrinking margins, expiring patents and growing regulatory pressures.

The “Rethinking Pharma Summit” – a multinational melting pot of ideas for the pharmaceutical industry that is being organised for the first time by Euroforum on the 8 and 9 November in Berlin – will demonstrate the opportunities being offered by new services, unusual cooperation agreements and fresh solutions.

Over 30 experts from the health care industry in the US and Europe, including decision-makers from the sector and also those from clinics, authorities and other non-related specialist fields, will share their ideas and strategies and sound out new approaches for their future viability.

While up to now, the pharmaceutical sector existed with the purpose of developing innovative medicines and distributing them in the largest quantities possible, manufacturers are now evolving into solution providers, observes Patrick Flochel, Head of Global Pharmaceuticals at Ernst & Young. “In the future, their role will increasingly be to comprehensively improve the health of patients and then to document and verify the
results,” says Flochel in a press release. In addition to the two main traditional places for health care provision – hospitals and doctor’s practices – there now comes a third: the patient themselves. At the Pharma Summit, Flochel will discuss why this change not only represents a challenge for pharmaceutical manufacturers but also promises growth and value creation.

The approach of moving the patient into the centre of future developments will also be examined by Charles Gore, President of the World Hepatitis Alliance, Christophe Bourdon, General Manager Central & Eastern Europe at Amgen and Dr Tobias Gantner, Head of Market Access at Bayer HealthCare. Joss Hertle from Google Germany will show how customers and patients can be reached via digital services and how media synergies and mobile trends can promote pharmaceutical marketing.

Understanding patients so that you can also offer them the right treatment – this is also the goal of the renowned Mayo Clinic in the US. In the clinic’s own think tank, the so called “Center for Innovation” (CFI), researchers under the direction of Barbara Spurrier develop new ideas and processes for the health care sector. As part of their first appearance in Germany at the summit in Berlin, Spurrier will present their work and
show what pharmaceutical companies can learn from the research activities at the CFI.

It is also worth taking a closer look at the US pharmaceutical services company
Covance. The company lays claim to being the second-largest biopharmaceutical research and development company in the world and posts yearly sales of over two billion US dollars. Covance recently increased its cooperation with Bayer HealthCare, while the company was presented with the Scrip Award for “Outsourcing deal of the year” for agreeing their contract with Sanofi back in 2011.

John Watson, the Senior Vice President of the company, will talk about the secret of successful research and development using innovative approaches. Prof. Dr Emanuele Gatti, member of the Management Board for the regions of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa at Fresenius Medical Care, will discuss at the conference how his company has been able to develop using vertical integration from a supplier of dialysis products to a broad-based renal health care company.

For more information about Rethinking Pharma Summit, please visit:
http://bit.ly/pharmasummit