Prior to the end of 2014, we sent an email to every member of Life Science Leader ’s (LSL’s) editorial advisory board (EAB) listed on p. 8. In addition to thanking them for their service and making sure they were getting value from participating, we sought their insights. Specifically, we asked each to please provide a bulleted list of the top three trends, topics, issues, or people LSL should be covering in 2015. While the responses were as diverse as EAB member backgrounds, some common themes did emerge, starting with globalization.

At the 3^rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM) if you want to gather the vital statistics on how a biopharmaceutical company’s leadership team really feels, from my perspective, the best place to do so is during the much-less-scripted JPM breakout sessions — assuming of course, you can get a seat.

Some of the industry’s misdeeds discussed at this year’s FDA/CMS Summit include “price gouging” of approved breakthroughs drugs, using approved Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) to prevent generic competition, and arguing that distribution of peer-reviewed journal articles and medical textbooks to practicing clinicians should be protected by the first amendment of the constitution. 

I first met Freda Lewis-Hall, M.D., on May 5, 2011, in New York. Pfizer’s chief medical officer had just concluded her Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Woman of the Year (WOTY) acceptance speech in which she challenged attendees to recommit, reenergize, and reform themselves to “be everything the patients we serve need us to be, and then some.”

During my conversation with Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, Pfizer’s chief medical officer, she shared an example of one of her employer’s products that, frankly, didn’t resonate with patients and their lifestyles.

When I think of why I go to a conference, it isn’t usually geared toward filling my rolodex with a collection of business cards with which I struggle to place a name with a face. Instead, I strive to fill my network with connections of potential collaborators who are also interested in moving our industry forward. From my perspective, this was most certainly achieved at Outsourced Pharma West (OPW) 2014.

While preparing for a recent trip to the west coast, I packed a copy of Leaders in Transition by Steve Broe. Author of a leadership lessons article in Life Science Leader magazine’s December 2014 issue, Broe was kind enough to send me a signed copy of his book. Although it is written from the perspective of a leader transitioning from one organization to another, even if leaving your current employer is not in your plans, don’t let this fact prevent you from taking the time to review this book. 

Arriving at 600 New Hampshire Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., I stride through the lobby of The Watergate toward the elevator. I am on my way to what promises to be a “lively” and “on-the-record” personalized medicine discussion hosted by the National Journal (a division of the Atlantic Media Company). Joining me this October evening are members of the medical community, media, a variety of healthcare experts, and three executives from the event’s underwriter, AstraZeneca.

Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don’t like your boys’ sound.” This phrase uttered by Decca Records talent evaluation executive Dick Rowe left him a lasting legacy — the man who did not sign the Beatles.