The Economist Pharma Summit 2014: 20 Years of Debate: Pharmaceutical Industry Convenes at The Economist Events' Pharma Summit 2014 to Discuss Reinventing Business Models and Markets

LONDON, March 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The Economist Events' 20^th Annual Pharma Summit held in London yesterday was host to some of the industry's most high-profile leaders who offered their perspectives on a number of topical issues facing the sector. Sponsored by EY, this year's theme, 'Reinventing Business Models and Markets', observed the challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces in the current climate and the future of life science innovation.  

A broad range of viewpoints were given on how to deal with the most pressing of sector trends including the use of Big Data in healthcare, access to medicines and the exploration of new markets. Panel speakers offered contrasting and thought-provoking commentary leading to lively debate amongst the packed room of delegates.

Opening Keynote speaker, President,  Global R&D of Sanofi, Elias Zerhouni, stated: "Despite huge scientific innovation, our ability to produce health solutions is decreasing. In the past we had to wait for the patient to be sick before we intervened, the future will be the opposite. There is a need for more collaboration between industry and stakeholders on understanding population groups and disease biology."

Bruno Strigini, President, MSD Europe / Canada, during his presentation entitled Pharma Innovation in Action commented: "Innovation remains at the core of our industry and today's health challenges are too complex to be addressed by any single person or organisation. I am proud to work for the industry which is bringing innovation to patients."

Richard Price, Chief Executive Officer,  Academia.edu, speaking on a panel investigating the big data revolution in Pharma and Biotech, said: "Reproducibility is a major issue in science. Amgen found that 89% of the peer-reviewed literature in oncology was not reproducible. Bayer found similar levels of non-reproducibility. The incentive system in science is about getting papers published in scientific publications and not necessarily about publishing reproducible research. If we want to increase reproducibility in science, we need to make reproducibility a key metric that scientists are optimizing for. Scientists will figure out how to adapt their behaviour with reproducibility in mind."

John Milad, Chief Executive Officer,  Quanta Fluid Solutions speaking on a panel investigating paying for the future of R&D,concluded: "Europe is home to a rich tradition of innovation in science and medicine and is growing its critical mass of innovative healthcare companies. True innovation will be rewarded with investor support."

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