Editor’s Letter

We are now eight months into the pandemic in Europe and is there a light at the end of the tunnel for delivering a vaccine? Well, Bill Gates says that “the rich world could be close to normal by late 2021”, but what does this say for world equality?

With any disease or infection diagnosis, it is so important to ensure a patient understands why they are feeling the way they are. Subhajit Hazra, an experienced medical writer, reviews the current array of diagnostic techniques available for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

How we are going to be able to receive drugs in the future is also an interesting question, as there are many patients who are unable to swallow medicine. Brennan Miles at Team Consulting looks back at some of the recent defining moments for the respiratory drug delivery sector, and

The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched healthcare suppliers, organisations, governments, and healthcare professionals to their very limits, locking down the world like never. Healthcare industries, which were already under huge strain across the world, have been placed under unprecedented pressure. Sadly, when the pandemic hit, we quickly discovered that many nations and their health services were underprepared when it came to having the right equipment and infrastructure in place to respond rapidly. Demand change, supply shortages, panic looks at what the future holds for the industry.

COVID-19 really has been a wake-up call to the world on what our future may hold for humanity, but surely we can’t keep going down the same path each time this happens. That’s why we need to ensure the pharmaceutical industry is prepared for a future pandemic.

Vladimir Tkachenko at Amaxa Pharma talks about ensuring that we are prepared, and he believes that we are starting to see positive signs, and sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

Vanessa Fachada Oliveira, Pharmacovigilance Manager & EU QPPV at Arriello, discusses where companies are falling short and where they need to focus their attention to stay on the right side of inspectors.

One of the challenges that the industry faces is the barriers in medical device innovation. Knowing how medical devices interact with humans is a critical problem that needs to be discussed. Tarun Nag S S, Balamuralidhara V and M P Gowrav at JSS College of Pharmacy look at this issue, which influences both the design and acceptance of innovative new technologies and regulation.

We must also ensure we create a fitfor-purpose supply chain for the COVD-19 vaccine. This means that every patient who needs a vaccine, whatever country they live in, should be vaccinated. Rich Quelch at Origin explains why this ambitious timeline presents a huge challenge for pharmaceutical supply chains and healthcare systems.

I hope that you enjoy reading this edition of the magazine and keep well.

Lucy Robertshaw CEO LucyJRobertshaw

buying and stocking, regulation changes and shift of communication and promotions to remote interactions through technology and research and development (R&D) process changes can be seen as short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the pharmaceutical market.

However, while the pandemic continues, it is beginning to ease out, and pharma is becoming more adept at responding to the crisis. Companies are collaborating with each other to form partnerships to help accelerate the global effort to develop a vaccine to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19. Others have donated a variety of crucial medical supplies including advanced surgical equipment, antibiotics, disinfection equipment, masks, gloves and more. In addition, antibacterial medicines that have been approved to treat secondary infections such as pneumonia are being used.

Companies have also donated compounds with the potential to treat coronavirus for emergency use and clinical trials, including compounds formerly tested on other viral pathogens such as Ebola and HIV. While the fight is far from over, we as a pharma industry can work together to beat COVID-19 head on and forge a better future for our people.

Virginia Toteva Editorial Manager – IPI

Editorial Advisory Board

Bakhyt Sarymsakova, Head of Department of International Cooperation, National Research, Center of MCH, Astana, Kazakhstan Catherine Lund, Vice Chairman, OnQ Consulting Deborah A. Komlos, Senior Medical & Regulatory Writer, Thomson Reuters Diana L. Anderson, Ph.D president and CEO of D. Anderson & Company Franz Buchholzer, Director Regulatory Operations worldwide, PharmaNet development Group Francis Crawley. Executive Director of the Good Clinical Practice Alliance – Europe (GCPA) and a World Health Organization (WHO) Expert in ethics

Rick Turner, Senior Scientific Director, Quintiles Cardiac Safety Services & Affiliate Clinical Associate Professor, University of Florida College of Pharmacy Georg Mathis Founder and Managing Director, Appletree AG Jagdish Unni, Vice President – Beroe Risk and Industry Delivery Lead – Healthcare, Beroe Inc. Jeffrey Litwin, M.D., F.A.C.C. Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of ERT

Jeffrey W. Sherman, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, IDM Pharma

Jim James DeSantihas, Chief Executive Officer, PharmaVigilant

Mark Goldberg, Chief Operating Officer, PAREXEL International Corporation Maha Al-Farhan, Chair of the GCC Chapter of the ACRP (Singapore, Shanghai) Steve Heath, Head of EMEA – Medidata Solutions, Inc

Patrice Hugo, Chief Scientific Officer, Clearstone Central Laboratories Heinrich Klech, Professor of Medicine, CEO and Executive Vice President, Vienna School of Clinical Research Robert Reekie, Snr. Executive Vice President Operations, Europe, Asia-Pacific at PharmaNet Development Group Sanjiv Kanwar, Managing Director, Polaris BioPharma Consulting Stefan Astrom, Founder and CEO of Astrom Research International HB T S Jaishankar, Managing Director, QUEST Life Sciences