21 Years of Debate: The Pharmaceutical Industry Convenes at The Economist Events' Pharma Summit 2015 to Discuss The Dawn of a New Era for the Industry

LONDON, March 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

The Economist Events' 21^st Annual Pharma Summit held in London last week on 26 February was host to some of the industry's most high-profile leaders who offered their perspectives on a number of topical issues facing the sector. This year's theme, 'The Dawn of a New Era', observed the challenges the industry is facing as well as the innovation required to tackle them.

Panel speakers offered contrasting and thought-provoking commentary on how to deal with the most pressing of sector trends leading to lively debate amongst the packed room of delegates.  Topics covered included improving access and affordability of medicines, combating healthcare issues such as diabetes and antibiotic resistance, using technology effectively to help create a more valuable healthcare system and enhancing partnerships across the ecosystem to benefit all.

This year's Pharma Summit was attended by almost 200 people which included a mix of industry leaders, stakeholders, and high quality national and international media.

Sir Michael Hirst, President,  International Diabetes Federation, commented: "Collaboration between stakeholders in this industry and a creation of ecosystems will improve healthcare systems and quality of life for patients.

"We are delighted to participate in this event which provides a timely generation of ideas and potential solutions to manage and prevent public health challanges such as diabetes." 

David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer,  Bionor Pharma,  said: "Prices going down is perfect for innovation and adds new opportunities. These pressures for new biologics and biosimilars are good - they will drive new value and really are disruptive."

Key speakers at the Summit included: 

• Guido Rasi, Principal Adviser in Charge of Strategy, European Medicines Agency
• Andrew Hotchkiss, President, Australia, Canada and Europe, Lilly
• Maureen Baker, Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners
• Sir Michael Hirst, President, International Diabetes Federation
• Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director - Access Campaign, Medecins Sans Frontieres
• Richard Barker, Director, CASMI (Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation)
• Francois Bernard, Head of Market Access and Communications, Mundipharma
• Alison Clough,  Executive Director Commercial UK, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
• Sir Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
• Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust
• Patrick Flochel, Partner, Global Pharmaceutical Sector Leader, Global Life Sciences Centre, EY
• Michel Goldman, former Executive Director, Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)
• Matthias Gottwald, Head Research and Development Policy and Networking, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals
• Janet Hammond, Global Head and Senior Vice-president, Infectious Diseases Discovery and Translational Area, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development
• James Heywood, Chairman and Co-founder, Patients Like Me
• Heidi Hunter, Head of Biosimilars Business Unit, Boehringer-Ingelheim
• Stefan Kapferer, Deputy Secretary-General, OECD
• Nuria Mas, Professor of Economics, IESE Business School
• David McMillan, Chief Executive Officer, Europe, Aviva
• Duncan Moore, Partner, East West Capital Partners
• Rick Ascroft, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs and Market Access for Europe, Australia and Canada, Lilly
• Kieran Murphy, President & Chief Executive Officer, GE Healthcare Life Sciences
• Vivek Muthu, Chair, Economist Intelligence Unit Healthcare
• Vas Narasiham, Global Head of Development, Novartis
• Diem Nguyen, General Manager, LOE Portfolio Head, US Promoted Brands, Pfizer
• Jim O'Neill, Chair, Review on Antimicrobial Resistance
• David Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, Bionor Pharma
• Adrian Thomas, Vice-president Global Market Access, Commercial Strategy Operations and Global Public Health, Janssen
• Bart Vannieuwenhuyse, Senior Director of Health Information Sciences, Janssen
• John Watson, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, UK Department of Health
• Pascale Witz, Executive Vice-president Global Divisions & Strategic Development, Sanofi

For more information and to view the full programme please visit: http://www.pharmasummit.economist.com

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Gold sponsor: IESE

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Consilium Strategic Communications is a global leader in providing trusted, healthcare-focused strategic IR and financial PR counsel to corporations, Boards, senior decision makers and executives. From offices in Europe and USA, Consilium's senior team provides cross-border comprehensive financial and corporate healthcare communications advice to some of the world's most prominent and innovative corporations around-the-clock. The Company has established deep knowledge across all areas of the global healthcare sector through broad experience in representing international clients spanning the Fortune 500, FTSE100, FTSEurofirst 300, FTSE250, Euronext and AIM through to discrete specialist reputation management and crisis projects. For more information please visit our website at http://www.consilium-comms.com .

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