Building effective business development in pharma
Jody Engel draws on her 15 years of pharma experience to assess changes in new business development (1,110 words, 5.5 minutes)
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For pharma companies, gaining access to the pharmaceutical market has become more complex in recent years, and asset acquisition and business development can be a struggle. According to Jody Engel, partnering with another pharma company may solve these problems. She is the country lead for Canada at Knight Therapeutics of Montreal.
During a recent episode of the NPC Podcast, Engel explained how Pan-American market contacts help make Knight Therapeutics an appealing partner for companies that want to out-license therapies. She is the Canada Country Lead for Montreal-based Knight, a business that focuses on licensing drugs from international suppliers for Canadian and Latin American markets.
According to Engel, new business development has changed in pharma. “Licensing and acquisitions—especially in Canada—have certainly become more challenging [in the past 15 years],” she said. “There’s more competition for in-licensing products. It’s become a lot more difficult and [the process] takes a lot longer.”
According to Engel, more competition for in-licensing has meant many companies without assets such as production facilities and equipment struggle to make deals.
Engel explained that Knight’s unique footprint in Canada and Latin America makes the process of in-licensing products easier to navigate. “I think in today’s world, you have got to be a little bit more creative,” said Engel.
Knight’s business model of in-licensing different products to different regions helps avoid the barriers to entry, she said.
In one example, Knight Therapeutics recently finalized a licensing agreement with Helsinn for two products. Helsinn is a Swedish company that produces cancer therapeutics. “The agreement is one product [Akynzeo (netupitant/palonosetron)] for Canada, Brazil, Argentina and other Latin American countries and one product for Canada only [Aloxi (palonosetron hydrochloride)].” Both products are antiemetics that help to prevent some side effects of chemotherapy.
Engel supports market access initiatives on a global basis for Knight. Her responsibilities include forming in-licensing agreements between Latin American regions and Canada.
“As a Pan-American company, [Knight] provides a unique footprint. So, as a partner organization, we work through territories that make sense for both parties.”
THIS WEEK 07/19/22
Arcutis Canada announced that Health Canada accepted a New Drug Submission (NDS) for roflumilast cream 0.3% (ARQ-151) for plaque psoriasis in adults and teenagers. Market authorization has not yet been received in Canada. In December 2021, the U.S. FDA also granted a new drug application (NDA) to roflumilast for treating plaque psoriasis.
Provepharm, a French pharmaceutical company, announced that the U.S. FDA has granted a New Drug Approval for Bludigo (indigotindisulfonate Sodium), an indigo carmine injectable used in the cystoscopic assessment of the integrity of adult ureters.
The Government of Canada signed a new contract with GSK seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines. The contract will last four years with the option to extend for up to five additional one-year periods. The contract guarantees the supply of a minimum of four million doses of seasonal influenza vaccine annually for use in publicly funded vaccination programs.
Mycovia Pharmaceuticals announced the U.S. availability of Vivjoa (oteseconazole). It’s an azole antifungal prescribed to reduce the incidence of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) in women with a history of the disease who are not of “reproductive potential.”
LISTEN NOW
In season seven of the NPC Podcast, Michael Stone, General Manager for Canada of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, talks about taking on a leadership role during the pandemic, attracting younger, tech-savvy talent and the relevance of an education degree in pharma. Hear him in conversation with podcast co-hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they represent a cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honoree each week.
2004 Inductee
Sheila Gittelman
Montreal
Editor’s note: Sheila is now a Media Consultant at S.G. Media.
In the 22 years that Sheila Gittelman has spent in healthcare advertising, she says she’s been “blessed” to work in an industry characterized by so much professionalism. “I really do love my job - it’s not only the people I work with directly but also people I work with in media, the reps and publishers.”
Gittelman, a self-admitted late-bloomer in the industry, launched her career in her 30s after being a stay-at-home mom for many years. In 1982, serendipity led her to Gall Communications when her then-husband introduced her to company founder Jim Gall. At Gall, at that time the agency of record for Hoffmann-LaRoche and Pfizer, she became “a master of all trades,” learning about media planning from the ground up and discovering a love for numbers. “I
never thought math was a strength of mine--I was never a ‘math maven,’ but I enjoyed what’s involved with media planning,” she observes.
As the company evolved from a partnership with Sudler & Hennessey to S&H’s eventual acquisition of Gall, Gittelman found that the lessons she learned at Gall had served her well. “Through [Jim] I learned that the pharmaceutical industry is all about professionalism. In terms of my work, he taught me that there’s more than what meets the eye, how to go beyond the superficial numbers and dig up the type of information or creative solutions that help clients build successful brands.” She learned quickly that readership numbers were insufficient to determine a brand's best buy. “It’s also looking at what my competitors have been doing and what their plans have achieved. It’s taking that plus the readership and putting together a plan and analyzing it against all the readership data, revising it, and coming back until you finally get what you want.”
Gittelman laughs at the early years when the readership studies were relatively new. “I’d get calls each month when the PMCQ dinner was happening or when the readership data was coming out, and everybody wanted to call me and tell me how great their numbers were. I would say you know what, I have the numbers just as well as you do. If you have something new you want to show me, I’d be glad to see you, but don’t come in and tell me about the numbers.”
Gittelman admits that not everyone may appreciate her straightforward honesty but concedes she has difficulty being anything but. However, she adds, “I enjoy a good laugh. Laughter is like jogging on the inside. Someone once said that when I’m not there, they miss my smile. I think life is wonderful, my job is wonderful and the people I work with are wonderful. How could you not smile coming into work every morning?”
NEXT WEEK
In the 07/25 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, Steve Saviuk, CEO of Valeo Pharma, talks about returning to in-person workplace interactions, family roots influencing company culture and standing out in the respiratory therapy market. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.
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