Planning for pharma's post-Covid future
Veteran pharma exec Kevin Leshuk shares his thoughts on how the industry might look on the other side of the pandemic (450 words, 4 min. read)
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While Kevin Leshuk is optimistic about the Pharma industry's future in Canada, the veteran pharma executive is well aware of the challenges ahead.
Leshuk has spent much of the Covid-19 pandemic in a consulting role exploring pharma's possible future in Canada. In February, he left his position as vice-president and general manager at Celgene and is currently the Forus Group's principal.
Over the past nine months, Leshuk said he has observed “excitement in the environment” from many in pharma, particularly those in the U.S. looking to expand north of the border to Canada.
“[U.S. companies] see a lot of value in coming to Canada,” said Leshuk. “One organization I've been working with directly is very passionate about bringing its portfolio to Canadian patients. I think we've also seen the growth of other great companies—CL Genetics and Incyte—just to name a few.”
Leshuk (photo below) joined host Peter Brenders on a recent episode of the NPC Podcast, a program for life sciences managers. Brenders is the CEO of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. (Listen to the episode here.)
“I'm very positive about the future of the current ecosystem,” Leshuk continued. “I think there are going to be exciting new players coming into the space that will add tremendous value, not just to the product portfolios, but I think they will bring fresh new thinking on some of the challenges that many of us know a lot about.”
While Leshuk is optimistic about the future of pharma in Canada, he acknowledges the new guidelines recently released by the Patent Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) could cause companies to rethink the idea of entering the Canadian market.
“There's no question that what is happening in the environment, the amendments and updates to the various regulations, PMPRB and such, is causing a lot of companies to pause,” he said. “We should continue to find ways to make sure that those value propositions are brought forth, even with the tightening regulations. I think the regulations and pricing controls are similar to what we see around the world—I don't think Canada is necessarily an outlier.”
Leshuk said it is important for Pharma to continue to ensure governments and payors understand it is a global ecosystem and that there needs to be an appropriate position within that environment.
He added that more established companies would be challenged to rethink some of their practices suggesting that global price banding will become a central focus for Pharma. Additionally, new companies entering the marketplace will help challenge current best practices and provide new thinking.
“We may see some changes to the environment, but if we focus on bringing truly transformative new therapies, disruptive new technologies, I'm pretty optimistic that we're going to find our way,” Leshuk said.
The takeaway: Through his transition from Celgene and during the pandemic, Leshuk said he has learned that though Pharma will look different post-Covid there are plenty of opportunities ahead.
“It will not be traditional, in some ways,” he said. “There is certainly going to be a very vibrant traditional environment with many of the companies we all know. But there are some exciting up-and-coming companies which, if you want to be part of creating the new environment for the next 15-20 years, whatever your journey or timeline looks like, I think it is really [positive].”
Further reading: With the positive news on multiple Covid-19 vaccines in recent weeks, the folks over at McKinsey & Company have an article on what to make of it alls. Story here.
YOUR HEALTHBIZ WEEK 12/01/20
Biogen will take a $650 million stake in Sage Therapeutics and pay $875 million in upfront payment as they jointly develop and sell treatments for depression and other neurological disorders, according to a story from Reuters. The companies will develop and sell zuranolone, oral therapy being developed to treat major depressive disorder and postpartum depression. They will also develop SAGE-324 for essential tremors and other neurological disorders.
Health Canada approved Lynparza (olaparib) for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic BRCA or ATM-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have progressed following prior treatment with a new hormonal agent (NHA). BRCA1/2 or ATM gene mutation must be confirmed before Lynparza treatment can be initiated. The Notice of Compliance was granted under priority review and marks the first Health Canada approval of a PARP inhibitor in prostate cancer.
Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to criminal charges over handling its addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin, capping a deal with U.S. federal prosecutors to resolve an investigation into the drugmaker’s role in the American opioid crisis. The criminal violations included conspiring to defraud U.S. officials and pay illegal kickbacks to both doctors and an electronic healthcare records vendor to keep opioid prescriptions flowing.
According to a Reuters’ report, the anti-inflammatory drug colchicine will be tested as a possible Covid-19 treatment. The RECOVERY trial, which is the world’s largest clinical trial for patients hospitalized with Covid-19, will randomly allocate at least 2,500 patients recruited to receive colchicine, which is used as a gout treatment.
NATIONAL PHARMA CONGRESS WINTER WEBINAR
As announced during the final session of the 14th National Pharmaceutical Congress, plans are in the works for a winter webinar 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. In the view of the selection committee, they stand for 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.
2015 Inductee
Dr. Wayne Gulliver
NewLab Life Sciences
St. John’s, N.L.
Editor’s note: Dr. Wayne Gulliver is a dermatologist in St. John’s, N.L. and the founder of the NewLab Life Sciences clinic research group.
Over nearly 25 years, his career in clinical research has put Newfoundland dermatologist Dr. Wayne Gulliver in a unique position to observe and support the tremendous advances made in understanding and treating inflammatory skin conditions, including psoriasis.
This interest in clinical research and basic science—an interest which has led to Dr. Gulliver’s involvement in more than 250 clinical trials, more than 100 published papers, and the creation of a new biotech research company—all began because of a key mentor during his residency at McGill University in Montreal, he said.
“I had the opportunity to work with many excellent clinicians and teachers. One of my mentors was Dr. David Gratton at Montreal General,” said Dr. Gulliver. “Back then, Dr. Gratton was a pioneer in initiating clinical research studies across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including psoriasis and urticaria, just to name two.”
During this period, Dr. Gulliver also worked with such luminaries as Montreal’s Dr. Ralph Wilkinson and Dr. William Gerstein. Dr. Gulliver said they were strong advocates of finding new indications for old medications. “We had done some work with Dr. David Goltzman, who was [investigating] vitamin D/calcium metabolism and genetics. We were actually inserting genes into keratinocytes, doing many exciting projects,” said Dr. Gulliver. Another important person who helped shape Dr. Gulliver’s career was Dr. Stuart Maddin of Vancouver. Dr. Maddin not only provided helpful and valuable advice and guidance, but he also offered an innovative mentorship program, in which Dr. Gulliver and many other Canadian dermatologists were fortunate to have participated.
After his time at McGill, Dr. Gulliver returned to Memorial University in St. John’s armed with a broad background in research from clinical studies to genomics. However, Memorial did not have the infrastructure or the funding to support a full-time researcher, so he set out to create his own opportunities.
In 1996, Dr. Gulliver founded and served as chair and medical director of NewLab Clinical Research, Inc., which would later become NewLab Life Sciences, where he was the chief medical officer. Dr. Gulliver has also been the CEO of Advanced Immuni T, a US/Europe-based biotech company, from 2003 to 2005, where he led a phase II psoriasis study in Canada.
Dr. Gulliver said the high points of his career included being part of the initial studies into new biologic treatments for psoriasis—efalizumab and alefacept—and witnessing patients becoming clear of their psoriasis for the first time. He’s been part of the 10 to 15 years of biologics research which has seen the efficacy of these therapies rise from 20 to 30 per cent of patients becoming clear to more than 70 per cent.
“I also had a chance to work with Dr. Eugene Farber, former chair at Stanford [University, in California], who I met by chance,” said Dr. Gulliver. Together they developed a large genetic program that was part of discovering two of the three major psoriasis genes, he said.
“Back then, in 1995, we couldn’t sequence the whole genome. You had 300 to 400 genetic markers,” he said of the challenges in performing genetic research 20 years ago.
NEXT WEEK
The 12/08 edition of NPC Healthbiz Weekly will feature Denis Hello, General Manager of AbbVie Canada, on managing a merger 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.