France As the UK prepares to leave the European Union in March 2019, stakeholders across the European life sciences industry are busy preparing for Brexit’s potential impact on their operations. In France, the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM) – the country’s drug regulator –…

Cyprus With a population of just 1.2 million and a proportionately small pharmaceutical market by EU standards, Cyprus is often overlooked as a healthcare and life sciences investment destination. However, with the island now on the road to economic recovery following the EUR ten billion IMF-ECB-EU troika bailout in 2013, an…

UK Yesterday, pharma giant AstraZeneca announced that they have halted investment in the UK due to lack of clarity on trading regulations during this time of Brexit uncertainty. “If a transition deal does not make clear what will happen in the future, we will maintain our decision not to invest,” Leif…

Spain Madrid, Spain’s capital, is the city with the highest life expectancy in Europe at 85.2 years. Moreover, Spain as a whole is one of Europe’s best performers in terms of life expectancy, ranking fourth globally and second in the continent.   Explanations for this include the Spanish predilection for a…

Regulation The UK Prime Minister has been convinced by medical professionals to fortify all flour with folic acid to reduce the number of birth defects in newborns. A large cohort of government and NHS advisors are in support of fortification, which already occurs in over 80 countries including the US. It…

Spain Spanish stakeholders have been trailblazing the concept of the “liquid hospital”, which envisions the virtual and physical expansion of healthcare provision beyond the parameters of the traditional centralized hospital structure. The aim is to leverage connectivity, telemedicine, the Internet of Things (IoT) along with social media to co-opt patients, families…

innovation France is attempting to reposition itself as a globally competitive hub for artificial intelligence R&D, with significant state investment aiming to turn Paris into the next Palo Alto. With rapid digitalization and the ever-increasing invasion of artificial intelligence (AI) into all aspects of modern life, France has found itself left…

BIOTECH This week the NHS becomes the first in the world to routinely offer access to breakthrough genomic medicine. Today (1st October 2018) marks a huge stride in ‘precision medicine’ in the UK as the NHS begins to offer gene therapies tailored to individual patients. Hospitals across England have connected to specialist…

regulation The stakes are high, and the outcome is uncertain in one of the largest Pharma M&A deals ever. Takeda’s proposed acquisition of Shire seems to have it all: The combined entity becoming one of the largest global Pharma groups, enabling Takeda to become a truly global operation and allowing Shire’s…

UK The UK country managers of some of the biggest global pharma companies explain what it takes to manage in the UK market.   Erik Nordkamp, Pfizer Erik Nordkamp, the Dutch national serving as managing director of Pfizer UK and the newly-appointed president of the ABPI, likens managing a UK affiliate…

UK For French mid-cap Ipsen, the UK is one of three global hubs, with manufacturing in Wales, large-scale R&D activities near Oxford as well as UK Commercial Operations and global functions including HR, Tech Ops and Commercial Operations in Slough, near London. With ten percent annual growth to reach GBP 80…

UK Christine (Chris) Fox, VP general manager UK and Ireland at Amgen discusses the rationale behind taking on the management of a UK affiliate in challenging times and the specificities of Amgen company culture.   Everyone tells you how complicated the UK market is and that is true – it’s one…