What's the biggest concern for pharma CEOs? According to a new survey and scheduled to be released later this month, people skills and talent concerns are the areas most in need of change, drawing 63 percent of replies. Regulatory issues followed at 53 percent, outpacing market factors by 8 percentage points.

This is the sixth year IBM has conducted its Global CEO Study, but this is the first time it has segmented out the life science component. IBM wanted to know what was top of mind for CEOs, so the computer behemoth interviewed more than a thousand company chiefs across a number of verticals, including nearly a hundred pharma CEOs.

"What came out of this survey is that the life sciences industry is one that's in the middle of a big transition, but what's interesting is that CEOs are saying that the journey has just begun," said Michael E. Svinte, vice president of global pharmaceutical and life sciences at IBM. "They are so bombarded with change that they are struggling to keep up with it."


Collaboration was also a key area that pharma leaders see as in need of improvement. CEOs are looking to formulate new alliances and partnerships to generate new ideas. According to IBM, CEOs are examining other industries that have gone through similar transformations in recent years to better ascertain what they need to do to survive the recent changes in pipeline and patent expirations.

More pharma CEOs are now moving toward global business designs, with 90 percent actively engaging in foreign markets. However, IBM states that federal regulations are the biggest hindrance for pharma looking abroad, followed by a lack of sufficient talent.


One odd fact of note is that while 62 percent of life science CEOs said they view rising expectations of corporate responsibility as a positive trend, only 24 percent of respondents said that those rising expectations will affect how they do business.

In the study, IBM questions whether this is because they already have programs in place to be more responsible with the environment and helping fight disease in impoverished nations, or whether they just don't have the strategies in place.

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A new global CEO study examines what near- and long-term changes pharma leaders expect to face and in what areas they are planning to focus their attention. Key focus areas: global business design and new markets.

Pharma CEOs Expound on Industry Change

In an effort to take a lot of the guesswork out of keeping public relations strategies on the straight and narrow, a new organization has been established to train and educate pharma about avoiding risk and fines.

  (CCC) was conceived as a place where professionals can obtain information on all the regulations regarding pharma press releases, as well as medical advertising in general. In addition, the CCC offers multiple training programs, testing, and certification for anyone who touches healthcare communications—primarily agencies that work for industry.

What separates the center from run-of-the-mill compliance experts and consultants? CCC is entirely Web-based, offering public relations people who are burning the midnight oil to access information any time of the day (or night).


The brainchild of founder and president Ilyssa Levins, CCC aims to help pharma avoid the billions of dollars it spends each year to settle illegal promotion charges. "The need for [compliance education] started in late '80s, when FDA started regulating PR materials such as press releases and video news releases," Levins said. "Until then, public relations operated under the First Amendment—telling truthful information."

However, in the early 1990s, FDA proclaimed that video news releases were an extension of labeling, and must be regulated like advertisements. "That turned the PR world upside down," Levins said.  "It used to be that the worst you would get was a warning letter, but now the federal government watching and indicting."

CCC was created to help agencies facing a wall of regulatory red tape get the information they need to avoid being fined.


The Center charges for testing and consulting, but also offers an exhaustive collection of links to external resources for healthcare communication regulations and corporate integrity agreements. Other services include licensed testing, online courses, consulting and on-site educational programs. Training is standardized, ensuring that everyone is educated at the same base line, and according to Levins, the certification offered is solid proof of training in compliance.

Levins gathered half a dozen former FDA leaders, lawyers, regulators, and public relations professionals to build the program; all agreed on questions that would be included on the CCC's tests. Former FDA chief of consumer education and information Wayne Pynes leads the board of CCC, which is now establishing similar programs for medical education compliance, and will offer courses in global public relations in the near future.

With the launch of the Center for Communication Compliance, pharma companies and PR firms have a one-stop resource to educate themselves about marketing regulations in an effort to reduce accidental non-compliance.

Pharmaceutical Executive-07-02-2008

Pharma CEOs Expound on Industry Change

New Educational Program to Boost PR Compliance