Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - (Page 2) From the editor Open innovation: the way forward As this issue was in its final preparation stages I was attending The Economist’s annual ‘Pharma Summit,’ which this year was subtitled ‘Agility and innovation in emerging markets.’ I’ll be offering a fuller report of the summit’s presentations and discussions next week, but I did have chance to talk with one of the speakers, Richard Barker, director general of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), ahead of the event. Barker and ABPI are putting their faith for the next ten years of British pharma in open innovation, and Barker underlines the ‘radicalism’ of his message with the title of his presentation, “Reinventing, not retrenching.” He told me: “If we think about the next phase of development in the industry as retrenchment then we’ll get it wrong. We really need to reinvent, both at the R&D and sales and marketing ends.” It’s an interesting angle, particularly in these cash-strapped times, when retrenchment seems to be the key word not just for businesses, but also for families coping with the everyday strain of the credit crunch. Open innovation advocates a model that sees the ‘secrecy’ lifted from the research stage of product development, making it available for other companies to utilise and license, and encouraging the open exchange of ideas at the earliest stages of development. Barker wants to make open innovation work in terms of both speed and productivity, and added, “We’re talking to the government about how we can make the UK the best place to do this.” Just how novel the concept of open innovation is is arguable — after all, pharma has long been collaborating with universities and biotechs at the research level. But the idea of challenging the whole culture of the vertically integrated pharma model and urging the behemoths to share their new ideas as they hatch remains pretty radical. And with pharma increasingly wary of the instability of the whole global business economy, it could be that reinvention soon becomes a necessity rather than an option. For more on these news stories and all the latest breaking pharma news, look at our website www.pharmexeceurope.com Lundbeck splashes out in US Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck has agreed to buy Ovation Pharmaceuticals (US) in a cash deal said to be worth DKK 5.2 billion ( 676 million). Pending final approvals and antitrust clearances, Lundbeck will make an upfront payment of DKK 3.5 billion and additional payments of DKK 1.7 billion over the next year, dependant on FDA approval of Ovation’s anti-seizure drug Sabril. “Ovation will provide a commercial platform in the US with a highly experienced management team and sales force, a late-stage development pipeline and a proven scientific and regulatory expertise in areas of high unmet medical needs,” commented Ulf Wiinberg, chief executive of Lundbeck. The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of March 2009, at which point Ovation will become a fully-integrated subsidiary of the Danish company. UK drug design company named ‘Rising Star’ Novabiotics (Aberdeen, UK) has won the UK BioIndustry Association’s (BIA) Rising Star Award for 2009. NovaBiotics is a drug design company that is planning to commercialise a new class of antimicrobial peptide therapies. The Rising Star Award recognises companies that “through their presentation, demonstrate to the panel a clear vision of ambitions for development together with an analysis of their business model and technologies.” Dr Barbara Blaney, director, BIA Scotland, commented: “With a strong presentation on their core technology platform, strategy for market and competitor awareness, as a ‘clinic-ready’ company, Novabiotics was chosen unanimously by the panel as winner.” She added: “The life sciences sector has been, and can continue to be, an economic success story for Scotland.” Julian Upton jupton@advanstar.com 1 7 NEWS VACCINES 2 11 FROM THE EDITOR / NEWS STRATEGY 5 CALENDAR 6 BRUSSELS REPORT 12 ONLINE NETWORKING 15 ON THE MOVE http://www.pharmexeceurope.com http://www.lundbeck.com http://www.ovationpharma.com/ http://www.ovationpharma.com/ http://www.novabiotics.co.uk http://www.bioindustry.org http://www.bioindustry.org http://www.bioindustry.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Contents From the Editor News Calendar Brussels Report Vaccines Management Theory Online Networking On the Move Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - News (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - News (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Calendar (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Brussels Report (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Vaccines (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Management Theory (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - Online Networking (Page 14) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - February 18, 2009 - On the Move (Page 15)
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