South Africa South African firm Aspen has inked a deal with Johnson & Johnson for the technical transfer and proposed commercial manufacture of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2-S, boosting the company’s share price as well as its global profile.   Aspen is best known internationally for bringing generic antiretrovirals for HIV to…

USA After five years with Takeda heading up the Japan-headquartered pharma company’s US business, following the organization’s 2019 USD 62 billion acquisition of US rare disease player Shire, Ramona Sequeira was appointed president of global portfolio commercialization and a member of Takeda’s global executive team in April 2020. In conversation with…

Europe With upcoming EU regulation poised to have a massive impact on ethical regulations around AI in Europe, Bayer Head of Digital Transformation Saskia Steinacker argues that the time is now for pharma executives to start preparing themselves and their teams for the future.   “We are in Healthcare. We are…

China PharmaBoardroom had the pleasure of interviewing HitGen chairman & CEO Dr Jin LI in July regarding the company’s focus on DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DEL) and their multipronged business strategy. Established in 2012, the company introduced the novel DEL technology platform to China.   As Dr Li recounted, “it was not…

Global Epidemiologist John-Arne Røttingen has had a long and distinguished career in both academia and industry, including stints at Oslo, Oxford and Harvard universities, as well as helping coordinate the WHO’s response to the West African Ebola virus epidemic of 2013-2016 and being the founding CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic…

Global Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson ignited a heated debate around vaccine nationalism earlier this year when he suggested that the US, having made the biggest initial investment in Sanofi’s COVID-19 vaccine development, should have the first call on any vaccine that the firm was subsequently able to bring to market. In…

Global During the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference last week, GSK global vaccines president Roger Connor shared some of his insights regarding the reorganization of GSK’s Consumer Health, Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines business units, their pandemic adjuvant system technology, and their – and the industry’s overall – commitment to COVID-19 vaccine…

Global Ipsen CEO David Loew took aim at the lip service often paid to the notion of ‘patient-centricity’ in pharma in conversation at the FT’s Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference last week and explained how the industry should take on a wider and deeper role in shaping healthcare systems, thereby creating…

USA David H. Crean, managing director for Objective Capital Partners, provides insights on US innovation and long term sustainability.   The life sciences industry within the United States makes significant contributions to both America’s health and economy and is a leader in R&D and innovation based on numerous proxies including patents received,…

Global During the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference earlier this week, four Big Pharma and biotech executives spoke about the changing power structure of the industry and the factors driving the evolution of the pharma innovation model. The session was moderated by Deloitte global life sciences and health care leader…

Canada Clint Sharples, CEO of Heritage Cannabis, gives a potted history of the medical cannabis industry in Canada, its current legal status, provincial variations in patient registrations, financial performance, the impact of COVID-19, and where the field is headed for the future.   The cannabis plant has been used as a…

Switzerland PharmaBoardroom highlights three of the most enterprising and dynamic pharma affiliate country managers working in Switzerland today and their strategies for success in one of the world’s most innovative nations.   Henrik Asmussen, General Manager, Amgen Switzerland   Danish national Henrik Asmussen, head of Amgen Switzerland since 2017, outlined the…