February 2011 Archives

I just spent a few days in Atlanta for a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This is group of top thought leaders who have dedicated their lives to studying and fighting infectious disease.  They come from around the country, three times a year, to discuss the latest information about vaccine-preventable diseases and to develop strategies to help stem them.

It's a big room. Picture a large screen and a presentation podium at the front. Just behind that, ACIP members and officers from professional health organizations sit in horseshoe formation.  Rows of seats at the back of the room are usually filled with vast representation from the public--international health experts, county health departments, healthcare institutions, the pharmaceutical industry and everyday citizens can take a seat. That's what I like best about ACIP; anybody is welcome to attend and can even sign up to comment during the open session. Ultimately, the discussions at ACIP lead to recommendations to help protect people like me and you from vaccine-preventable diseases.

I'm not a scientist. I understand words more than molecules and atoms. Sometimes the presentations can be a little dense for me. Still, I find these meetings intriguing and reassuring. It makes me feel good that a collection of some the biggest brains in science get together on a regular basis to share knowledge and collaborate on public health initiatives.

Today, GSK's Jack Bailey, a senior VP, participated in a panel discussion on healthcare reform at the 17^th annual Wharton Health Care Business Conference held in Philadelphia.  This year's conference, entitled Leadership in an Evolving Global Market, explored the continuing evolution of health care and the leadership needed in both domestic and international markets.

The panel discussion, called "Health  Policy: Opportunities and Challenges," centered on these key questions:  

• What changes do you anticipate in your business in the next ~5 years as a result of healthcare reform?  What aspects of healthcare reform will create challenges or opportunities for your industry?
• What actions are you taking to prepare for these changes?  What other stakeholders will influence your strategy?  What effect will healthcare reform have on innovation?
• How should healthcare reform be implemented?  How can the cost controls included in the legislation be implemented in a way that will be meaningful?  How should "quality" be defined (what is the process through which it should be defined)?

Jack joined a prestigious panel from across the healthcare industry. He provided the audience with insight on how the pharmaceutical industry as a whole has been impacted by healthcare reform and the three key tools critical to shaping the future of healthcare delivery and payment:

1.     health information technology

2.     comparative effectiveness research, and

3.     quality standards.

"If used well, these tools will help coordinate care among providers and move us to a true "healthcare system," where delivery and payment will be based on quality of outcomes, not on quantity of services provided," stated Jack.

Jack also discussed how GSK is transforming its business model to fundamentally change the way we market and sell our medicines and vaccines in order to deliver the value our customers demand.   And how these changes are affecting how GSK approaches research & development and marketing & sales.

The annual Wharton Health Care Business Conference is a leading health care business forum for industry professionals, academics, and students. The two-day event typically attracts over 700 attendees from across the nation, and features distinguished speakers, dynamic panel discussions, special events, and various networking opportunities.

We're honored to have received the 2010 Environmental Stewardship Award from Nalco Company in recognition of our ongoing efforts to reduce our impact on climate change and energy and water use. Read more here.

This week, roughly 1,000 biotech and pharmaceutical industry executives, entrepreneurs, research leaders, venture capitalists, and policy makers gathered at the Raleigh Convention Center to look at trends and opportunities in biomedical research and development. The event was a conference hosted by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and the North Carolina Biosciences Organization (NCBIO).

North Carolina ranks as the number three state in the nation for biotechnology and Research Triangle Park, NC, is the location for GSK's US headquarters.

The event opened with keynote addresses by North Carolina Governor, Beverly Perdue, and GSK's president of North America Pharmaceuticals, Deirdre Connelly.

Governor Perdue described the critical role the biotechnology industry has played in health, economic development, job creation, and support for education in the state of North Carolina. She stressed that North Carolina has been relentless in working to attract the biotechnology and life sciences industry to the state because of the benefits it brings to the state's economy and quality of life. She said her administration will continue to work to grow the industry in the state by competing nationally and globally to attract more bio investment in North Carolina.

In her talk, Deirdre Connelly outlined three major challenges facing the biopharmaceutical industry--healthcare reform, the changing regulatory environment, and waning research productivity--and described the steps GSK is taking to meet these challenges. Deirdre emphasized that in meeting all three challenges, GSK is working to ensure that it contributes innovative treatments that improve the quality of health outcomes and reduce the long-term costs of care.

To address the challenges facing the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries today, she encouraged those at the conference to show the same foresight, intelligence and resolve as those who founded the Research Triangle Park in 1959 and the NC Biotechnology Center did 25 years ago.  Deirdre concluded by noting that a concerted effort by all stakeholders to address today's challenges will make a difference in healthcare and deliver better health to the patients.

The speech is available here.

The US Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted unanimously in favor of patent reform legislation sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that strengthens the patent system while protecting patent owners and maintaining incentives for innovation. While patent legislation may seem dull, the patent system affects all of us by encouraging companies across industries to make investments necessary to develop innovative, useful products and processes. 

 A reliable and efficient patent system is critical for all industries to invest and innovate; this is especially true for biopharmaceuticals where the average drug takes 10-15 years to develop, at a cost of more than $1.3 billion. As a result, millions of patients benefit from the development of medicines, vaccines, and over-the-counter products that help people do more and live longer, better, lives.

Everything takes time, particularly federal legislation. However, the patent system hasn't seen significant updates in nearly 60 years--a period of vast change in technology, manufacturing, and other economic indicators.  Efforts over the last few years to update the system have failed.  With Senator Leahy's legislation and the current political environment on Capitol Hill, patent reform has a real chance of passage. Our industry, like so many others, looks forward to potential action as the Senate begins debate on Senator Leahy's bipartisa bill during the week of February 28. 

Our new 205,000 square-foot, four-story facility will be designed to achieve LEED® Platinum certification, the highest possible designation in the internationally-recognized sustainable building rating system. The building  represents a collaborative effort between the landlord, Liberty/Synterra; Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA); and GSK. For Liberty and RAMSA, this represents their fourth project and most recent since the completion of Philadelphia's Comcast Center, the nation's tallest green building. Site work is scheduled to begin as early as the end of this month, and we'll move in between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter 2013.

GSK has a long, proud history in Philadelphia--and our new home will continue that tradition. We've been here since 1830, when John K. Smith opened a drugstore in the Old City neighborhood. (You can read more about our history here.)  We have a substantial and diverse presence in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, including US Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Healthcare businesses, and global support functions. In addition to our Philadelphia location, we have research and development facilities in Upper Merion and Upper Providence, totalling more than 5,000 people in the city and suburbs. 

The project's open-plan design, which is found in other GSK facilities around the world, is designed to bring employees together for better communication and collaboration. Deirdre Connelly, herself a Philadelphia resident, said "This facility, with its environmentally friendly and efficient design, aligns with our global commitment to work smartly and operate as a green company."

More to come on this over the next few months!

In a small town in New Hampshire a young woman is diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare type of cancer. Everyone is shocked because she had been the picture of health. She begins her treatment, which puts in motion a long paper trail. Much time is spent collecting and transporting forms, CAT scans and other documentation between the various treatment facilities.  Her family hears about other cases of the same cancer in their small community. Her sister, Katlyn, begins a quest to unearth the cause of the cancer, channeling Erin Brockovich. The doctor says information by geographic area does not exist--and even if it did, it couldn't be accessed due to patient confidentiality.

After calling public health officials and cancer organizations, Katlyn finally learns that there is a national cancer registry. But data is entered manually from paper files and there is a delay of approximately two years. Katlyn and her family are still looking for answers.

Today Katlyn is a first-year medical student who is passionate about health IT. She envisions a future where her patients and their families will not be burdened by paperwork. Furthermore, they will be able to access electronic databases with epidemiological information on a real-time basis, helping them understand the root cause of diseases.

Katlyn shared her sister's story at a discussion hosted by the American Journal of Managed Care on January 20, 2011--"The Future of Healthcare Innovations and Health Information Technology (HIT),"at the National Press Club in Washington DC. GSK sponsored the discussion, as well as a special issue of AJMC dedicated to HIT.

A panel of experts, led by Dr. David Blumenthal, who is the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT), discussed how patients, payers, providers and the entire US healthcare system will benefit from the automation of healthcare information going forward.

Dr. Blumenthal talked about the HITECH act, which was passed in 2009 and provides over $27 billion to stimulate the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Health Information Exchanges (HIE), and begins paying out incentives this year. He emphasized that HIT isn't about computers--it is about improving health and healthcare quality. Enabling key areas of prevention, care coordination and ultimately payment incentives, HIT is the foundation for the healthcare reform legislation. Dr. Blumenthal reinforced the overall promise of HIT, which is to improve the delivery of integrated patient information to physicians (called decision support) so they can make better treatment choices.