Whats on the horizon for pharma sales- a look to the year ahead from UCB, Sanofi-Aventis & Actelion

eyeforpharma recently interviewed: Hans Hoogkamer, Business and Science Affairs, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Daniel Ghozzi, Managing Director CIS, UCB Pharma Russia & Rune Pilegaard  Associate Director, Business Support Nordics Sanofi-Aventis to see what they will be focusing on for the next 12 months.

There has been a lot of change in the industry..how do you see it changing within the next year:

Hans Hoogkamer: We will see a continued increase of price pressure on drugs, higher hurdles for approval, higher scrutiny on safety – so we will need to produce strong reimbursement dossiers. On the bright side there will be an easier path for approval of biosimilars.

Rune Pilegaard: I agree there will be a continued trend towards smaller niches for products (like a parallel to target medicine), which means that competition will not be as fierce / driven by SoV in the niches. Thus the need for traditional marketing and sales force will change towards people who can help create these niches convincingly (translating health economics into meaningful propositions at a local level).

Daniel Ghozzi: Yes market access will be key because the different government will continue to have difficulties to cover healthcare expenses. New jobs and expertise required to come up to this new environment.

Hans Hoogkamer: In a nutshell Pharma will continue to change on the same pace. Generic penetration, wholesaler’s rules, registration complexity, patent and life cycle protection, marketing and sales budget cuts, more consolidation of pipelines, mergers & acquisitions due to patent expiries

SFE 2011 addresses these issues head-on with insights from other regulated industries including a keynote address from Cecile Quaedackers, GM, American Express who will explain how Amex changed their commercial model and will offer a step by step guide for pharma.

To join the debate click here:www.sfeeurope.com

Media contact:

Kate Eversole
VP Europe
eyeforpharma
T: +44 (0) 207 375 7594
E: keversole@eyeforpharma.com