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Life Sciences Newsbrief – April 2012, Issue #42

New PwC Team Addition

As first announced in March, PwC’s Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences practice is very pleased that Nitin Kaushal is now officially part of our team. Nitin joins us with over 25 years experience focusing on the life sciences, consumer healthcare, healthcare services and medical device industries. He is working alongside our Corporate Finance team and brings a strong aptitude to bridge the financial and scientific areas, providing significant value to our clients.

Nitin’s past roles includes Board of Directorships with many pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. He also brings experience from investment banking, venture capital, and consulting firms. He was ranked as the Top Healthcare Investment Banker by Brendan Wood in 2008/2009. Nitin has performed over 40 merger, acquisition, strategic advisory and licensing assignments. He was advisor to 2 of the top 5 global Pharma companies and M&A advisor on one of the top licensing deals in Canadian healthcare history (Dirucotide with Eli Lilly). Nitin is a regular speaker at biotechnology conferences including BIO and Biofinance and past educator at the University of Toronto.

If you would like to arrange a meeting with Nitin please contact us.

Thought Leadership

The Penny Drops: SME Innovation Rises
The 2012 Federal and Provincial budgets released to date partly focus on reinforcing economic strengths and opportunities to secure a brighter future. At the forefront of the opportunities is a greater focus on innovation, particularly for small and medium size enterprises (SME's). Read our perspective on the budgets's key developments, from both a federal and provincial perspective, by clicking here.

Owning the disease: a new transformational business model for healthcare
The convergence of expanded access, lower reimbursement rates, higher velocity of innovation, diminished pools of venture capital, the advent of personalized care and a growing demand for improved patient outcomes has created ripples that already are altering the economics and operating dynamics of healthcare. These undulations are the precursor to a hurricane that will batter unprepared companies and fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered and evaluated. To survive the coming storm, biomedical companies must build new models of innovation that are anchored in consumer-centric disease solutions rather than the traditional R&D department approaches. To download the full click here.

Needles in a haystack: Seeking knowledge with clinical informatics
Outcomes-based reimbursement is the future of the health industry. To improve patient outcomes, proactively identify chronic and high-risk patients in this new environment, and effectively manage their financial performance, healthcare organizations must be able to provide analytics at the point of service and rely on historical and longitudinal data to manage patient populations.

One constant in all of the new care and reimbursement models is data. With the digitization of healthcare, new opportunities are rising from a marked increase in the channels, volume, and complexity of information available. Organizations will compete on how effectively and affordably they manage patient care and identify patients who need preventive care. Healthcare organizations need strategies for mining data, conducting and integrating evidence-based research, translating findings into practice, and driving the behavior changes required for patient compliance.

To assess the state of clinical informatics, Health Research Institute (HRI), surveyed more than 600 provider, health insurer, and pharmaceutical/ life science professionals on their clinical informatics perspectives, as well as more than 30 top executives across those sectors. To download the full report click here.

Events

Medtech Investor's Conference
May 9, 2012, Minneapolis, MN
The MedTech Investing Conference has become the leading event for medical device investors, entrepreneurs and corporate business development executives. As in the past, this year's conference will feature industry leaders who will share their candid insights on the most critical issues in the sector today; while, at the same time, providing an intimate venue to network and to grow impactful relationships to help foster the development and financing of companies. Join over 45 industry experts from around the nation in a discussion focusing on the broader theme of "The New Era of Innovation". PwC is a sponsor of the Medtech investor’s conference. For more information visit: http://medtechconference.com/

Global R&D Tax Symposium: Fostering Innovation in the United States and Around the World
May 10, 2012, Washington, D.C.
This year, PwC will be hosting the 2nd annual Global R&D Tax Symposium. The conference is designed for tax executives of multinational corporations with responsibilities relating to their company's R&D investments and concerns about the competitiveness of their company in the global marketplace. Executives who attend the Symposium will have the opportunity to discuss new and changing incentives for innovation with peers, PwC innovation leaders, and U.S. government officials. Participants also will develop ways to enhance their plans to take advantage of all available incentives.

The symposium will include the following sessions:

  • Pathways to the future: New developments in innovation tax policy around the world
  • Planning to take advantage of government competition to attract research activities and intellectual property
  • Benefitting from innovation tax incentives in emerging economies
  • Promoting certainty, collaboration, and transparency in the administration of tax incentives
  • Fostering innovation: Is the U.S. tax policy on the right track?

For more information, visit: http://www.meetpwc.com/rsvp/invitation/invitation.asp?id=/m2c53c-4PY6BE6H7NDER

14th Annual CBI Medicaid Drug Rebate Summit
May 16- 18, 2012, Orlando, FL
In its 14th year, the conference provides pharmaceutical, biotech and generic drug manufacturers with the most timely and relevant updates related to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.

Amidst monumental healthcare system overhaul, recent CMS proposed AMP rule, major expansion of Managed Medicaid and economic crises at the State level, this conference provides manufacturers with extensive coverage on the latest issues related to:

  • Medicaid statutory calculations
  • Nuances of the recent CMS proposed AMP rule
  • Managed Medicaid accruals and contracting
  • CMS reporting
  • State Medicaid policy changes
  • Government enforcement
  • Key areas for risk in government pricing programs
  • Impact of the other Federal contracting changes

PwC’s Anthony Greco and Ari Ilan will be presenting. For more information visit: http://www.cbinet.com/conference/pc12149%20

BioFinance 2012
May 29-30, 2012, Toronto, ON
BioFinance is the leading investor conference in Canada for the life sciences industry.
This event brings together key industry players interested in investment opportunities and issues affecting companies in the life sciences sector. Presenting companies span a range of industries including: biologics, medical devices, drug delivery, vaccines, diagnostics, bio-energy, green technologies, bio materials, industrial biotech, and research services. PwC is a sponsor of the conference and Nitin Kaushal, from PwC's Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences practice, will be speaking on May 29th. For more information visit: http://www.biofinance.ca/