Confronting dual health crises
David Renwick describes Emergent Biosolution’s response to dealing with both the ongoing opioid crisis and the continuing pandemic (1,100 words, 5.5 minutes)
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Emergent Biosolutions may be best known to the public, governments and the investment community for its vaccines and naloxone nasal spray (Narcan), used to treat opiate overdoses. However, according to the company’s Canadian general manager, Emergent also prefers to be identified with “contract manufacturing, and in medical countermeasures.”
David Renwick describes the latter category as medicines and medical supplies used to treat and prevent diseases related to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear public health emergencies. Emergent is a multinational biopharmaceutical company founded 23 years ago in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Speaking on the NPC Podcast of the National Pharmaceutical Congress, Renwick (photo below) spoke about Emergent’s role in the biopharmaceutical industry and how the company has dealt with the pandemic and opioid crisis concurrently.
“The business is focused as a public health threat company. They have done a lot of work extensively with the military applications and the U.S. military specifically,” said Renwick. “Emergent has said right from the get-go that their mission is to protect and enhance life. And I think that’s unique. I think it’s also something that we hear a lot about right across our client industry.”
The pandemic has affected Emergent’s team, many of whom have been restricted to working at home. In particular, he said, it is felt by the field-based part of the organization. “Those folks are anxious to get out and do the work they do best, and that’s best-done face to face,” said Renwick.
However, Emergent has also shown its strength in adapting to the pandemic. “We instituted a kind of flexible work arrangement where people could essentially choose to work in the office or from their home, depending upon the nature of their job and the nature of the requirements to meet face to face,” he stated.
In dealing with two different health crises simultaneously, Renwick said, “the pandemic has tragically worsened the opioid overdose crisis. This country lost 7,200 lives last year due to the opioid overdose crisis, which works out to approximately 19 people a day.” Renwick mentioned Emergent’s attempt at community outreach during the opioid crisis.
“Our First Nations communities were deeply affected by the opioid crisis and were not getting much information and awareness. One of the things that we’ve been very successful at is working with government stakeholders to broaden the distribution of products to get it to those communities.”
When discussing the future of the life sciences industry and the involvement of technology in the space, Renwick said, “I think how we use those tools and how we apply them in an ever-changing environment will be instrumental for us to be successful. I think there’s a bright future for all those things, but at the end of the day, we have to continue to remind people why we do what we do and the purpose of what we do because that ultimately is going to carry the day.”
THIS WEEK 05/31/22
Dermavant Sciences announced that the U.S. FDA approved Vtama (tapinarof), an aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist, for the topical treatment of plaque psoriasis in adults. According to the press release, Vtama is the first FDA-approved steroid-free topical medication in its class.
Servier announced that the U.S. FDA approved TIBSOVO (ivosidenib tablets) in combo with azacitidine to treat newly diagnosed IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults 75 years or older or who have comorbidities that prevent them from receiving intensive induction chemotherapy.
Karyopharm Therapeutics and the Menarini Group announced that the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended the approval of NEXPOVIO (selinexor.) The Tx is an oral exportin 1 (XPO1) inhibitor, used in combo with once-weekly bortezomib (Velcade) and low-dose dexamethasone (SVd) for Tx of adults with multiple myeloma.
Pharmascience Canada launched PRpms-Teriflunomide, a generic drug with bioequivalence to AUBAGIO. The Rx is indicated for treating adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and reduces symptom frequency.
LISTEN NOW
In Season Seven of the NPC Podcast, James Cran, Founder and CEO of Pharma Consultants Inc., talks about the evolution of pharma marketing, healthcare’s consumerization, and leading by example in virtual workplaces. 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 stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree each week.
2006 Inductee
Daryl Erickson
Beaconsfield, Que.
Editor’s Note: Medical Communications Group Inc. was sold in October 2013 and is now Ashfield Canada Inc. Daryl’s son Jason Erickson is the CEO.
Few industries can inspire the entrepreneurial spirit quite like the pharma industry, and nobody knows this better than Daryl Erickson, president of Medical Communications Group Inc. His rewarding 12-year career in pharmaceutical sales provided the inspiration for a successful service to the pharma industry, and to practicing physicians.
Erickson’s 30-year association with healthcare started in the early ’70s when a relative introduced the aspiring high school teacher to the world of pharma. He laughs as he recalls a job interview with a woman at a placement agency who suggested, “You’re a Libra, and Libras make excellent pharma reps.” In 1973, he was hired by Horner Pharmaceuticals as a sales rep with a territory covering Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula. Erickson was euphoric with a starting salary of $7,400 and a 1972 Plymouth station wagon as a company car. “Back then, for a guy driving a Volkswagen Beetle to university--that was huge!”
By 1977, Erickson was heading up the Sales and Training Department in Horner’s head office in Montreal, planning to head back to Ontario in two years. By 1982, however, it was clear he wouldn’t be returning when Abbott came calling with an offer that he couldn’t refuse. “I learned to love Quebec, and I’ve been here ever since.” he chuckles.
After two years at Abbott, and at the age of 40, Erickson tired of the corporate life and struck out on his own. Married and with two children, he admits the move was “scary,” but in 1985 started Direct Access Communications. It was a “virtual” salesforce concept consisting of nurses who provided product information and updates to physicians via telephone. A year later, Erickson would use his background and experiences in pharma to define a new business concept that would address glaring problems in pharmaceutical sampling.
Erickson noted that unused and expired samples were spilling out of doctors’ supply cabinets as a rep. It was the catalyst for Erickson’s next business venture in 1986, Physicians’ Hotline, which streamlined disseminating samples and educational materials by providing samples to physicians on demand.
The process required physicians to sign up for a six-month program, then call and order samples from a catalogue by phone was “a tough sell.” But he credits many friends and colleagues in the industry for helping him on his way. He’s particularly grateful to his former boss at Horner, who heartily endorsed the idea, awarding him three of the company’s products and the use of their entire doctor database. The kindness of the gesture still overwhelms him.
However, the defining moment for the fledgling company occurred in a late-afternoon meeting with Janssen-Ortho. “I had six or seven products, but I knew I had to have at least 12 to make it viable,” Erickson says, and his hopes were pinned on snagging one of Ortho’s key contraceptive products. However, to his delight, the team awarded Erickson four of their oral contraceptives. He clearly remembers “calmly saying thanks, walking to the car, rolling up the windows,” and unable to contain his excitement, “I slugged the dashboard and cracked it in half.”
Today, the Physicians’ Hotline catalogue features 190 insertions and ships around 6,000 orders a month on the program. “It’s always a thrill to hear pharmaceutical reps tell me that they see the Physicians’ Hotline book on doctor’s desks all the time when they’re making calls.”
NEXT WEEK
In the 06/07 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, Pat Forsythe, General Manager of Eisai Inc., talks about virtual work practices, real-world evidence, and learning from differing workplace cultures in pharma. 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.