Some Comments from the Third European Public Relations and Communications Summit

I recently attended the third European Public Relations and Communications Summit organized by the New York-based company Exl Pharma. This year there was a change in mood and direction compared with the first, the mood was urgent and the direction was towards building new kinds of partnerships with clinicians and patient groups. Corporate communicators are now much more than flag wavers in front of the juggernaut. They are managing a function vital to the survival of the company. Chief Executives know who they are.

So why this transformation? Pharma companies are in the process of changing their business models. The days of blockbusters are over, for them the phase of greater urgency was with the regulator in gaining initial market access. Instead the companies are having to relate much more directly to their funders: the patients. A new kind of pharma care pathway is now on the way to involving diagnostics, targeted personal therapies and outcome measurement. Companies have to take more responsibility for getting therapeutic results. Especially notable were the contributions at the Conference from Fiona Olivier, Strategic Business Communications Director at Abbott. And from James Read, Director of Public Affairs International at Gilead. Abbott are working to develop a new team approach to the culture change. Gilead has shown what can be achieved in getting improved results for patients from the new range of anti-viral therapies. The new model is being supported by key voices in the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations led by Colin Mackay.

The new model gives the opportunity for a wider range of companies to develop special expertise. It’s more favourable to new entrants than the blockbuster model, those winner take all models that led to increased concentration in the industry. The new model gives smaller and medium sized companies the chance to build a new kind of relationship with patients.

Nick Bosanquet