CSL Behring Trains Employees to Save Lives in Their Communities
CSL Behring is taking its workplace wellness initiatives to a whole new level by providing the American Heart Association’s (AHA) hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to employees.
With the help of the AHA and the Lafayette Ambulance Squad (LAS), CSL Behring has trained 120 employees in King of Prussia, Pa., and is conducting ongoing monthly sessions to train as many of its 1,000 on-site employees as possible.
The AHA estimates between 100,000 and 200,000 lives could be saved a year if CPR was administered immediately after cardiac arrest.
Life-Sciences Companies Give Back to those in Boston
Life Science Cares, a group of life-sciences leaders and companies, has made donations of more than $300,000 to 19 social service organizations devoted to the health, education, and development of disadvantaged and vulnerable 
populations in New England.
Robert Perez, former CEO of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, who is the founder and chairman of Life Science Cares, says, “We in Boston’s life-sciences community have long tackled the most difficult and complex scientific challenges in order to serve patients in need."
In its initial year of service, Life Science Cares has organized the donation of prepared food that is providing 100 meals a week for hungry families, raised funds for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico and Texas, and matched life-science industry employees with more than 1,750 hours of volunteer service.
Global Healthcare Market Expected to Rise
Frost & Sullivan’s new analysis, Global Healthcare Industry Outlook 2018, explores how the global healthcare landscape is expected to evolve in 2018. The industry will register globally a stable growth rate of 4.82% during this year. Key predictions for 2018 include:
The cloud will emerge as a core platform since all stakeholders need to expand storage flexibility.
Virtual and remote clinical trials adoption will increase and focus on efficiency and patient-centricity.
The ongoing digital transformation and the smart city concept will push the need for hospitals to become “smart hospitals."
Despite increased investments by healthcare stakeholders, cyber-attacks on the industry are expected to double during 2018.
Clinical Success Rates Higher than Previously Thought
A new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that almost 14% of all drugs in clinical trials eventually win approval from the FDA, an amount that is much higher than previous studies indicate. The researchers also found that approval rates for specific illnesses range from a high of 33.4% for infectious-disease vaccines to a low of 3.4% for cancer.
New States Added to Monitoring program
North Carolina and Oregon are now participating in the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s (NABP’s) prescription monitoring program (PMP) and data sharing system, NABP PMP InterConnect.
These two states have joined the secure national network of PMPs that allows authorized prescribers and pharmacists to access information about their patients’ controlled substance prescriptions across state lines.
There are now 45 states participating in the program.
“We provide a national PMP data sharing solution that brings the states together for a safe and secure exchange.
North Carolina and Oregon were integrated into our system, a system that has been in operation since 2011," says NABP President Jeanne Waggener, R.Ph., D.Ph. “We want to keep the public safe and help pharmacists and prescribing physicians flag potential instances of drug misuse, especially as it relates to the opioid epidemic."
PMP InterConnect currently processes more than 15 million requests and 18.5 million responses per month. It is free of charge for participating states.
A report from the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis highlights prescription drug monitoring programs as an important tool to aid in the fight against opioid abuse. Such systems can be used for early detection and prevention of drug abuse and addiction. They can also help identify patients who cross state lines to purchase drugs for the purposes of misuse or diversion.
NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its state member boards and jurisdictions for the purpose of protecting the public health.
Trends That will Drive 2018 Commercial Strategies
Syneos Health’s inaugural Commercial Trends Forecast identifies important trends in biopharmaceutical commercialization — from the frontlines of drug development to patient engagement and next-generation care — expressing the biggest drivers of change.
These include:
The Influencers Are Changing: Today, integrated delivery networks (IDNs) own more than 60% of physician group practices. Those delivery networks play a part in a greater shift centered on how value is defined, delivered, and measured in the current healthcare environment.
New Voices are Being Heard: Pharmaceutical medical teams, sales teams, key opinion leaders, advocacy partners, and other critical affiliates pool capabilities in finding new ways to engage and co-create nearly every aspect of the health experience.
Points of Influence are Rapidly Evolving: The average patient journey diagram once outlined four or five predictable steps representing a real-life journey. In 2018, the patient experience map is being radically updated to reflect new points of interaction.
The Commercial Outlook is Shifting: In 2018, commercial teams are involved earlier in the drug development cycle. Pharmaceutical innovators are increasingly breaking down the silos that have long divided the clinical and commercial disciplines.
Life-Sciences Deal Market Value Increases in 2017
Clarivate Analytics, the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation, has revealed that the market value of the most innovative and impactful global life-sciences transactions of 2017 increased by 6% totaling $364 billion, despite a decrease in overall deal volume.
While overall the aggregate dollar value for deals increased from 2016, deal volume dropped by about 3% and saw contractions in almost every type of deal structure. This represents a reversal from last year when deal volume was up, but deal dollars were down.(PV)
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PharmaVOICE @Industry Events
BioNJ’s 25th Annual Gateway Gala & Innovation Celebration brought together more than 750 attendees from the biopharmaceutical industry. In addition to presenting Innovator Awards honoring companies with a footprint in New Jersey that received a novel FDA drug or therapy approval in 2017, during the evening, BioNJ presented the 11th annual Dr. Sol J. Barer Award for Vision, Innovation and Leadership to serial biotech entrepreneur and physician Andrew Pecora, M.D. Also during the evening patient Advocate and painter Regina Holliday, a PharmaVOICE 2014 honoree, painted a live time capsule capturing the association’s journey over the last 25 years, as well as the hope on the horizon.
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PharmaVOICE 100 Executive Moves
CRF Appoints Bill Byrom as VP
CRF Health has appointed Bill Byrom as VP of product strategy & innovation. Mr. Byrom, who brings more than two decades of pioneering industry experience to CRF Health, is helping to leverage the company’s growing solution portfolio including the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).
In his 27-year career, Mr. Byrom has served in leadership and advisory roles at global pharma influencers, including Knoll, Boots and Zeneca, and with eClinical technology providers, ClinPhone Group and Perceptive Informatics. Most recently, he was senior director of product innovation with leading CRO ICON Clinical Research, responsible for driving direct-to-patient trial strategy and solution development.
Mr. Byrom was a 2008 and 2017 PharmaVOICE 100 honoree.
Agency Executive Shaun Urban Joins Inception Companies
The Inception Companies announce that Shaun Urban, former managing partner of Ogilvy CommonHealth, has joined the organization as president. Reporting to CEO Matt Giegerich, Mr. Urban is leading new business development, as well as the supporting infrastructure, which includes client services, project management, production services, and operations. As a senior member of the executive leadership team, he is also involved in new product development.
Beginning his career at large pharmaceutical companies, Mr. Urban transitioned to the agency side 13 years ago. He started the payer marketing capability within Ogilvy CommonHealth. Promoted five years ago to managing partner, Mr. Urban assumed leadership of the medical education/medical affairs business and spearheaded unparalleled growth of more than 80%, earning the distinction as the fastest-growing area of Ogilvy CommonHealth.
Mr. Urban is a 2009 PharmaVOICE 100 honoree.
