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
