3rd global Biopharma CEO / top execs virtual press briefing – COVID-19
Vaccines against COVID-19: collaboration and risk-sharing to speed up the research, development and manufacturing.
IFPMA organized a virtual press briefing with CEOs and top executives who are at the forefront of biopharmaceutical R&D. The briefing was an opportunity to hear directly from the decision-makers.
This media briefing touched upon:
- Overview of R&D for COVID-19 vaccines pipeline and how companies collaborating to develop and deploy safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines rapidly, equitably, and at scale?
- How are manufacturers coordinating with regulators to streamline regulatory requirements, timelines, and review processes to accelerate clinical trial development and bolster vaccine confidence?
- What does growing the COVID-19 vaccines manufacturing capacity involve and what are the key manufacturing bottlenecks?
- What are companies doing to be ready to scale up to an output of billions as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine is found to be safe and effective and how will the work ensure no-one is left behind?
Speakers
![](https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/i2023_Pascal-Soriot.png)
Pascal Soriot has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AstraZeneca since October 1, 2012. Since becoming CEO, Pascal has led a transformation at AstraZeneca to build a science led Bio-pharmaceutical company with a global presence and a focus in Oncology, Respiratory and Cardio-Renal diseases.
Before joining AstraZeneca, Pascal was Global Head of the Pharmaceuticals Division at Roche in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Genentech based in San Francisco and led the successful merger with Roche Pharmaceuticals.
Pascal joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1986 and held a range of leadership roles in major companies around the world in Australia, Japan and the USA. Pascal brings a passion for science and medicine as well as significant experience in established and emerging markets, strength of strategic thinking, a successful track record of managing change and executing strategy, and the ability to lead a diverse organisation.
He is a doctor of veterinary medicine (École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Maisons-Alfort) and holds an MBA from HEC, Paris.
![](https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/i2023_Emma-Walmsley-190x190.png)
Emma Walmsley has been GSK CEO and Board Director since April 2017.
Prior to this Emma was the CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare, a Joint Venture between GSK and Novartis, from its creation in March 2015, and has been a member of GSK’s Corporate Executive Team since 2011. She joined GSK in 2010, with responsibility for Consumer Healthcare, Europe.
Prior to joining GSK, Emma worked with L’Oreal for 17 years where she held a variety of global and local marketing and general management roles in Paris, London and New York. From 2007 she was based in Shanghai as General Manager, Consumer Products for L’Oreal China.
Emma was a Non-Executive Director of Diageo plc from January – September 2016.
Emma holds an MA in Classics and Modern Languages from Oxford University.
Emma joined the Microsoft board as an independent director in December 2019.
![](https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/i2023_Paul-Stoffels_2012_2053-190x190.jpg)
Paul Stoffels is a visionary leader who inspires and drives transformational innovation to bring years of life and quality of life to millions of people around the world.
Paul spearheads the Johnson & Johnson research and product pipeline by leading teams across all our sectors to set the companywide innovation agenda, discovering and developing transformational healthcare solutions. He also is responsible for the safety of all products of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies worldwide, and steers the company’s global public health strategy to make innovative medicines and technologies accessible in the world’s most vulnerable communities and resource-poor settings.
Paul’s commitment to fueling innovation and finding the best science, wherever it exists, is the driving force behind the launch of Johnson & Johnson Innovation in 2013, which he now leads to foster science and technology through strategic partnerships, licensing and acquisitions. Paul also oversees JJDC, the oldest corporate venture fund in the life science industry.
Previously, in his role as Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, Paul led the transformation of the pharmaceutical research and development pipeline for Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, driving a fundamental shift in the R&D paradigm that is now a model in the industry for productivity and innovation. Under his leadership, Janssen rejuvenated its pipeline, launching multiple new medicines and making a difference for people all over the world.
Prior to this, Paul held various R&D leadership roles within the pharmaceutical sector of Johnson & Johnson. He joined Johnson & Johnson in 2002 with the acquisition of Virco and Tibotec, where he was Chief Executive Officer of Virco and Chairman of Tibotec, and led the development of several breakthrough products for the treatment of HIV that helped to transform this devastating disease from a death sentence to a chronic and treatable condition.
Paul studied Medicine at the University of Diepenbeek and the University of Antwerp in Belgium and Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. He began his career as a physician in Africa, focusing on HIV and tropical diseases research.
![](https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/expert-albert-bourla-190x190.jpg)
Dr Albert Bourla is Chairman and CEO of Pfizer. Before becoming CEO, he was COO, overseeing commercial strategy, manufacturing, and global product development.
Previously, he was group president of Pfizer Innovative Health, including Consumer Healthcare, Inflammation & Immunology, Internal Medicine, Oncology, Rare Disease and Vaccines business groups. He also created the Patient and Health Impact group, dedicated to increasing patient access, demonstrating the value of Pfizer’s medicines, and business model innovation.
Prior, he was president of Established Products business. He is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and joined Pfizer in 1993 in the Animal Health division. In 2020, Dr. Bourla was ranked America’s top CEO in the pharmaceuticals sector by Institutional Investor magazine. He is on the executive committee of the Partnership for New York City, a trustee of the US Council for International Business, and a director on multiple boards, including Pfizer Inc., the Pfizer Foundation, PhRMA, and Catalyst.
![](https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/expert-thomas-cueni-190x190.jpg)
Thomas B. Cueni is Director General of IFPMA, the global association of pharmaceutical research companies, based in Geneva and is Secretary of the global Biopharmaceutical CEO Roundtable (BCR). He is also Chair of the Business at OECD Health Committee, and also serves on the Board of Directors of the City Cancer Challenge (CCan), an initiative aiming to improve cancer care in major cities in low- and middle-income countries.
Cueni also serves as Industry Co-Chair of the APEC Biopharmaceutical Working Group on Ethics. Furthermore, he is Chair of the Board of the cross-sectoral AMR Industry Alliance, a group committed to tackling the threat of antimicrobial resistance, which includes more than 100 companies and associations representing Rx pharma, generics, biotech, and diagnostics.
Resources
Global Biopharma CEO/Top Executives COVID-19 Media Briefing – 28 May 2020 (Video)
Read morePharma partners in efforts to give coronavirus vaccine for everyone
Geneva, 28 May 2020. IFPMA has today updated the world’s media on the biopharmaceutical industry’s unprecedented efforts, many of them in collaboration with others, to speed up research and development for a new COVID-19 vaccine. The body representing the global biopharmaceutical industry also highlighted at the briefing that plans are underway to scale up manufacturing...
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