Power in Partnering

Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, now more than four years ago, partnership and collaboration within the life sciences industry—and externally with governments, regulators, healthcare providers, public health agencies, etc.—have taken on added significance. And announcements of such efforts—just think back to the unprecedented development and deployment of COVID vaccines—seem to come with more weight these days.

Pharma leaders, perhaps more than most, understand this dynamic, with many calling attention to the importance of seizing on the partnership, or simply, the “working-together” momentum of recent years to drive further innovation in patient care, while breaking down continued barriers to patient access of critical therapies. And of course, doing so not just within specific markets or regions, but across borders and into diverse geographies and patient populations. Take 30-plus-year pharma veteran Damien Bailly, the subject of this month’s executive profile. In our interview with the Astellas president of established markets, his prevailing message was just that: the industry has a shared mandate and goal to better align today’s wonderful advances and breakthroughs in therapeutic innovation with the avenues and channels to bring these treatments to those people that need them most.

“Access is a big matter for the entire healthcare ecosystem,” he tells editor Mike Hollan. “We’re seeing an evolving picture where, on one hand, you have life-long treatments for conditions like Crohn’s disease. On the other hand, there are highly specialized–but potentially curative–technologies that work once. This contrast inevitably leads to the question about how society funds innovation, which is something that requires us to have the partnerships and collaborations that ensure that patients have access to new medicines today and in the future.”

That also means reshaping individual businesses internally, something Bailly says Astellas is focused on. For example, applying technologies such as AI into more functions, revamping drug discovery approaches, and encouraging new and inventive ways to engage. “It starts and ends with the patient,” he says. “Whatever we do, it’s because patients are waiting. It’s a mindset.”

Thanks for reading.

Mike Hennessy Jr. is President and CEO of MJH Life Sciences.