New consultancy to address pharma’s NHS funding challenge
pharmafile | January 2, 2007 | News story | Sales and Marketing |
A new consultancy has been launched by a team of pharma and NHS veterans to help companies bring new products to market more effectively.
Newbury-based HGS Consultancy will offer a range of market access services, NHS communication materials and multi-disciplinary customer alignment groups.
Angela McFarlane, one of the founding directors, said: "We believe we are offering a unique approach to the challenges of realising funding for treatments and enabling our clients to develop effective joint-working with difficult to reach NHS decision makers."
She added: "HGS has built up a database of NHS decision-markets to ensure clients can get answers from the right people in the health service for their particular project."
Leading HGS with Angela McFarlane are her co-directors Graeme McFarlane and Andrew Platton.
All three have extensive NHS and pharma experience between them, and they have held posts in the industry including senior product manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb, prescribing advisor in the West Midlands, regional health manager at Lilly and sales director at GlaxoSmithKline's forerunner Wellcome.
The company also retains a number of associates – mainly prescribing advisors, NHS commercial directors and GPs.
HGS has won preferred provider status for market access programmes at two pharma companies, for each of which it is working on 18-month projects. Such work has the aim of securing NHS funding for new drugs at the point of launch and helping the consultancy's customers to understand the challenges they will face.
"One of our clients described us as their co-pilot, helping them to avoid the turbulence when realising NHS funding for a new drug, so there are no surprises when it's launched," Angela said.
The consultancy is currently working on projects for a number of pharma companies, including GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Serono and Lilly and UCB.
Its range of NHS contacts includes interim PCT commissioning director Richard Ellis, who said he appreciates "the integrity of HGS' approach".
"Relationships between the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry have generally ranged from watchful suspicion to reluctant partnership. HGS has worked hard to bring together members of both groups to talk about the issues that unite them – quality care for patients, high clinical standards and value for money."
