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PHARMACEUTICALSthe European Commission and due to be read in the European Parliament this spring. It aims to standardise the current ad hoc arrangements on patients’ rights when they receive medical treatment in other member states. Another is an EU directive on information to patients, taking in issues such as medicine labelling. There is also upcoming legislation on the use of animals, particularly primates, in research – pharma companies fear that restrictions could stifle innovation. The chances of much of this being sorted out before June, when European voters go to the polls, seem remote. “It’s all coming to a head at the same time and because of the political calendar there is pressure to get things done,” suggests one pharma company PA director. This makes lobbying parliamentarians more than usually difficult. “It takes about 18 months on average for a piece of legislation to work its way through the system and this time we have an election in the middle,” he adds. “MEPs already have more than one eye on that.”are being offered and whether or not the areas of policy they cover are of interest to us,” Hackett says.UK priority is ‘market access’ One lobbying challenge that dominates UK PA practitioners’ thinking is that of ‘market access’; in effect, making sure that a company actually gets its drugs to patients. “Our government affairs tends to be around market access,” one UK in-house PA director tells PAN when asked his PA priority. In practice this means getting your products approved for use on the NHS – and in turn this means dealing with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which recommends the drugs that patients receive. Crispin Slee, head of comms at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), says: “There are big issues around access to medicines, and making sure NICE is not a barrier to innovation.” The ABPI met prime minister Gordon Brown on this in January. Roche director of comms Susie Hackett insists that the company does not use the term ‘lobbying’. Instead she cites the Pharmaceutical Oncology Initiative, via which 16 pharma companies have worked with the NHS to help clinicians and managers reform cancer services for patients. Part of the appeal for pharma companies in this private-public collaboration is to help the NHS prepare more efficient ways of getting new drugs into the system. “We are looking at care pathways within the NHS, we monitor what consultationsThe House of Commons health committee is currently carrying out inquiries into patient safety, the NHS Next Stage Review and health inequalities. Select committee member Sandra Gidley MP, who is Liberal Democrat spokesperson on health, told PAN (not entirely tongue-in-cheek) that media relations with healthcare-friendly mid-market papers may have an even greater effect than direct lobbying: “If I were working for pharma companies these days I’d get the Daily Mail onside.” The issue of pharma pricing is one that interests both Brussels and Westminster lobbyists but Gidley demonstrates just how much they have to do when she says: “When it comes to NICE drugs, my strong feeling is that pharma companies will pitch the price as high as they think they can get away with. I know they have to recoup their development costs but I find the attitude a little strange.” While Gidley’s comment could reasonably be said of any commercial enterprise‘Get the Daily Mail onside’“The way companies choose to manipulate the public agenda can have an effect on policy” – Sandra Gidley MPattempting to market a product, it indicates a political climate in which it is acceptable to squeeze the pharma sector – and that is certainly happening in the UK. Manufacturers are even embarking on risk-sharing deals with the public sector in which they take up some of the cost of their own treatments on behalf of patients. And the 2009 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) – the government programme that regulates how much manufacturers can make from selling their drugs to the NHS – saw the UK pharma industry standing to lose £225m in annual profits.National and local importance What to prescribe? ‘Market access’ is a priority for UK-based pharma lobbyistsFor these reasons, trying to understand the effect of a future Conservative government on pricing is exercising the minds of the UK public affairs community. “Our working assumption is that there will be a change of government,” admits one UK pharma lobbyist. “There is a chance that the Liberal Democrats would hold the balance of power and it is not inconceivable that they would have the health portfolio.” Yet as responsibility for prescribing decisions is increasingly devolved from a central NHS function to individual primary care trusts, PA practitioners need to know how things work at a local level too. “Public affairs now must be about understanding the local decision-making process of the NHS as well as that of central government,” says Andrew Harrison, head of healthcare at the consultancy Hanover. “And the two are naturally interlinked.” It is an increasingly complex, multilayered market, but even Gidley admits the efforts of pharma lobbyists are working in certain cases. “The way companies choose to manipulate the public agenda can have an effect on policy,” she concedes. Lobbyists should be pleased to hear this at a time when the pharma sector is under pressure to meet changing customer demands. But since issues such as counterfeiting and getting drugs to market are so fundamental to their success in these uncertain times, there is no room for complacency. PAN April 2009 | PublicAffairsNews | 25 APRIL 2009www.publicaffairsnews.cinside this issueCelic departs HSBC for Prudential role By IAN HALLPreparing for power How would the Tories tackle their first 100 days? page 18 ‘The register does not work’ View from Brussels PAGE 13 A picture of health? Helen Bradburn pagES 20-21 Ed Vaizey Kevin newsRail regulator bags external affairs supremo Ken Young joins from the Pensions Regulator, which replaces him with former aide to pensions minister Rosie Winterton The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has recruited the Pensions Regulator’s head of communications to head its newly created 18-strong newsAlstom brief for Bell Pottinger Public Affairs Alstom has brought in Bell Pottinger Public Affairs to provide UK lobbying advice. The agency appointment, believed to be the first time the company has handed out a major retained UK PA contract, follows the appointment of a new UK comms director a newsCentrica lures Defra aide Novozymes plans by ian hallFTSE 100 energy giant Centrica has lured Justin Johnson from Defra, where he was specialist adviser to environment secretary Hilary Benn MP. Johnson has taken the role of public affairs manager, reporting to director of public affairs and Euro New-biz round-up Your essential monthly digest of organisations appointing or changing consultanciesSMARTA.COM • G4S • ASSOCIATION OF LICENSED MULTIPLE RETAILERS • AMGEN • LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY • UCAS Kaup. Singer Fried. depositors’ action group – Bell Pottinger An ‘action group’ of deposito newsEx-Brunswick partner claims HSBC role Banking giant HSBC has made a brace Her role with HSBC marks a a senior appointments to bolster return to an in-house banking job: its international public affairs. before Brunswick she was interim The group has appointed Joanna director of corporate affairs newspeople moves www.publicaffairsnews.cONLINE 20MAREustice joins Allan’s Portland Portland PR last month recruited one of www.publicaffairsnews.c clients, splitting his time between the ONLINE 26MAR the best-known and longest-serving agency and his duties in Cornwall. names in the Conservatives’ PR MediaHow political rivals are faring in the presscommons incheS: Miliband, Clark and Hughes rival PARLIAMENTARIANS’ press coverage – number of mentions 16 Ed Miliband 8 Mar: Sunday papers note that Miliband will warn the Scottish Labour conference that the party and the country face testing timesmed Consultation tracker Your essential monthly digest of new consultations of interest to the public affairs communityON-DEMAND TV • ECO-TOWNS • TICKET TOUTING • GAMING TABLES • ‘CARBON NEUTRALITY’ • MEDICAL DEVICES • APPRENTICESHIPS CONSULTATIONS LAUNCHED IN THE PAST month BBC Trust – ‘Project Canvas’ european news‘EU quarter’ revamp hailed PA pros welcome news that Rue de la Loi area is set to be given makeover BRUSSELS: Lobbyists have given the values they defend and promote on the thumbs-up to news that Brussels’ international stage”. generally ugly ‘European quarter’ is Edelman’s London-based european newseuropean News in brief – EXTRA B-M PREPARES EP ELECTIONS PREDICTOR: Burson-Marsteller (B-M)’s Brussels office is this month launching a website – www. predict09.eu – that will offer updated weekly predictions, based on polling data, of the result of European Parliament elections. The el european newsConference dominated by ‘downturn’ talk BRUSSELS: the EIGHTH EUROtive Andrew Hawkins are pean Centre for Public reproduced below. Affairs (ECPA) annual The conference was conference saw top Eurodominated by talk of the pean professionals gather impact of the recession, at the Berlaymont Are you prepared for the changes about to take place in Brussels? As a political and public affairs communications specialist, Dods can help you to keep track of the personnel and institutional changes that are on the horizon. With this in mind we provide specific services focusing on the elections think-tank newsByrne and Gove at IPPR/PwC debate The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to launch a three-year work programme that aims to set out the ‘practical steps’ needed to create a ‘smarter, more effective’ state. Their ‘Towards a Smart BAR . RESTAURANT . CAFÉ Located moments from the Houses of ParliamentCatering for events 10-180 people Exclusive Hire Meetings and Conferences Bar and Café Area Four Millbank, London SW1P 3JA Four Millbank, London SW1P 3JA Tel: 020 7233 0032 Tel: 020 7233 0032 Fax: 020 7233 0010 Fax: 020 7233 0010 E opinion – leadereditor’s COMMENT Scottish market typifies agency sector as ’09 q1 ends very time I ask someone working for a PA consultancy how they are coping during the recession, answers seem cloned from the same template: “...clients still need public affairs advice, even if the economy’s lousy. opinion – pan panelQHOT TOPIC: AFTER THE ELECTION... [ Jo Tanner Director, IN-HOUSE PRTHE QUESTION: What would the first 100 days of a Cameron government bring? With the Conservative Party maintaining a healthy lead in the polls, Tory strategists are planning for how to adjust to power after more th opinion – columnistsed vaizeyMP COMMENTkevin maguireJOURNALIST COMMENTWhy it’s becoming tougher to ‘Transparency’ provides lowbe a parliamentary candidate hanging fruit for hungry hacks t’s quite common these days to find prominent figures from the public affairs sector making the move into frontlin Profile – HELEN BRADBURN‘There is a huge amount of potential to do more here’ After 11 years at the NHS Confederation Helen Bradburn left for the top PA and comms role at the Health Foundation. Adam Hill finds her ‘thinking her way’ into the new role here is an electric piano in one of changes of em PROFILE – HELEN BRADBURNPA person now,” she says – after another longish pause. These exchanges are typical of Bradburn’s conversation: thoughtful rather than polished, querying rather than bullish, with responses seeming to arrive newminted rather than off a corporate production line. She should ge PA CONSULTANCIES IN SCOTLANDScot to trot As London-headquartered Mandate Communications recruits well-known Scottish lobbyist Craig Harrow to open an office in Edinburgh, Public Affairs News maps out the consultancy scene north of the border FLEISHMAN-HILLARD Opened in Scotland in Dec 1996 Top PA pe PA CONSULTANCIES IN SCOTLAND M c EWAN PARTNERS Was GJW Scotland in 1999, then McEwan Purvis; has been McEwan Partners since 2007 Directors are Sam McEwan, Jayne Swanson and Jacqueline Jamieson Four staff ‘85 to 90 per cent’ of turnover is from PA Independent, but part of FIPRA network First minister PHARMACEUTICALSPharma chameleons Counterfeit medicines and ‘market access’ are just two of the issues exercising PA professionals in the drugs sector, writes Adam Hill n 2007, more than four million counterfeit medicines were seized at EU borders, a contraband haul up 51 per cent on the previous yea PHARMACEUTICALSthe European Commission and due to be read in the European Parliament this spring. It aims to standardise the current ad hoc arrangements on patients’ rights when they receive medical treatment in other member states. Another is an EU directive on information to patients, taking in is GM FOOD‘Countries have different rea ‘Frankenstein food’? Or an idea whose time has come? Adam Hill reports on the groups battling it out over GM technology there was more discussion in Brussels,” says Moll. “It depends on the local agenda; countries have different reasons to reject it.”AEuropean re GM FOODasons to reject it...’ Policy director Peter Melchett explains: “Our fundamental argument against GM as a technology and GM crops as products is that the technology gives rise to uncertainties and risks.” Yet a large part of the group’s messaging also revolves around downplaying the whole iss EVENT PARTNERNOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSEDMONDAY 11 MAYTHE SHORTLIST WILL BE ANNOUNCED ONFOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AND TABLE BOOKINGS CONTACT:EMMA STEPHENS Dods, Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP +44 (0)20 7091 7677@emma.stephens@publicaffTHURSDAY 2 JULY 2009 www.publicaffairsn recruitment PC ad(PAN)030-4-09-c 3/4/09 11:34 Page 1appointmentsEnterprise Insight Head of External Relations to £45k (possible part-time arrangement available, £ pro-rata) Enterprise Insight increases entrepreneurial behaviour in the UK by equipping people with the confidence, skills and ambition t “Over many years I have drawn upon Steve Atack’s expertise in international executive search for public affairs appointments. 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This is a position for a robust and well-rounded communications professional wit ePoliti .com Parliament Policy CommunicationPolitical EPolicy Con suCa mventspaigltat ion snC ove ragei Parla menNe tarywsParli am Briefi entary ng Pa persYour route into Parliament ePolitix.com driving the UK’s online political communicationOur services include: Parliamentary news Campaign coverage classifiedThe magazine for MEPs, by MEPs theparliament.com subscribe online POLITICS, POLICY AND PEOPLETo advertise here call......Emma Stephens 020 7091 7677 April 2009 | PublicAffairsNews | 35 bridge_195_60 copy.pdf 16/12/2008 10:57:14classifiedCMPOLITICAL INTELLIGENCE Dods Monitoring is a specialist political information provider delivering real-time monitoring to the political and policymaking community, from multinational corporations to trade associations, government agencies to chari reviewsWAITING FOR THE ETONIANS byNick Cohen | £12.99 | Fourth Estatehe last Etonian prime minister, Harold Macmillan, formed his administration more than 50 years ago in January 1957. When asked what represented the greatest challenge for a statesman, Macmillan famously replied: “Events, my dear bo out and aboutmy life Sophie Sutcliffe Corporate affairs executive News International Newspapers Where do you live? Shad Thames, next to Tower Bridge. So it’s a very civilised 20-minute ‘commute’ to work and ideal for trips to Borough Market on a Saturday. What’s your media diet? Wake up to the Today out and about All group shots are captioned left to right. To include photos of your event, send images to ian.hall@publicaffairsnNewsreader Alastair Stewart OBE (an Action for Children ambassador) and Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families Beverley Hughes MPMarket Research Societ Best In Class James Nason Warwick Smith Chris Lowe Richard Sutcliffe-Smith Robbie MacDuffMerging to makeContact: firstname.surname@coll