The clinical trial of the future
The industry is approaching a new age of trials that are streamlined, connected and more engaged with the patient – but only if pharma can embrace the changes
PharmaTimes -
October 2016
The industry and NHS are used to change, often on a pretty seismic scale, and this month we focus on several of the transformations that are either taking place or, some would say, need to take place.
Topping the bill this month is a focus on how the brave new world of technology is changing the process of drug development. The Clinical Trial of the Future (p28) looks at how various new technologies and processes are reshaping the R&D systems that are provide the industry's very foundations.In The Hard Sell (p32) we approach the world of pharmaceutical sales to ask what skills the modern sales rep needs to survive in a world of multichannel marketing, shake-ups to decades-old sales models and increasingly complex healthcare systems.
Elsewhere we take a more general look at some of the biggest challenges facing the industry and NHS in this month's SmartViews section (p17-27), which features analysis on the NHS' Five Year Forward View, what it means for pharma and the need to share best practice.Meanwhile, this month's SmartPeople has a distinct science bent, with its inclusion of a focus on the important work of the Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) for the North East and North Cumbria from its CEO Seamus O'Neill (p40).
I hope you enjoy the issue.
George Underwood, Acting Editor
October 2016 - magazine highlights
The hard sell
With the 2016 PharmaTimes Sales Awards fast approaching, we look at the skills needed by the modern sales rep to survive
Forward thinking
How is the Five Year Forward View changing the NHS, and how can pharma help to shape new patient pathways?
The bare necessities
The WHO's latest essential medicines list included 16 new cancer drugs – but how many more can be added without changing the nature of the list?
Brexit: three months on
Perspectives on what leaving the EU means for UK pharma, as the initial furore calms down
Birth right
The Zika outbreak has brought the issue of congenital anomalies to the forefront of the science community and the public's mind. We ask Helen Dolk, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Ulster, about the challenges of working in this area
Network connection
Seamus O'Neil, chief executive of the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria, on bridging the gap between pharma and the NHS
Patient Files: coeliac disease
Gemma Gleed talks to PharmaTimes about her 10-year old daughter's experiences with coeliac disease
