Pharmaceutical Executive-04-01-2004

Is there a formula for the perfect biotech or pharmaceutical executive? As a candidate to be the next CEO of Pfizer or Amgen, it is better to have a PhD in microbiology or an MBA combined with a medical degree? Does a lifetime in the lab beat out a decade of sales and marketing experience?

Nektar?the drug delivery firm formerly know as Inhale?has been around for 14 years, but its pace during the last few has been dizzying. In 2001, the company made two major acquisitions that not only expanded its technology base from inhaled therapeutics to a broad range of exciting new technologies, but also gave it revenue from five products on the US market that use its technology and lined-up another four in Phase III. In 2002, Nektar brokered 11 collaborative partnerships, and in 2003, it generated $106 million in sales.

In 1894, a druggist named Asa Candler created coupons for Coca-Cola, a new "healthcare" product with "valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties." After that early start in medical products, coupons developed as a marketing medium and were widely adopted by the consumer packaged goods industry. According to the Promotion Marketing Association's Coupon Council, 336 billion coupons were distributed in 2002, which were redeemed for approximately $3 billion in consumer discounts. Now, more than a hundred years after their debut, consumers are clipping coupons for prescription pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical companies big and small depend heavily on information, much of it confidential and valuable. From low-tech customer lists and marketing plans to the coveted results of expensive biotech research, the pharma industry is built on confidential information that must be protected, making the law of trade secrets a key component in a company?s strategy to protect its intellectual property.

April 2004 Table of Contents

More than one-third of the dollar value of all US healthcare assistance to the developing world is donated by pharmaceutical companies to humanitarian agencies. That is the finding of a 2003 survey conducted by the Center for Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at the Temple University School of Pharmacy and sponsored by the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD), an alliance of nine drug companies and a dozen humanitarian agencies. (See "About PQMD.") The survey, conducted annually since PQMD's inception in 1999, helps members quantify the value of their donation efforts and assists groups who wish to benchmark their work against that of other organizations.