Steve Turley, Managing Director of Lundbeck, has been re-elected Chair of the European Medicines Group (EMG), the UK voice of pharmaceutical companies based in continental Europe.

Robin Bhattacherjee, General Manager of Actelion, was re-elected vice-Chair of the EMG; and Mike Sumpter, CEO of Servier Laboratories, was elected Treasurer.

Issues highlighted at the EMG’s twelfth AGM included the impact of NHS reform on European-based companies and European perceptions of the UK as a pharmaceutical market and research base.

The EMG’s 15 member companies are Actelion, Almirall, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Ferring, Lundbeck, Menarini, Merck Serono, Norgine, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Sanofi, Servier and UCB.

Steve Turley (pictured) commented: “We have members ranging from the UK’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, through biotechnology specialists to emerging organisations. Yet we all share common challenges and can benefit from being able to view these through a European-focused lens.”

“How the implementation of the NHS reforms affects European-based companies is a key issue this year,” noted Robin Bhattacherjee.

“Upwards of 60% of the medicines our members have introduced in the last decade have not been subject to a NICE health technology appraisal, so... local decision making in the CCGs about the use of these remains a major focus for EMG.”

Mike Sumpter noted: “Globally the UK is viewed as a tough market where innovative new medicines aren’t adopted as readily as similar economies.

“We want to work closely with our NHS stakeholder partners to demonstrate that the UK and the NHS is worth investing in.”

Lundbeck is based in Denmark, Actelion in Switzerland and Servier in France; all three companies have major UK operations.

Medivir AB has appointed the experienced Henric Juserius as its new head of commercial activities.

Mr Henric will have full responsibility over the pharmaceutical marketing and sales of the research-based speciality company when he joins in August 2012.

Maris Hartmanis, President and CEO of Medivir, said Mr Henric’s “extensive experience and broad expertise” will be “invaluable”.

The new commercial leader has more than 20 years’ experience working within the pharmaceutical industry at companies including Astra, GlaxoWellcome, Pfizer and Serono.

He joins from Actelion Pharmaceuticals where he held the position of Commercial Director for the Nordic region.

The company’s first product, Xerese for the treatment of cold sores, was launched in the US last year. It is also approved for use in England.

A new drug to treat the lethal condition pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has shown impressive phase III trial results for efficacy and safety.

Actelion’s macitentan has the potential to replace its current PAH treatment, Tracleer, as the company’s leading product – and even to become the standard treatment for PAH.

The trial results boost the Swiss biotech company’s prospects of being acquired by a major pharma company.

Tracleer currently accounts for 90% of Actelion’s sales, but will lose patent protection in 2015 and is facing competition from Gilead’s PAH drug Letairis.

The SERAPHIN phase III study with 742 patients – the largest ever clinical study of a PAH treatment – showed that macitentan reduced the incidence of morbidity and mortality by 45% relative to placebo over three and a half years.

In addition, the drug did not show the negative side-effects on liver function associated with Tracleer, enabling it to compete more effectively with Letairis.

PAH is a chronic, life-threatening disease in which high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries affects both lung and heart function.

Finance analyst UBS has suggested that macitentan could not only dominate the PAH market but increase its size, with potential annual sales of up to $2.8bn.

Actelion expects to apply for EMA and FDA marketing authorisation for the product by the end of 2012.

Macitentan, a dual endothelin receptor antagonist, was created through a tailored drug discovery process. It has superior sustained receptor binding and tissue penetration properties relative to other ERAs, and its propensity for drug-drug interactions has been shown to be low.

Two senior advisors on the SERAPHIN trial highlighted the study’s importance. Lewis J. Rubin, Emeritus Professor at the University of California, San Diego, said: “With this well-designed PAH study, Actelion pursued an ambitious goal to focus on outcome benefits as the primary endpoint. The impressive results of this landmark study are setting a new standard in how to conduct studies in this devastating disease.”

Gerald Simonneau, Head of the Department of Pulmonary Disease and Intensive Care Unit at the Hospital Antoine Beclere-Clamart in France, added: “These results represent an important milestone in the history of clinical trials in PAH and show that macitentan has the potential to offer a new treatment paradigm for these patients.”

Lundbeck’s Steve Turley (pictured right) and Actelion’s Robin Bhattacherjee (pictured left) have been appointed as Chair and Vice-Chair of the European Medicines Group (EMG).

Mr Turley, who has been elected for the 2012-2013 term of office, replaces UCB’s Matthew Speers after he stood down following his two year stewardship.

The new Chair said a priority of the Group would be “addressing the challenges faced by medicines” not appraised by NICE or a national commissioning body, which are then “subject to variations in local decision making processes about levels of access”.

Mike Sumpter, CEO of Servier Laboratories, will continue in role as Treasurer of EMG.

The EMG supports research-driven UK pharmaceutical companies globally headquartered on the continent.

Its 16 members represent a broad range of various-sized companies. Member companies currently account for more than a fifth of total medicine sales to the NHS – although the Group is eager to attract other research-driven European pharmaceutical companies.

New Vice-Chair Robin Bhattacherjee commented on the importance of having a “European Voice” here in the UK. “Supply of medicines is one example and how value of medicines could be determined in the UK, and the implications of this on pan-European pricing, will be a key issue over the next couple of years,” he said.

Swiss biotech company Actelion has seen its share value dip following concerns over a late-stage drug trial in which 120 out of 740 participants died.

The results of the SERAPHIN phase III trial of macitentan, a drug candidate to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), have still to be analysed.

A reported comment by Actelion’s CEO Jean-Paul Clozel that the trial results were “very unlikely” to show that the drug extended life triggered a 9% drop in the company’s share value.

Until the encrypted trial results are decoded and published in the second quarter of this year, Actelion said, the reason for the deaths will not be known and the trial cannot be declared a success or a failure.

According to company spokesman Roland Haefeli, “PAH is a deadly disease, therefore it is to be expected that people die. We did expect and observe deaths. Until the code is broken, we do not know [the cause].”

An analyst commented that there had been “a misinterpretation around CEO comments” and that “nothing negative was said”.

The SERAPHIN trial aimed to show that macitentan significantly reduced both morbidity and mortality in patients with symptomatic PAH, so patient deaths were anticipated as marking the point where the trial would end.

The trial is crucial for Actelion, which relies on macitentan to restore its profile in the PAH market following competition to its existing Tracleer drug by Gilead’s rival Letairis (ambrisentan).

Sales of Tracleer fell by 7% in 2011, and Actelion posted a net financial loss of 146m francs after a profit of 390m francs in 2010.

The company has also started a pivotal study of macitentan in patients with ischaemic digital ulcers.

Professor Dr Peter Gruss has joined Actelion’s Board of Directors initially as a scientific advisor.

The experienced Dr Gruss has also been nominated for election to the Board at the company’s Annual General Meeting in May.

Jean-Pierre Garnier, Chairman of Actelion’s Board, says the company is “extremely fortunate” that the professor is prepared to join its leadership committee.

Dr Gruss has been President of German research organization the Max Planck Society since 2002. In his role, he holds numerous offices and functions and was appointed as a member of the ‘Innovation Dialogue’ of the Federal Chancellery by Angela Merkel.

“Peter has had an exemplary career, both as a scientist and as a research executive, leading the Max Planck Society since 2002,” Mr Garnier added.

Actelion has appointed the experienced Jean-Pierre Garnier (pictured) as the Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Members of the board nominated Mr Garnier in favour of its existing chair Robert Cawthorn, who has held the position since the company’s inception.

Mr Cawthorn said he was grateful for the opportunity and is delighted that a “highly experienced and very successful leader with an unparalleled career in the healthcare industry” will lead the company.

Mr Garnier was the first CEO of GSK after its inception from 2001 to 2008. Prior to that, he served as President of Schering-Plough’s US business and served as CEO at Pierre Fabre Labs for two years after leaving Glaxo.

He has been awarded various accolades for his work in healthcare and also serves on the Boards of Directors of the United Technologies Corporation, Renault S.A, and Cerenis.

“I am extremely proud to have been nominated as Chairman of the Board of Actelion,” said Mr Garnier. “I'm very impressed with the company’s track record and its position today as Europe’s largest biopharmaceutical company.

He added that since joining the company earlier in the year, he has become “even more convinced” of the company’s capacity to transfer drug discovery into “meaningful therapeutic solutions”.

“Since joining the company this spring, I have become even more convinced of Actelion’s capacity to translate superior drug discovery into meaningful therapeutic solutions and long-term business success. I look forward to guiding the company in the next phase of its growth together with my fellow Board members, management and all the Actelion employees.”

The experienced Joseph Scodari has resigned from his position on the Board of Directors at Actelion.

The former Johnson & Johnson Chairman has stepped down from his position with immediate effect citing personal reasons.

Robert Cawthorn, Chairman of the Board at Actelion, thanked Mr Scodari for his leadership skills after a “long and distinguished career in the healthcare industry”.

“We understand his desire to dedicate more time to his personal endeavours and wish him and his family all the best for the future,” added Mr Cawthorn.

Mr Scodari, who is also a Director at Endo Pharmaceuticals, spent nearly a decade at J&J and served as a member of the company’s Executive Committee from March 2005 until March 2008 before joining Actelion.