PharmFest puts focus on the business of science

The pharmaceutical industry is built on asking — and solving — big questions of a scientific nature. But on Tuesday, industry representatives turned their microscopes to the business side of innovation, tackling questions about how to make their research, and the industry itself, sustainable for the long haul.

The pharmaceutical industry is built on asking — and solving — big questions of a scientific nature. But on Tuesday, industry representatives turned their microscopes to the business side of innovation, tackling questions about how to make their research, and the industry itself, sustainable for the long haul.

Montclair State University teamed with the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey to host its 2012 PharmFest conference.

Acting Gov. Kim Guadagno kicked off the event, and Celgene Corp. Chairman and CEO Robert Hugin served as its keynote speaker.

Robert S. Prezant, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at Montclair State, said the annual conference began a handful of years ago as an opportunity for students to learn more about the industry. He said it’s evolved into a forum for those in the industry as well.

“PharmFest has become a conference that is seeking the answers to questions about the industry today and the industry tomorrow,” he said.

One major question facing the industry is how to do research and development at a time when many drugs are coming off patent and the vanguard of scientific research is centered on high-cost, high-risk technologies. Speaking at a morning panel, Maria Webb, chief scientific officer of Venenum Biodesign, said working for a small drug-discovery firm means keeping a constant eye on costs, and moving through development in the most efficient way possible.

“Our model is not to do the clinical trials,” she said. Instead, Webb said her company partners those out in order to escape the massive costs associated with large-scale trials.

Donald Nicholson, vice president of worldwide discovery at Merck & Co., said Big Pharma also benefits from partnerships, by capitalizing with biotech firms and other partners.

This being an event hosted by a university, the panel also was asked about partnering with academic institutions. Nicholson said his company stopped such partnerships about five years ago in order to take stock of the true return on investment.

“We used to give away a lot of money into the academic environment and got absolutely nothing back from it,” he said. “So once you start thinking about return-on-investment, it was actually a very poor choice in terms of the way we were providing funds to do research and then … kind of just walking away from it at that point, not actually thinking about it in a meaningful way.”

Nicholson said the company has started to step back into the academic partnerships realm, but it’s doing so in a much more methodical and targeted way.

HINJ President and CEO Dean J. Paranicas said better collaboration between universities and drug companies is one of a handful of steps he thinks would improve the business environment for New Jersey’s life sciences industry. Other items on the list include tax and regulatory reforms, but Paranicas said he’s pleased with the direction in which the state is moving.

“There’s a mindset here between the Legislature and the governor all recognizing the importance of growth,” he said. “And our industry is a key vehicle, an engine, for that growth.”

As for the college students who attended the conference alongside industry representatives Tuesday, Prezant said they bring a lot of questions about how they can successfully enter the life sciences work force at a time of rapid change. But he said those questions, and the frank conversations taking place at Tuesday’s conference, will help prepare the students to succeed.

“They’re reading the blogs and newspapers now, and they know the industry is undergoing change, and they’re concerned about it,” he said. “But this isn’t bad for them, because they are more deeply focused.”