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Sweden well-prepared for the future
Sweden is well-prepared for the forthcoming challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry. “I believe Sweden is one of the few countries in the world where we can start up a creative environment," says Jonathan Knowles, research manager at Roche.
Jonathan Knowles addressed more than 200 industry representatives who had gathered to hear him speak at the CEO summit meeting organised by SwedenBio. And Knowles had some rather bitter-tasting medicine to prescribe too. The problem, he feels, is that everyone is chasing the big-sellers and the products that singly can solve major medical problems — a strategy that is doomed to failure.

It is well-known that investments in research and development are on the increase at the same time as the number of products is decreasing. As a result, we — and the statistics also encompass biotech companies — will find life increasingly difficult in the future.

“In the USA there are about 300 pharmaceuticals in the field of oncology on the market and another 861 in the pipeline. It´s obvious that things are going to be difficult for the industry," says Jonathan Knowles. “We have to ask ourselves if we are administering the right medicines to the right patients. 100,000 people die every year in the USA as a result of allergic reaction to medicine."

According to Jonathan Knowles the entire industry must change to focus on the effects of the various pharmaceuticals on individual patients. The thrust is on working to reclassify ailments at molecular level so as to be better able to determine the effects of the substances on each individual patient.

The industry must also focus on carrying innovations all the way from research through to clinic and on strengthening cooperation between the two. Jonathan Knowles feels that smaller countries with a high standard of education such as Sweden are in better shape to carry out these changes than larger countries are.“You have the patients and the data. You can forge a dialogue between the pharmaceutical industry and health-care and at the same time work with the data in a more intelligent way so that Sweden can take the lead," said Jonathan Knowles.

Source: SwedenBio, December 4, 2009

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