"As an Industry, We've Been too Focused on Regulatory Approval," Says Solvay Pharmaceuticals Eric Rambeaux at the Pharma Marketing Summit.

LONDON, November 26 - Rambeaux joined a host of other industry leaders at eyeforpharma's 9th
annual Pharma Marketing Summit 2009 conference in Berlin, where several key
themes concerning market access and industry change emerged:

- Transforming business culture from product-focused to customer-centric

- Marketing to changing stakeholders

- Pipeline strategies

- Balancing digital with traditional brand strategies

One of the main topics discussed was the past importance of getting
regulatory agency approval for a new drug. This is somewhat in contrast to
today's healthcare environment, where governments increasingly determine
price and the availability of drugs to patients through formulary
designation. Market access has become the "fourth hurdle" in successfully
bringing a drug to market.

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"Before a drug is even approved, we need to be sure market access
strategies are in place so that we can ensure profitability and future
funding of development programs and research," says Rajesh Gupta, former VP
Dermatology at Merck Serono and CEO of New Lab Life Sciences. "There's an
opportunity, I believe, to engage earlier with organisations like NICE in the
UK, to see what kind of endpoints would be useful to develop during phase III
to allow them to appraise new drugs a bit more easily."

It's not just about getting regulatory approval anymore, says Wolfgang
Walter, senior director of the sales force at Nycomed. Walter says pharmas
must focus on meeting the needs of a growing number of stakeholders,
including physicians, patients, governments and payers.

Eric Rambeaux, VP of business development and head of screening and
analytics at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, says his company has even reshaped its
organisation with market access in mind, addressing silos of R&D, marketing
and regulation to try to focus on the same goals.

"As an industry, we've been too focused on regulatory approval. It's just
one step - although an important one. But putting a drug on the market is
increasingly about getting the right people together from very early in
development to make sure that the drugs we're pursuing don't simply address
the easiest indication for the biggest market at the highest price, but that
it's the best compromise of these three areas."

Gupta, Walter and Rambeaux were amongst top executives from leading
pharmas, including Bayer, UCB, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Wyeth and
Roche, who also joined wider debates surrounding the healthcare industry.

Keynote Speakers:

Ian Talmage, Senior VP Marketing, Bayer: Demonstrate successful resource
allocation for launch and re-launch teams and analyse various benchmark
metrics.

Dr Jane Griffiths International VP, Europe North, Janssen-Cilag: Analysed
Market Access implementation with better strategies around Pricing, Health
Economics and Outcomes?

Veronique Toully, VP, UCB: Showed how to position the 3Ps -
Patients, Payers and healthcare Providers - at the front end of the company
strategy.

To catch up on what you missed in Berlin- purchase the video recording:

https://secure.firstconf.com/pharma/marketing/register.htm

The next eyeforpharma event is scheduled for:

Market Access: 2nd-3rd March, London
www.eyeforpharma.com/marketaccesseurope/

eMarketing: March 3rd-5th, Berlin www.eyeforpharma.com/emarketing/

SFE Europe: April 27th-29th, Barcelona www.eyeforpharma.com/sales/

    Contact:

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

Video:
multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/eyeforpharma/39243

Contact: Kate Eversole, VP Europe, eyeforpharma, T: +44(0)207-375-7594, E: keversole at eyeforpharma.com