DOTmed has learned that the NGP Summit, September 15 - 17, 2009 will be held at the Park Hotel in Bremen, Germany. The event "has been carefully designed for major pharmaceutical debate," according to Julia MacKenzie, Director of Next Generation Pharmaceutical (NGP). The pharmaceutical industry has, in fact, been up in arms, with giants like Pfizer, GSK and AstraZeneca looking for deals in the downturn, while competing against increasing generic competition as some of the best-selling medicines come off patent. In addition to the sector's ever-changing landscape, companies are under tremendous pressure from governments to combat the Swine Flu pandemic that has alarmed the world.

"The battle to beat Swine Flu is not just being fought in the lab, the virus must be tackled on all fronts; once the vaccination is discovered the industry must be prepared by having a lean manufacturing and supply system to get it out to the masses," says MacKenzie.

In order to face this pandemic, manufacturing heads in the industry will unite at the NCP Summit, which will host 50 of the leading pharmaceutical companies, to discuss the future of pharmaceutical production and supply.

Attending will be leaders in the pharmaceutical industry including Stanley Lech, Vice President, Global Innovation & World Wide Product Development for GlaxoSmithKline; Ronald Massey, Senior Director of Engineering for Pfizer; Dick Winokur, Vice President of Clinical Supply Chain for Sanofi-Aventis; and Thomas Dazkowski, Vice President, BTS-A Process Technology Healthcare for Bayer Technology.

MacKenzie reported to DOTmed, "So much attention has been focused on finding a vaccine, but in reality it is the manufacturing process that now needs to be addressed, hence the summit will become a secure platform for industry leaders to discuss the next steps to getting their products to market quickly and efficiently."

As concerns over the Swine Flu pandemic increase, the industry must be ready to deal with the need for vaccine supply, and the number of cases has rapidly risen over the last few months. Europe will soon enter its winter season and the demand will be greater than ever. MacKenzie goes on, "With quicker and more efficient regulations, manufacturing and supply to the masses could be improved, but in order for this to happen collaboration and communication within the industry needs to occur."

For more information about the NGP Summit, go to
http://www.ngpsummit.eu.com

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