Celebrating 40 Years with Industry Debate
Talentmark celebrated its 40th anniversary with an evening of celebration and debate at the Royal College of Surgeons in London last week.
Guests from across the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry met over drinks in the Hunterian Museum before attending a series of presentations and debates in one of the lecture theatres.
Hosted by David Nolan, Chief Executive Officer of Talentmark, with an introduction by the company’s founder, Tony Chandler, the evening was made up of lively discussion on ‘Futureceuticals’ that included insightful analysis on the future of the industry.
Andy Black, CEO of consulting firm Kinapse began the debate with a presentation that reflected on recent developments, challenges and opportunities in the industry. The last few years have seen a changing landscape which has increased pressure on existing R&D models. On the positive side, some recent the launch activity has “proved that blockbusters are not dead” and Black could see a number of significant developments in integrated healthcare and new ways of communicating with patients.
Chris Brinsmead, Business Advisor to The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and The Department of Health, turned the microphone on the audience to solicit their views and provide valuable feedback for the UK government.
The audience’s responses echoed many of the points in Andy Black’s presentation and demonstrated that issues throughout the development process are affecting the number of successful products reaching patients. The concern was raised about the challenges of curing rare illnesses when so much focus is given to ‘the big diseases’ and the moral dilemma that this brings. It was felt that stakeholders need to better understand the issues involved, whether this is the increased knowledge of pharmacology by doctors, acceptance by the NHS or the need for UK funding and manufacturing.
“We are absolutely delighted with the success of the evening,” comments David Nolan, Talentmark’s CEO. “We wanted to mark our 40th anniversary in a memorable way that considered the future as much as the past. Our guests clearly enjoyed the evening and appreciated the engaging debate that took place. We feel that the event contributed to a better flow of information and that the valuable thoughts emerged that may contribute to changes in policy and research.”
View videos of Andy Black and Chris Brinsmead’s presentations here.
