The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has appointed Dr Neil Weir as the Chair of its Innovation Board.

Dr Weir will lead the Board’s work in developing the ABPI’s long-term vision for pharmaceutical innovation and increased international competitiveness.

He replaces John Stageman, who retired in April.

A leading expert on antibody-based medicine, Dr Weir currently leads UCB’s drug discovery programme. In this role he has led a team responsible for developing 20 new products.

He was formerly Head of Discovery at Celltech R&D.

Stephen Whitehead, ABPI Chief Executive, said: “With Neil’s introduction the ABPI is taking the opportunity to strengthen the link between our Innovation Board and our Board of Management. Supporting and encouraging innovation is the key role of our Innovation Board, but it is also a key consideration for the ABPI as a whole.”

“As the shape of our industry continues to rapidly change our fate lies in the ability to continually innovate,” said Dr Weir. “Our ambition must be to offer innovative new medicines and ground-breaking solutions that go beyond the drug.

“We must remain committed to enabling cutting-edge scientific research that is driven by the patients’ needs, but above all we should continue to focus on our core strength and offering, namely: innovation.”

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins has been reappointed as the Chair of NICE for a further year until 31 March 2013.

The reappointment, made by the Appointments Commission, will see Professor Rawlins oversee the final year of the Institute as a Special Health Authority before it becomes a non-departmental public body in two years time.

Sir Michael said he was “delighted” to continue in the role and the opportunity to work with his colleagues at NICE was “too good to resist”.

The chair has led NICE since its formation in 1999. Under the Code of Practice for Public Appointments, chairs are only normally allowed to serve a maximum term in office of ten years, however the Commissioner for Public Appointments granted an exemption in this case.

“Chairing NICE has been the high point of my professional career,” said Professor Rawlins.

He will receive a remuneration of £63,050 per annum as the Chairman of NICE.

Anders Wiklund has been elected to as the company’s new Chairman with Elisabeth Lindner also joining.

Johan Haggblad, Managing Director of Pharmalink, says the experienced of the two will be “invaluable” in ensuring the company’s goals are realised.

Mr Wiklunds joins with more than 40 years’ experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in a career which includes positions in both Europe and the US. Ms Lindner is one of Sweden's most experienced experts within the biopharmaceutical industry boasting more than a quarter of a century in senior management.

“With Anders taking on the Chairman's role and Elisabeth joining the Board, Pharmalink is positioned for the next stage of development," said Johan Haggblad.

The company’s founder and former chairman, Bengt Julander, and Lennart Hansson of Industrifonden, will remain on the board as a Non-Executive Directors.

Inconsistent NHS leadership questioned

The NHS has suffered due to inconsistent leadership over a prolonged period, peers in the House of Lords have been told.

Baroness Cumberlege, a Conservative peer, told the House the number of different health secretaries in recent times has led to a lack of trust and confusion by the health service.

Speaking during the committee stage of the Health Bill, Baroness Cumberlege compared the Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25-year reign at Manchester United and asked “what difference it might make to the NHS” had it had a leader for a similar tenure.

Since 1997, there have been seven different health secretaries – six of which under the previous Labour government.

“One of the real problems that we have, and it exists even if it is the same party in power for a length of time, we lack a consistency of leadership, because the Secretaries of State are here one minute and gone the next,” said Baroness Cumberlege.

“I think that contributes to an NHS that gets confused, that gets fed up and is mistrustful of its masters.”

John Wilkinson (pictured), Chief Executive of Eucomed, has received a special Career award from the International Vascular and Endovascular Course (IVEC) in Milan.

The award recognises the medtech industry’s contribution to the development of vascular and endovascular surgery.

IVEC Chairman Giorgio Biasi presented the award to John Wilkinson to “honour the excellence of a distinguished scientist and eminent colleague who has contributed enormously in promoting, divulging and spreading culture, development and achievements in the field of vascular and endovascular techniques.”

Following the award presentation, Wilkinson gave the Edmondo Malan Lecture on ‘Development and Achievements in Endovascular Procedures as a Result of a Continuous and Ingenious Co-operation between Physicians and Industry’.

He discussed the long history of collaborative working between clinicians and industry over 200 years, with ideas from doctors and surgeons being developed by companies, culminating in such revolutionary devices as the drug-eluting stent.

Wilkinson also emphasised the need for innovation to be built on a platform of ethical interaction and transparency, and for industry to support education and training in the delivery of new therapies.

Finally, he drew attention to the demographic and economic challenges facing Europe’s health systems, and called for a collaborative approach between all stakeholders to support innovative solutions to these urgent problems.

Eucomed is the leading European medical technology industry association. It represents 4,500 designers, manufacturers and suppliers of medical technologies.

University College Hospital (UCH), London has purchased the UK’s first Biograph mMR hybrid molecular MR system (pictured) from Siemens Healthcare.

In the same month, the hospital’s Institute of Nuclear Medicine brought together clinical scientists to celebrate its 50^th anniversary.

The Biograph mMR – one of the first to be installed in Europe – will be housed in the UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre and used for diagnosis and planning of patient treatment, as well as research.

The world’s first simultaneous whole-body PET-MRI scanner. the Biograph mMR has won the red dot design award 2011 and the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award 2011 for its integrated design and scanning capabilities.

At the Institute of Nuclear Medicine’s 50th anniversary, Bruce Rosen, Professor of Radiology, Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School, gave a lecture on the future of combined PET and MR.

UCH Chairman Richard Murley thanked the UCLH Charity for funding the purchase of the new scanner.

Professor Peter Ell, former Head of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, summed up half a century of medical imaging, including the first European nuclear medicine brain scanner in the 1970s; the first dedicated mobile renal function apparatus in the 1980s; and the introduction of PET-CT in cancer management.

Merck saw revenues increase by 3.8% to €2.5 billion and net profit rise 7.5% to €227 million in the third quarter after solid performances by its pharmaceuticals and Millipore divisions.

Revenues at Merck Serono increased 5.4% to €1.4bn after increased global sales of Rebif and Erbitux (pictured) whilst its Millipore division saw revenue reach €588 million compared to €559 million the same period a year ago.

Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, says the results leave the Group “well positioned as we head into the end of the year”.

Its Executive Board now forecasts annual Group revenues between €10-10.2 billion and the debt resulting from the 2010 acquisition of Millipore to decrease at an “excellent pace”.

Administration expenses were down 2.7% to €124 million with other operating expenses and income also declining slightly by 1.3%. R&D costs increased to €371 million in Q3 due to a combination of late-stage clinical trials and the strong Swiss franc.

Earnings before interest and tax were also down 8.4% with underlying core operating result – which excludes Merck Serono and Millipore – decreasing by 21.5% of revenues as a result of the weakening of the Performance Materials division, the Group claimed.

Generic organic revenue growth in Merck Serono increased nearly 9% after its multiple sclerosis treatment Rebif recorded global sales of €426 million and the cancer treatment Erbitux earned € 218 million, primarily as a result of growth in emerging markets.

“The Merck Group produced solid third-quarter revenue growth in a difficult environment, driven mainly by good performances from the Merck Serono and Merck Millipore divisions,” said Karl-Ludwig Kley. “We are making progress in driving our change agenda forward and we will provide important updates on this endeavour in the first half of 2012.”

Mylan has launched its Rivastigmine capsules to treat dementia in Alzheimer’s patients, the first generic version of Novartis’ Exelon in the UK.

Robert J. Coury, Mylan’s Chairman and CEO, said that the drug is Mylan’s second recent first-to-market generic to be launched in the UK, following the company's launch of Modafinil tablets, the generic version of Cephalon's Provigil, earlier this year.

He said that the launch marks the company’s continued “commitment of providing high quality and affordable medicines to patients around the world”.

Mylan provides global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals in 150 countries and territories.

The BMA has set out eleven areas of continuing concern with the Health and Social Care Bill.

The Association says that a series of further amendments to the Bill are necessary in “order to mitigate damage” to the NHS.

Its recommendations include giving Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) the freedom to commission the most appropriate services, and ensuring the Secretary of State retains ultimate responsibility for the NHS.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, BMA Chairman, says although the Association would prefer the Bill to be withdrawn, “there is scope for further significant change to be made” during its passage through the House of Lords.

In its latest briefing paper, the BMA also calls for an amendment which makes it explicit that patient choice will not be given priority over fair access for all. It also wants further safeguards which prevent providers of care or services ‘cherry-picking’ more profitable services.

On incentives for commissioning, the Association “continues to have serious concerns” about conflicts of interest with the link of financial incentives to the performance of CCGs.

Dr Meldrum hopes that peers in Lords will agree with the suggested amendments and change the controversial legislation before it progresses any further.

“Because so much of the detail won’t appear on the face of the Bill and will instead be left to secondary legislation and guidance, it is essential to have firm assurances now about the government’s implementation plans, for example, we continue to have serious concerns about the ethics of the current proposal to incentivise commissioners,” he said.

“Other areas where the BMA is seeking amendments relate to public health; the private patient income cap; the foundation trust failure regime; increasing bureaucracy and complexity, and information and confidentiality.”

Members of the BMA have previously expressed “major concerns” about the Health Bill on various occasions, calling for the Government to amend the plans back in June 2011.

Healthcare giant Abbott plans to split into two companies: one in diversified medical products and the other in research-based pharmaceuticals.

The diversified medical products company will include medical devices, diagnostics, nutrition and generic drugs, and will retain the Abbott name.

The research-based drug company will cover Abbott’s existing portfolio of proprietary pharmaceuticals and biologics.

Abbott’s cardiac stents and other vascular devices have made the company a global leader in interventional cardiology.

Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO of Abbott, will remain Chairman and CEO of the diversified medical products company, which aims to be one of the largest and fastest-growing investment opportunities in this area.

The Abbott medical products company, whose current annual revenue is estimated at $22 billion, will continue to aim for double-digit growth and geographic expansion, particularly in emerging high-growth markets.

Its existing portfolio includes laboratory, point of care and molecular diagnostics and medical devices for cardiovascular, diabetes and vision care. It will develop an extensive and broad-based pipeline of medtech.

“Today’s news reflects another dynamic change in our company’s 123-year history, strengthening our outlook for strong and sustainable growth and shareholder returns,” said Miles D. White.

“Abbott will be one of the largest and fastest-growing global diversified medical products companies, with a compelling portfolio of durable growth businesses in medical technology, branded generic pharmaceuticals and nutritionals. We will continue to grow our product lines, market share and global presence, especially in emerging markets.”

The transaction will take the form of a tax-free distribution to Abbott shareholders of a new publicly traded stock for the new drug company.

Abbott currently employs nearly 90,000 people and sells a wide range of products in more than 130 countries.

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