LONDON, November 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Rambeaux joined a host of other industry leaders at eyeforpharma's 9th annual Pharma Marketing Summit 2009 conference in Berlin, where several key themes concerning market access and industry change emerged:

- Transforming business culture from product-focused to customer-centric

- Marketing to changing stakeholders

- Pipeline strategies

- Balancing digital with traditional brand strategies

One of the main topics discussed was the past importance of getting regulatory agency approval for a new drug. This is somewhat in contrast to today's healthcare environment, where governments increasingly determine price and the availability of drugs to patients through formulary designation. Market access has become the fourth hurdle in successfully bringing a drug to market.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/eyeforpharma/39243

Before a drug is even approved, we need to be sure market access strategies are in place so that we can ensure profitability and future funding of development programs and research, says Rajesh Gupta, former VP Dermatology at Merck Serono and CEO of New Lab Life Sciences. There's an opportunity, I believe, to engage earlier with organisations like NICE in the UK, to see what kind of endpoints would be useful to develop during phase III to allow them to appraise new drugs a bit more easily.

It's not just about getting regulatory approval anymore, says Wolfgang Walter, senior director of the sales force at Nycomed. Walter says pharmas must focus on meeting the needs of a growing number of stakeholders, including physicians, patients, governments and payers.

Eric Rambeaux, VP of business development and head of screening and analytics at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, says his company has even reshaped its organisation with market access in mind, addressing silos of RD, marketing and regulation to try to focus on the same goals.

As an industry, we've been too focused on regulatory approval. It's just one step - although an important one. But putting a drug on the market is increasingly about getting the right people together from very early in development to make sure that the drugs we're pursuing don't simply address the easiest indication for the biggest market at the highest price, but that it's the best compromise of these three areas.

Gupta, Walter and Rambeaux were amongst top executives from leading pharmas, including Bayer, UCB, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Wyeth and Roche, who also joined wider debates surrounding the healthcare industry.

Keynote Speakers:

Ian Talmage, Senior VP Marketing, Bayer: Demonstrate successful resource allocation for launch and re-launch teams and analyse various benchmark metrics.

Dr Jane Griffiths International VP, Europe North, Janssen-Cilag: Analysed Market Access implementation with better strategies around Pricing, Health Economics and Outcomes?

Veronique Toully, VP, UCB: Showed how to position the 3Ps - Patients, Payers and healthcare Providers - at the front end of the company strategy.

To catch up on what you missed in Berlin- purchase the video recording:

https://secure.firstconf.com/pharma/marketing/register.htm

The next eyeforpharma event is scheduled for:

Market Access: 2nd-3rd March, London http://www.eyeforpharma.com/marketaccesseurope/

eMarketing: March 3rd-5th, Berlin http://www.eyeforpharma.com/emarketing/

SFE Europe: April 27th-29th, Barcelona http://www.eyeforpharma.com/sales/

Contact: Kate Eversole VP Europe eyeforpharma T: +44(0)207-375-7594 E: keversole@eyeforpharma.com

SOURCE: eyeforpharma

CONTACT: Contact: Kate Eversole, VP Europe, eyeforpharma, T:+44(0)207-375-7594, E: keversole@eyeforpharma.com