it@cork

The Changing Face of the Pharmaceutical Industry

This one-day conference will bring together a number of experts from a variety of backgrounds and experience who will describe the changing face of an industry which is vital for Ireland’s future prosperity. It will also outline the strategies
available to ensure that Ireland will continue to be a signifi cant player in this sector.

The Conference is aimed at informing a wider interested public of the significant changes currently underway in the Pharma/BioPharma industry. The target audience includes academics, policymakers, local government and the various agencies in addition to industry representatives where knowledge of these changes can inform planning, academic programmes, R&D and industry support strategies.

Many believe that the future business model will see big pharma companies retaining their development, branding and marketing/distribution functions while shedding both primary and secondary manufacturing. Eventually big pharma may also shed much of its R&D, choosing instead to aggressively licence-in compounds from innovative small
pharma companies and biotechs.

The “new” Biopharma Co’s pose a threat to the existing players in the pharmaceutical industry. Genotyping, biomarkers and a deeper understanding of diseases are fragmenting the industry’s traditional mass markets and forcing the redefi nition of diseases. A recent analysis of current drug development pipelines suggest that the
industry is nowhere close to replacing up to €100 billion worth of pharmaceuticals coming off patent by 2012. Product portfolios will evolve away from today’s typical narrow product portfolio comprising a small number of blockbuster drugs to a larger and wider portfolio of treatments for smaller targeted population sub-groups. This fragmentation will
present signifi cant challenges for Ireland’s existing and future pharma and biotech sector companies. Some existing big Pharma companies will fund new PharmaCo start-ups to compete in this new environment and the emergence of new players (either spinoffs from existing players or entirely new entities) specifi cally confi gured to succeed in this new environment is expected.

For more information on this 1 day event please download the pdf brochure below