Pharma-academia links under ‘greater scrutiny’
pharmafile | October 15, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications | Recognition Academy, academia, industry relations, industry reputation
A company aiming to form a bridge between health providers and the pharma sector has warned that academics and clinicians are under greater scrutiny than ever.
Governments and media are looking more closely at physicians’ relationships with pharma, says Clare Nolan, co-founder of The Recognition Academy, launched earlier this year.
“The crux of what we do is to fulfill an unmet need for physicians,” explains Nolan. “In order to be a transparent partner, they need to understand where they fit into the process of drug development and commercialisation. Their job is to see patients – they don’t necessarily have an understanding of how the pharma industry works.”
And Nolan warns pharma companies in turn to take note of how they manage relationships with doctors and academics.
“If you’re going to embark on a relationship then it is your corporate responsibility to share with them what they are going to be doing with you,” she points out.
“If they are an investigator, an author or speaker – and sometimes they have more than one role – what is the impact on the patient of them doing what they are doing?”
As patients become more empowered and better informed, and the pharma industry itself tries to advocate openness in its dealings, “it is important that transparent partnerships can continue”, she adds.
The company provides courses and workshops to help all sides get to grips with the issues against a background of global developments which are altering how these issues are viewed.
For example, Recognition Academy highlights the United Nations Special Rapporteur’s stated aim of redefining the relationship between society, medicine and the pharma industry at an international level.
And some US medical institutions have adopted stricter conflict of interest regulations intended to curtail industry influence in medicine, it adds.
Based in Cheshire, the company offers its services to academic institutions and medical colleges as well as pharma companies.
Nolan has a degree in pharmacy and a PhD in prostate cancer drug development from Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Medicine.
She has worked at Eli Lilly and Lilly Research in neuroscience product development, clinical trial design and sales and was a regulatory manager at GlaxoSmithKline.
Before setting up Recognition Academy with former academic and clinician Jon Beck she was responsible for global publications and communications for a variety of products at AstraZeneca.
Adam Hill
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