Paying it forward for Pharma colleagues during Covid-19
Sheila Frame of Sandoz discusses how she is using social networking to help her industry colleagues during the pandemic
NPC Healthbiz Weekly is presented to you in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions
In an effort to pay it forward and help fellow Pharma colleagues during the pandemic, Sheila Frame took to her LinkedIn account in September with a post offering to assist connections looking for jobs.
Frame, the vice president of marketing, market access and patient services at Sandoz, a division of Novartis, wrote in September, “If you have been laid off, furloughed, or are otherwise job seeking, and we've worked together in the past, had a coffee, lunch, drink, a phone call, or even are just friends of friends, please don't hesitate to get in touch and let me know how I can help you.”
She said she got the idea from a colleague at another company and decided to follow suit.
“I love people and I think as part of Covid-19 we are all feeling a little bit isolated. I am definitely an extrovert, so I miss being able to interact with people,” said Frame (photo below) on a recent episode of the NPC Podcast, a program for Pharma executives hosted by Peter Brenders. Brenders is CEO of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. (Listen to the episode here.)
“I have been very privileged in my career to have worked around the world, and I have maintained a lot of contacts and connections. I was absolutely blown away by the number of people who commented and who have reached out,” Frame continued.
“It's just so heartwarming in these times to think that people want to help each other, and not only in our industry but obviously across all industries.”
Using the positive feedback from her post, Frame is now trying to offer advice to her fellow industry leaders on how they can help provide leadership to those impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
She admits some areas of Pharma could be restructured fundamentally.
“I think as we head into month [eight] and beyond, [the question remains] are we ever really going back to the previous commercial and medical model that we had before?” Frame questioned. “I think that's where people are actually looking at - not only the fear of losing what they currently have, but also how can they rescale themselves.”
Frame said she has been fielding calls from a variety of her industry colleagues over the past several months but remains uncertain whether that is due to people’s desire to network or a way of adding human interaction to their day.
“As we all know that's the way we all get ahead is through connections, I can't honestly say whether it's the desire to network for a job, or whether it's the deep need that we all have for human interaction right now, and it's probably a bit of both,” Frame said.
“I used to travel 50 to 60 per cent of my time and the mental downtime, that I had from travelling, I would use to stay in touch with people through LinkedIn. I miss it.”
The takeaway: While she is not planning on starting the “Sheila Frame Coaching Academy” any time soon, Frame said she’s had two apps fed to her phone by Novartis to help get through the challenges of Covid-19. “One of them is called Tignum and it's all about managing your energy and really preparing for those high-performance moments, instead of running from one to another,” Frame said. “The second piece that they really pushed on us is mindfulness, and that was not something that I hadn't really ever experienced.”
Further reading: With social media platforms being a key tool for Pharma execs to stay connected during the Covid-19 pandemic, Forbes has a detailed article on how to make the most of LinkedIn. Story here.
YOUR HEALTHBIZ WEEK 11/10/20
McKesson Corp., along with competitors AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., could be expected to pay up to US$21 billion under a new proposal to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging they helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis, according to a Reuters report. McKesson said in a quarterly report that under the new proposed $21 billion settlement it would pay about $8 billion over 18 years. Reuters notes the proposal is subject to further negotiations.
AstraZeneca’s ticagrelor (Brilinta) has been approved by the U.S. FDA to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with acute ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack (TIA). The approval is based on the Phase III trial which showed aspirin plus 90 mg of Brilinta significantly reduced the rate of the composite of stroke and death compared to a.s.a. alone in patients with acute ischemic stroke or TIA. Data from the study showed a combination of b.i.d. Brilinta and aspirin taken once per day for 30 days reduced the rate of the primary composite endpoint of stroke and death by 17 per cent compared to a.s.a. alone in people who had an acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack.
Novartis' canakinumab failed to help Covid-19 patients survive without invasive ventilation compared to standard therapy, the Swiss drugmaker said, according to a Reuters article. Novartis had hoped the arthritis drug could be repurposed during the pandemic. The Tx, approved as Ilaris for juvenile arthritis and other conditions, also did not meet its key secondary endpoint of reducing Covid-19 mortality in a late-phase clinical trial, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration failed to recommend approval for Biogen Inc.’s Alzheimer's Tx, aducanumab. Aducanumab would have become the first new treatment for Alzheimer's in decades. Biogen believes aducanumab can treat an underlying cause, and therefore slow progression, of Alzheimer’s. However, the company has had issues with aducanumab and previously ended a clinical trial last year after an early look at results showed the Rx was not effective.
NPC WINTER WEBINAR
As announced during the final session of the 14th National Pharmaceutical Congress last Wednesday, plans are in the works for a winter webinar tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Be sure to subscribe to the NPC HealthBiz Weekly for updates on the winter meeting.
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 avocation and are an inspiration to others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. They stand for, in the view of the selection committee, a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2018 Inductee
Frédéric Fasano
Servier Canada
Montreal
Editor’s note: Frédéric Fasano joined Servier Italy as the company’s General Manager in 2006. He moved to Servier Canada in 2011 as the company’s CEO, a position he currently holds.
Passion for Science and biology, and a will to understand them, is what led Frédéric Fasano to the pharmaceutical industry. After earning his PharmD degree from the University of Paris-Sud and his Masters in Business Administration from ESSEC Business School, Fasano embarked on a career that would lead him from his hometown in France to Italy, and eventually Montreal.
Originally from the city of Annecy, France he and his family relocated to Montreal in 2011 when he moved to the position of CEO of Servier Canada.
Throughout his career in the industry, Fasano has travelled and done business all over the world. Coming face to face with different business cultures in Europe, Latin America, and North America, helped him formulate some of his own ideas about how a business should operate and how to develop a winning business culture.
“The common point of all of those foreign experiences is diversity and how a diversity of people can bring different perspectives of the same business questions,” he said.
“You have to make sure, first and foremost, that different people from different cultures are working together.”
“Fostering an environment in which employees feel they themselves can make a difference is a good guideline for managing my team.”
Now, as a proud resident of Montreal, Fasano and his family have developed a new passion: hockey.
“I came to Canada seven years ago and I didn’t know anything about hockey, and seven years after, we are probably one of the French families most supporting the les Canadiens de Montréal.”
NEXT WEEK
The 11/17 edition of NPC Healthbiz Weekly will feature Marie Lamont of the Inteliquet group on patient care and clinical trials during Covid-19. 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 Tuesday.