The Times hails PA's people as at the 'vanguard of scientific strategy'
The Times has dedicated a 1,000-word article to PA’s open innovation survey and work, describing PA's consultants as being at the 'vanguard of exciting scientific strategy'. This unprecedented coverage came from a visit by the newspaper's business features editor, Carol Lewis, to our Cambridge Technology Centre in the UK. Carol met many PA consultants and saw first hand some of PA’s innovations.
The article paints a positive picture of PA's product and process work:
'Scientists are working on a range of exciting and unusual innovations. One is developing semi-frozen drinks using a machine originally designed by an IVF company to freeze embryo cells, another scientist talks excitedly about high powered injection systems for delivering drugs and about smart phone applications to monitor medicine efficacy, two others grapple in a corridor with a state-of-the-art remote control hospital bed while a couple of their colleagues demonstrate a prototype "radical generator" designed to kill airborne viruses and bacteria.'
Commenting on PA’s views on open innovation, Carol writes:
'Open innovation is seen as the future modus operandi for the pharmaceutical industry,' where research and development teams are needed to rein back operational costs while simultaneously dealing with depleted product pipelines and impending patent expiries.'
PA’s Wil Schoenmakers is also quoted extensively in the article:
"Open innovation should drive costs down, not up, but they might have to make fundamental changes such as lay-off R&D scientists and spend more money outside the organisation."
Will also points out that innovation scouts are not just 'lab rats' and they need to have business acumen and an appreciation of the commercial as well as technical aspects of the organisation and, most importantly, good people skills.
You can read the article in full here on The Times website
