COVID-19 May Briefing: The UK&I Healthcare Ecosystem Fightback

The third webinar* in the COVID-19 monthly briefing series was designed to provide insight from life sciences thought-leaders and to generate discussion on issues that pharma and biotech companies may wish to consider in respect of the impact of the coronavirus.

It also took a forward look at what the new normal for the life sciences community might look like, in a world recovering from COVID-19.

Our previous COVID-19 monthly webinars are available on demand:

• March webinar: “The COVID-19 coronavirus and pharma and biotech continuity planning”
• April webinar: “COVID-19 briefing: coronavirus impacts for UK and Ireland pharma and biotech”

May webinar focus

The COVID-19 May Briefing: The UK&I Healthcare Ecosystem Fightback webinar*, in association with IQVIA, took place on Wednesday 27 May from 12:30 to 13:30 (BST)/13:30 to 14:30 (CET).

During the May instalment of the monthly COVID-19 briefing series, our expert panel discussed:

• The current environment and its impact on clinical development, medicine demand and supply, launch environment and commercial engagement
• The UK government’s response to the COVID-19 emergency
• ACCORD: the IQVIA clinical trials platform accelerating COVID-19 treatment discovery funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• UK clinical trials and planning for resumption after the emergency phase of the pandemic
• How digital has met the COVID-19 challenge for healthcare professionals, patients and industry
• Business operations in the new steady state of the post-COVID-19 world

You can view the webinar* in the window above or by clicking here.

Our panel

Professor Shafi Ahmed, Consultant Surgeon at Barts and the London NHS Trust

Professor Shafi Ahmed is a multi award winning cancer surgeon working at The Royal London Hospital. He was the Associate Dean of Bart’s Medical School and an elected member of council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England where he led the international and global health programme. He is a member of the NHS assembly advising the government on the NHS Long Term Plan and was awarded the Future NHS Award by members of Parliament in 2018. He was also the Asian Star in UK Tech in 2018. He has been recently appointed as an advisor to the Abu Dhabi government for digital transformation of health and innovation. He is the Vodafone ambassador for 5G and Healthcare. He is faculty at Imperial College, Barts Medical School, Queen Mary University, Bradford University, Harvard Medical School and Singularity University where he teaches on innovation and digital transformation. He chairs the Webit Health summit in Spain. He is one of the top 20 global influencers in digital health and innovation and is a HIMSS Future50 clinical leader 2019.

Divya Chadha Manek, Head of Business Development (Commercial) for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN)

Divya is the Head of Business Development (Commercial) for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) - the research delivery arm of the NHS. Her role is to establish new and maintain existing strategic relationships with global and UK life sciences companies. Facilitation is her forte - working collaboratively with companies she advises, guides and connects people so that study sponsors and CROs who deliver research, derive maximum benefit from the support provided by the NIHR - the most integrated health research system in the world.

From her roots in commercial research delivery in NHS hospitals, Divya went on to manage a national portfolio of commercial mental health studies before progressing to her current role. With this wealth of experience under her belt she can provide expert advice on how to use the NIHR services to optimise successful delivery of clinical trials in the UK.

Divya also leads on ensuring that the Clinical Research Network is abreast of new study delivery innovations to ensure that the organisation is evolving to service the needs and requirements of the life sciences industry.

Rt. Hon. Stephen Dorrell

Stephen Dorrell served as a Member of Parliament for 36 years holding Ministerial positions in both the Thatcher and Major Governments. A former Secretary of State for Health, Stephen has served as both Chair of the Health Select Committee and Chair of the NHS Confederation. Stephen is a lifelong liberal conservative and the present Chair of the European Movement.

His business interests include chairing LaingBuisson, Public Policy Projects, Dorson Group and The Network Group. Stephen is a trustee of Place2Be.

Angela McFarlane, Senior Market Development Director, UK and Ireland, IQVIA

Angela is Senior Market Development Director for IQVIA, a human data sciences company formed through the 2016 merger of IMS Health and Quintiles.

She works with UK Government, the NHS, the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry and Patient Organisations on pioneering collaborations that will improve NHS patient access to clinical trials, RWE studies and innovative medicines. ACCORD (Accelerating COVID-19 Research & Development) which will fast-track development of new treatments for COVID-19 is an example of the kind of collaborative initiatives Angela supports.

Angela is working to support several COVID-19 Government-Industry partnerships and is working on wider programmes to ensure the UK life sciences sector expands its footprint as a priority country for inward investment in research and medicines launch as healthcare ecosystems recover from the impact of COVID-19.

In 2018, she was nominated by Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe as one of the 30 most influential women in UK Healthcare and in September 2019 appointed by the UK’s Chief Scientific Officer to be an Ambassador for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) https://www.wisecampaign.org.uk/wise-ambassadors

Sarah Rickwood, Vice President, European Marketing and Thought Leadership, IQVIA

Sarah Rickwood has 28 years’ experience as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, having worked in Accenture’s pharmaceutical strategy practice prior to joining IQVIA. She has an extremely wide experience of international pharmaceutical industry issues, having worked for most of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies on issues in the US, Europe, Japan, and leading emerging markets. She is now Vice President, European Marketing and Thought Leadership in IQVIA, a team she has run for 10 years.

Sarah presents to hundreds of pharmaceutical industry clients every year on a wide range of global pharmaceutical industry issues, and has published white papers on many topics, including:

• Uptake and impact of innovative medicines, and challenges for Launch Excellence
• The relative strength and prognosis for the developed and the emerging pharmaceutical markets
• The global uptake and impact of multichannel marketing
• Biosimilars market opportunity and the drivers of market establishment
• Orphan drugs launch challenges
• Cell and Gene therapies commercialisation challenges and opportunity
• The evolution of the global Biologics market
• Africa pharmaceutical market opportunity and challenges

Sarah holds a degree in biochemistry from Oxford University.

Moderated by Paul Tunnah, CEO, pharmaphorum

Paul Tunnah is CEO and Founder of pharmaphorum media, which facilitates productive engagement for pharma, bringing healthcare together to drive medical innovation. It combines industry-leading content and social media engagement services with the globally recognised news, information and insight portal pharmaphorum.com, working with pharmaceutical companies, service providers and broader healthcare organisations to help communicate their thought leadership and connect them with relevant stakeholders.

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