Working Life: Merck Serono’s Wolfgang Wein
pharmafile | April 6, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |Â Â Working LifeÂ
Head of oncology at Merck Serono Wolfgang Wein explains how his field is changing, the best thing about his role and offers some advice for those just starting out in pharma.
How did you find your way into your current role?
After gaining experience in oncology through the development and commercialisation of an important blockbuster drug in the 90s, in regions like Europe, CEE and Japan, and having prepared the launch of a second blockbuster drug which is available for patients today, I received the interesting offer of building up a global oncology unit at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
How is your field changing?
The most dramatic change is that, what once was a slow moving, quiet therapeutic area has become a highly dynamic and fast-growing field.
With the introduction of targeted drugs guided by biomarkers, it is becoming an increasingly complex area requiring deep expertise and strategic understanding.
What are the most enjoyable things about your role?
It is very exciting when new drugs are tested and suddenly we receive the first results from early studies and see patients who have had a partial or even complete disappearance of their tumour.
This is what makes you really happy and motivated.
And the least enjoyable?
The negative attitude of some governmental agencies and bodies, who often underestimate how difficult, complex and slow moving the true progress that can really be made in oncology, and who try to restrict development of drugs wherever they can.
What are the most common misconceptions about your field and the people who work within it?
I believe the pharma industry often has a bad image in the media, but when you think for a moment about what has truly improved life over the last hundred years or so, there aren’t many things that have made people’s life so much better, safer and longer!
Is there someone in your field who has inspired you or from whom you have learnt a lot?
Yes, a former manager of mine, Abbas Hussain, who works at GSK today.
In every task or project he always asked: what can we do better, faster, smarter, or more efficiently? And he continuously pushed for implem-entation.
Similarly, is there someone (or something) outside your field who has been a big inspiration for you?
There was an important German philosopher, G.W.F. Hegel who developed the method of dialectical thinking, which focuses on regarding all things as mutually connected and interdependent processes, rather than isolated facts.
What is the secret to a happy working life?
To be excited and curious about what you do, and to work and live with a true team spirit.
If you had advice for anyone starting out in your field now, what would it be?
Go to a cancer clinic and see and talk to cancer patients, then you know what we are fighting for.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr Wolfgang Wein is head of oncology and member of the executive management board at Merck Serono.
Previously senior vice president, Global Oncology Commercialisation, he joined Merck KGaA in 2004.
Dr Wein is a physician by training and was lecturer for clinical pharmacology at the University Hospital Vienna. He also studied journalism and philosophy, earning a second doctorate degree.
After a post-graduate education in hospital management, he switched to a career in industry in 1993.
Initially working for Nycomed and later Eli Lilly, he held positions in both the medical and marketing fields, working in diverse regions such as Europe, CEE/ME/Africa and Japan.
Prior to joining Merck he was oncology marketing leader for Europe at Lilly, based in the UK.
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