The Change Agents Identified as vanguards in their respective sectors, these industry leaders are challenging the status quo to make a difference. Dr. Amrit Ray All-Around Global Medical Leadership A passionate leader devoted to bringing new medicines to patients for conditions to which cures have eluded medical science, Amrit Ray, M.D., is recognized for his achievements in the field of medical research in Europe, in India, at the Mayo clinic, and in the global pharmaceutical industry. His demonstrated commitment to patients is the start of a legacy that extends well beyond the bounds of his current role as worldwide medical team leader, diversified products, for Pfizer Inc. Dr. Ray was recently called to address the World Health Organization in Geneva regarding his work on hormone medications and women’s bone health. In addition, Dr. Ray’s efforts have been central to the development and launch of two new medicines. These medicines are expected to help tens of millions of women who are seeking treatment for the pain of endometriosis or who want highly effective contraception. Attending 11 schools and five universities on three continents has had some benefits for Dr. Ray. While some might view this as a challenge, he saw this as an opportunity to learn how to get along with people from all walks of life. That versatility has been an asset for what he calls his three career steps: first in medicine and academic research, then as a business strategist for McKinsey, and now as a pharmaceutical researcher using both medicine and strategy to drive R&D for a large business unit at Pfizer. Dr. Ray believes the key to effective pharmaceutical R&D is being strategic and flexible. He believes the future pharmaceutical industry needs to evolve its mindset from very narrow and deep — but sometimes finite and disconnected — silos of expertise to new structures that seamlessly embrace multiple skills to get medicines to the market. Solutions have to keep up with the problems, and complex skill and experience bases are the only way to tackle today’s increasingly taxing challenges. The industry needs “conductors,” people with broad sets of expertise and knowledge across industry silos, including the laboratory, the clinic, strategic decision making, and financial analysis. The ability to scrutinize research with a number of different lenses is where value will be created, according to Dr. Ray. Engendering passion and driving change in each individual’s contributions will increase performance in pharmaceutical research. Throughout his career, Amrit Ray, M.D., has been an inspiring leader, demonstrating extraordinary tenacity for overcoming difficult obstacles. As Worldwide Medical Team Leader, Diversified Products, for Pfizer Inc., he deconstructs complex R&D problems, evaluates alternatives, and acts decisively to drive through solutions. Dr. Philip Gerbino A Driving Force in Pharmacy Philip P. Gerbino, Pharm.D., has been a student, educator, administrator, publisher, lecturer, facilitator, researcher, marketer, consultant, advisor, and more recently president of the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (USP). Dr. Gerbino has transitioned the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences to university status, creating the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and he has been redefining and positioning the university to be an integral player in providing innovative solutions in pharmaceutical care to the pharmaceutical industry, managed-care organizations, and government agencies. USP includes Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Misher College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Health Sciences, and the College of Graduate Studies. Dr. Gerbino continues to serve on editorial boards and advisory panels on pharmacy and medical and healthcare publications. He has served, or continues to serve, on boards of private and public healthcare companies and professional and civic organizations. As President, Philip P. Gerbino, Pharm.D., transitioned the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences to university status, creating the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. August 2005 PharmaVOICE PharmaVOICE 100 Murray Aitken Shifting the Paradigm A desire to change perceptions and help pharmaceutical companies see that from uncertainty springs opportunity is mission critical for Murray L. Aitken, senior VP of corporate strategy at IMS Health Inc. He is passionate about telling the real story … the one about the unrecognized contributions pharmaceutical companies make every day to advancing healthcare, eradicating diseases through decades of research and billions of dollars in development, accelerating innovation, and improving the quality of physician and patient decision-making. But Mr. Aitken doesn’t just talk the talk. In 2004, he created Health IQ, a publication that laid out six frontiers for advancing healthcare and, through real-world research-based examples, showed the industry just how to get from point A to point B. This year, he spearheaded Intelligence.360, another publication that arms pharma with the intelligence to navigate rough global waters. Mr. Aitken’s experiences from around the world — from growing up on a sheep farm in New Zealand to Harvard University onto professional assignments in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Connecticut — have been instrumental in developing a broad view of people and issues. He is currently part of a team leading IMS through a transformation from a traditional data company to one that is a provider of information, analytics, and consulting to the global pharmaceutical industry. He was brought into IMS in June 2001 initially to lead the consulting and services practice. Mr. Aitken is proud of the work he and his company, as well as others in the field, are doing to demonstrate the value of information in improving evidence-based healthcare. He believes that by leveraging these data and working more closely with pharmaceutical manufacturers to apply this information to public health and policy issues, there are opportunities to shift the paradigm in the way healthcare is practiced around the world. For Murray L. Aitken, Senior VP of Corporate Strategy at IMS Health Inc., shifting the paradigm to improve the quality of evidence-based healthcare around the world is mission critical. Teri Cox Inspired Spirit With passion, integrity, and zeal, Teri P. Cox has dedicated her professional life to changing the paradigm between pharmaceutical companies, the general public, patients, and nonprofit organizations to raise the level of communications for the benefit of all. The projects and engagements that Ms. Cox, senior managing partner of Cox Communications Partners, has enjoyed the most are those that have resulted in positive, effective, successful partnerships between industry and the nonprofit sector, that have benefited the common good, and that have improved conditions for patients and their loved ones. Before founding her own communications company, Ms. Cox worked at both pharmaceutical companies and public-relations firms. She has demonstrated leadership in creating and directing successful national, regional, and state programs for healthcare companies and third-party organizations. These programs have had a lasting impact in areas such as prostate cancer awareness, tobacco control, the caregivers community, and the advancement of women in the healthcare industry, to name a few. She accomplishes this by bringing together public relations, advocacy, communications, marketing, pharmaceutical and consumer products companies, professional and trade associations, education and research institutions, governments, and nonprofit voluntary health agencies to find a common vision for the benefit of all involved. Her peers say her dedication, strategic thinking, and uncanny ability to consider all interests and find a middle ground make her an asset to the industry as well as an inspiration to work with. A key to Ms. Cox’s professional and personal successes is the recognition that “we are not alone in this world.” A volunteer for many organizations, she believes that by using her gifts to help others and striving to make the world a better place she has been rewarded 10-fold for her efforts. In addition to the personal satisfaction she gains helping others, Ms. Cox has been celebrated numerous times for her work, and this September she will be awarded the St. George Medal, the highest recognition given to volunteers by the American Cancer Society’s national home office. For Teri P. Cox, Senior Managing Partner of Cox Communications Partners, there is no greater satisfaction than bringing together a disparate group of stakeholders to improve the lives of patients and their loved ones. August 2005 PharmaVOICE 100 Dr. Timothy Pratt Champion of Change Upon arriving in the United States in 1998, Timothy Pratt, Ph.D., had a desire to change and improve processes, and the Australian native has successfully done so at Medtronic Inc., Guidant Corp., and in his current role as chief marketing officer and principal scientific advisor at MedNet Solutions. For him, a new location and culture was a real sea change; he encountered many people who were attached to existing paradigms, and his challenge was to step in and effect change. He is constantly challenging the status quo to encourage people to think differently. He doesn’t think in terms of what is currently possible or in terms of what other people have done in the past, but applies different methodologies to a given challenge to achieve the outcome. By exploding known boundaries, he explores ways to achieve end goals that are more cost-effective and efficient, particularly when it comes to implementing new technology solutions. What his colleagues call “good business sense” is Dr. Pratt’s innate ability to look further down the path and devise a solution to a problem or project for the longer term. Beginning with the end in mind and not limiting himself to a particular paradigm or way of thinking, he works to achieve that goal. His measure of success is creating products or solutions that are more cost-effective and easier to use than those that currently exist. With a broad background and experience in marketing, clinical and medical affairs, and a good business sense, Timothy Pratt, Ph.D., Chief Marketing Officer and Principal Scientific Advisor at MedNet Solutions, is challenging the status quo to shift the current paradigm of thinking in the life-sciences industry. Dr. Barry Arnold Unraveling the Regulatory Knot There is a story of three men in a quarry knocking the edges with a lump of stone. Each man was asked in turn what he was doing. The first man responded, “I’m hitting a rock.” The second said, “I’m making a building block.” The third man replied, “I’m building a better global pharmaceutical industry.” According to those who know him, that third man is Barry Arnold, M.B., B.Ch., VP of clinical drug safety at AstraZeneca. Dr. Arnold has the rare ability to stand back and see the big regulatory picture. His clarity and decisive response to any question immediately shows not only his understanding of the issue but also how a regulatory initiative fits into the specific needs of his company’s business, as well as the global pharmaceutical industry. If something needs to be said about safety regulations, Dr. Arnold will be the one to say it. For Dr. Arnold, solutions should be simple, practical, and suffice the needs of industry and regulators; and if he believes regulations are impractical, he is not shy about voicing his opinion. It is that conviction that has led Dr. Arnold to take a role in harmonizing regulations in Europe. He is chairman of the pharmacovigilance working group for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations, which reviews regulations as they are being prepared and provides constructive comments to help the regulators understand practical implications. He has been on the MedRA management board, and he contributes to ICH activities as well. Dr. Arnold wants to be remembered as the person who helped unravel the “knotted twine” of drug safety regulation. In his role as VP of Clinical Drug Safety at AstraZeneca and through participation on various global regulatory committees, Barry Arnold, M.B., B.Ch., is widely acknowledged as the “voice of reason” throughout the industry. Robert Swanson A Father of Industry Robert Swanson was truly a pioneer, visionary, and mentor, and his legacy continues to inspire the industry. Regarded by many as the man who started the biotech industry, Mr. Swanson founded Genentech in 1976, when he was only 29 years old. Before starting the company, Mr. Swanson had been a venture capitalist with Kleiner & Perkins (now Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers). He was captivated by new techniques for gene splicing, which were pioneered by Dr. Herb Boyer and Dr. Stan Cohen. Dr. Boyer granted the young Mr. Swanson a few minutes of his time, which expanded into a three-hour meeting and ultimately resulted in the formation of Genentech. Mr. Swanson even managed to convince his then boss, Thomas Perkins, of the merits of the plan, and Kleiner & Perkins agreed to provide seed money for the venture. Success was rapid; by 1978 Genentech scientists had cloned human insulin, and in 1982 the first recombinant DNA drug, human insulin, was marketed and licensed to Eli Lilly. Mr. Swanson was Genentech’s CEO from its inception until 1990, when he became chairman. A hugely successful leader, Mr. Swanson nevertheless would not rest on his laurels. He formed K&E Management, a private investment management firm, after retiring from Genentech in 1996 and also was chairman of Tularik Inc., a biotech company created to develop drugs based on gene expression. Though he died tragically young, at the age of 52 after a battle with brain cancer, his legacy is enduring. Not only is Genentech one of the biggest and most successful companies in the industry, it also has spawned other successes. Many people who gained their first biotech experience under Mr. Swanson went on to form their own companies, and the Genentech leader also nurtured many start ups. Even leaders who did not work directly with Mr. Swanson point to his huge influence on them, including other high-profile entrepreneurs. Perhaps what made Mr. Swanson such a successful and much-loved leader was the huge interest he took in all of his employees. Those who joined Genentech in its early years say he knew all 400 or so of the company’s first employees by name and by the work they did. It’s that personal interaction, combined with a culture based on achievement, that encouraged his people to excel. Robert Swanson, who passed away in 1999, founded Genentech Inc. in 1976, sparking a revolution throughout the life-sciences industry. Rebellious Creativity Kevin McMurtry From providing an efficient method for salesforce logistics to having a system to protect companies in an ever-increasing world of compliance scrutiny, Kevin McMurtry, president, CEO, and founder of Advanced Health Media Inc. (AHM), is driving positive change in the medical-education arena during a challenging time in the industry. Born out of his frustration with the status quo and a desire to pursue what he saw as a huge opportunity, Mr. McMurtry founded AHM and is revolutionizing the way that the pharmaceutical industry approaches and manages medical-education events through custom software and operational and compliance solutions. He describes himself as a rebellious creative, willing to take risks, and has developed a business model dedicated to disseminating information via a professional speakers bureau for the pharmaceutical industry. He founded AHM on the platforms of sophisticated technology and exceptional customer service. His ability to see needs and opportunities and apply this vision to create novel approaches to fill voids is inspiring to clients and employees alike. Mr. McMurtry’s personal care for his customers and employees has created a company that exists to serve both. His leadership of the AHM team provides the standard for doing the best for every customer every day, and he has created an environment where employees are proud of their work on behalf of their clients. Kevin McMurtry, President, CEO, and Founder of Advanced Health Media Inc., is revolutionizing the way that the pharmaceutical industry approaches and manages medical-education events. Jack Barrette Revolutionizing the Market With a passionate belief that he and his team are going to change healthcare forever, Jack Barrette isn’t just selling an advertising program; rather he believes that he can help harness the Internet to make Americans healthier. As category development officer at Yahoo! Inc., every day he’s helping marketers see the tremendous opportunity the Internet offers. With hundreds and millions of consumers online every day for hours, Mr. Barrette believes the Internet and Yahoo! can revolutionize healthcare. Mr. Barrette doesn’t want to just go along for the ride; he wants to be an integral part of making the Web a central tool to help Americans become healthier and improve the delivery, the quality, the perception, and the outcomes of healthcare. Mr. Barrette recognizes that in any revolution there are battles to be fought and won. The pharmaceutical industry’s infamously protracted timelines, regulatory scrutiny, privacy concerns, and the relative newness of consumer advertising are just a few of the hurdles to overcome. But Mr. Barrette believes that pharmaceutical and other health companies are at a tipping point. He is excited by the opportunities to hook up their marketing and education programs to what he calls the “fire hose” of 120 million U.S. consumers visiting Yahoo! every month. Moreover, he envisions a time when every Yahoo! e-mail account might be secure, so patients can talk online with their physicians, or a dashboard for healthcare where U.S. consumers could see their insurance plan or their drug plan next to their diets and the latest health news so they can make truly transparent decisions and feel completely empowered to manage their own health. Jack Barrette, Category Development Officer at Yahoo! Inc., is passionate in his belief that the Internet can revolutionize healthcare, and he wants to play a part in making people’s lives better and healthier. Dr. Edward Penhoet A Biotech Pioneer Edward Penhoet, Ph.D., has more than made his mark on both the biotechnology and the academic worlds, inspiring others to take the bold step of becoming part of the now well-established industry. Dr. Penhoet was a much-acclaimed faculty member of the Biochemistry Department of U.C. Berkeley and later served as Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley. Like the small group of visionaries who believed in the biotech dream, Dr. Penhoet stepped beyond the boundaries of academia to cofound Chiron Corp. in 1981. His achievements have won numerous accolades, including the first Distinguished Faculty Award in the Life Sciences from the department of Molecular and Cell Biology at U.C. Berkeley, the Northern California Entrepreneur of the Year Award presented by Ernst & Young and Inc. magazine, and the Harvard Business School Northern California Alumni Chapter award as Entrepreneur of the Year. For 17 years, Dr. Penhoet was at the helm at Chiron, but despite his busy schedule he always found time to devote to other programs. He has served as chairman of the California Health Care Institute, of the Chabot Space and Science Center, and of the Bay Area Bioscience Center. Dr. Penhoet is also a member of the board of Renovis Inc., which he helped to establish. Currently, Dr. Penhoet is president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and is a partner with Alta Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in the biotech industry. In addition, he serves as vice chairman of the governing committee for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was established to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other research opportunities. In each role, Dr. Penhoet has been an inspiration to many young entrepreneurs and leaders. As one of the front-runners in the biotech industry, Chiron Cofounder Edward Penhoet, Ph.D., has been an inspiration to many young entrepreneurs. Currently, he serves as a Partner with Alta Partners. Grant Corbett Grant Corbett knows behavior change — and that improving medication compliance requires revisiting consumer marketing. As founder and principal of Behavior Change Solutions Inc. (BCS), Mr. Corbett is helping pharma evolve traditional segmentation research and message communication. This approach is most useful for motivating the purchase of products that consumers learned to use and make a part of their lifestyles early on, for example toothpaste and some OTC medications. But most adult consumers have not accepted long-term use of many acute- and chronic-disease medications. Thus, BCS has uncovered ways to capture knowledge of what motivates and maintains behaviors and has interpreted that understanding for brand strategy. For example, BCS identified four principles of effective compliance interventions from a 10-plus-year review of consumer-marketing, communication, medical, and social-psychological research. These provide clear insight on the marketing implications of brand research learnings, so that tactics are not driven solely by intuition or hypotheses. The principles also can make it clear why a strategy or tactic will or won’t work. Another example is the role of healthcare practitioners. Mr. Corbett points out that, while physicians have been the primary means of bringing drugs to patients, they are having minimal impact on improving compliance. But studies that “activate” patients do increase adherence. This is not patient disease education, which has no effect on compliance, but a motivational strategy to engage consumers from the first diagnosis through physician tools, print materials, online content, and so on. Thus, principles of change and patient activation are opportunities that warrant a revisiting of strategy. Understanding how consumers change behaviors can effectively increase their adherence to medications. Grant Corbett, Founder and Principal of Behavior Change Solutions Inc., is helping transform the way in which adherence programs are being implemented by pharmaceutical companies. Shifting Behavior, One Marketer at a Time Anjali Kataria Up to the Challenge With a love of science and research, Anjali Kataria is working to transform the life-sciences sector. As the cofounder and VP of business development of Conformia Software Inc., she helps companies address complex production, scale-up, and compliance challenges; foster innovation; and achieve business goals by providing enterprise software solutions that enable them to more effectively manage the entire process of product development, from candidate selection to commercial manufacturing, in near real time. As a young researcher, Ms. Kataria recognized that there were gross inefficiencies throughout the new drug development life-cycle process. Ms. Kataria realizes massive change requires change agents, as well as a dedicated and capable team, to sustain the transformation. Ms. Kataria and her team are bringing together leading pharmaceutical companies, key scientific and process development experts, and the FDA under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to create a series of work processes, information guidelines, and solutions for process development improvement. For Anjali Kataria, Cofounder and VP of Business Development of Conformia Software Inc., ensuring the quality, safety, and accessibility of the world’s drug supply is the most challenging problem facing the life-sciences industry today. Chris Downey Hard-Wired for Change Change just comes naturally to Chris Downey. As the former director of Genentech Inc.’s Commercial Excellence Leadership and Learning (CELL) from 2001 to 2004, Mr. Downey created a vision and executed organizational change that supported the company’s growth from 4,500 employees in 1999 to more than 7,500 in 2005. When Mr. Downey joined Genentech’s commercial training group in 2000, it was a “bologna and cheese training operation,” as he describes it. The department had a five-person staff supporting 125 field-based sales representatives; it was focused on product training and offered little in the way of sales training. At the same time, Genentech was facing an unprecedented opportunity for growth, including four major product launches and line extensions. The company’s senior leadership laid out a vision in which the organization could become a commercial powerhouse that would move Genentech from a $1 billion company to a $5 billion company. It became apparent to Mr. Downey that the company needed to think differently, and he needed to be able to share the vision of where the organization was going. In just five years, Mr. Downey took the commercial training department from a small group of ex-sales people with a limited training scope to a 40-person department encompassing change management, project management, leadership development, and marketing excellence programs, including electronic learning capacity and virtual classrooms. In 2004, Mr. Downey moved out of the commercial training department to become a director of planning and pipeline marketing, where he is now responsible for developing and implementing a consistent and efficient brand planning, tactical planning, and budgeting process for the commercial organization. Mr. Downey describes himself as being hard-wired to continually look for ways of changing the organization, and he says he thrives on developing ways to positively impact the company and motivate those around him to embrace different ways of re-evaluating the status quo. Chris Downey, now Director of Planning and Pipeline Marketing at Genentech Inc., is recognized for transforming the commercial training group that helped support the company’s growth from 4,500 employees in 1999 to more than 7,500 in 2005. Theresa Kane Musser Making Things Happen The life-sciences industry continues to thrive because of dedicated and passionate practitioners, such as Theresa Kane Musser, whose determined efforts enhance the well-being of people all over the world. Although some in the life-sciences industry may put a lot of stock in the advanced degrees behind a person’s name, Ms. Kane Musser says her career proves that everyone has the power to make things happen, regardless of credentials. What it does take, she believes, is passion — along with energy and vision — to drive success in the life sciences. For her, there is no greater satisfaction than knowing that she has played a part in people’s lives because of the drugs she has helped to develop. Ms. Kane Musser entered the life-sciences industry nearly 25 years ago, with a B.A. in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Over the course of her career, she spent eight years at SmithKlineBeecham and 12 years at Genentech Inc., where she helped develop Herceptin, a therapy for metastatic breast cancer, and Xolair, a medication for allergic asthma. Now, as executive director of development operations for Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., she is responsible for the company’s allergic rhinitis and rheumatoid arthritis projects. She is an inspiration to all those she mentors. By leveraging each team member’s strength, she helps to advance the vision and achieve the end result. For example, she ensures that individuals who generate data during the course of a project are the ones to present the information during committee meetings. She believes it’s important to listen to every team member’s perspective and to make people at every level of the organization realize they can contribute to the success of helping drugs reach the market. She also demonstrates her commitment to drug development through her ongoing participation in the Drug Information Association (DIA). For 20 years, Ms. Kane Musser has been an active member of the DIA, and she currently serves as its president. Her leadership and guidance recently motivated DIA staff and volunteers to make its 41st Annual Meeting the largest event ever held by the organization. As Executive Director of Development Operations at Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Acting President of the DIA, Theresa Kane Musser’s determined efforts are enhancing the well-being of people all over the world. Ahead of the Curve With a nursing background, teaching experience, leadership positions at pharmaceutical companies, and the business acumen gained from creating the first integrated public health service system for women and children in the State of Vermont, Joy Morrell is ahead of the curve when it comes to opening up new avenues of growth for clients and developing product offerings that expand the portfolio of services offered by The Therapeutics Institute (TTI), a division of Ventiv Commercial Services. As VP and managing director of TTI, Ms. Morrell leads a team of medical science liaisons and clinical educators to create and expand market opportunities and achieve business objectives for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry nationwide. Ms. Morrell has learned from her mentors, in particular the physician who led the division that became the committee for health for the State of Vermont, that good communications are essential to making teams successful. By developing good communications skills, showing respect for colleagues and clients, and listening to others she has been able to meet challenges and succeed. She stresses that these skills are an important discipline to foster because without a continuing path of communication, good ideas may not come to fruition. Through her experience, collaborative approach, and leadership skills, she inspires her colleagues to continuously identify and deliver new services to meet the needs of customers. She recently spearheaded the development of a Ventiv Patient Registry as an adjunct capability to her clinical educator teams, providing yet another nonpromotional vehicle for pharmaceutical companies to expand their market opportunities. Through her experience, collaborative approach, and leadership skills, Joy Morrell, VP and Managing Director of The Therapeutics Institute of Ventiv Commercial Services, drives her colleagues to identify and deliver new services to meet the needs of a very competitive marketplace. Joy Morrell
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