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This IM Channel One Ask the Expert Q&A hosted by NineSigma shares hands-on experiences on how open Innovation can be applied to mitigate operator bias in the pharma industry. By formulating business cases that address global healthcare needs, the pharmaceutical industry can open new avenues of innovation that are built on existing solid assets, developing accessory devices and services, creating user communities (medical and/or patient) and strategies to defend against the generic erosion of revenue.

Together with the experts we take a closer look at: how open innovation fits into the existing pharmaceutical innovation model (discovery & clinical); how open innovation can provide new options through business case management; and the key factors in successful, unbiased pharmaceutical open innovation practices.

About the Experts

Rick Wielens, CEO, NineSigma Europe. Rick Wielens joined NineSigma in 2010 and is responsible for NineSigma Europe. Previously, Rick worked with his own company in open innovation and expert services mainly in the High Tech area in the Netherlands and Germany. Rick brings international experience working in Germany for SAP and in the Netherlands for Royal Philips Electronics in various roles and industries. Rick holds a M.Sc. in Transport Planning and Management from the Westminster University in London and a BA in Traffic Engineering from the University of Applied Science in Tilburg.

David Zhang, is the Global Innovation Challenge Leader in Product Development Innovation Management at La Roche. In this capacity, David has led the Open Innovation effort to build and apply infrastructures that enable the Product Development organization to access innovations outside the company to effectively transform our drug development. He has over 15 years of post-doctoral pharmaceutical and biotech drug development experience with in-depth knowledge in all phases of drug development from pre-IND, regulatory filing to successful market approval. Prior to joining Genentech, David worked as a biostatistician at Eli Lilly and Company, and Abbott Laboratories, and Columbia University as a post-doctor fellow. David received his Ph.D. in biostatistics from the School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Magnus R. Björsne, Ph.D. MBA, AstraZeneca, is currently the Business Development Transaction Director & VC Liaison in the area of Cardiovascular and Metabolism. Magnus joined Astra Hassle in 1995 and worked in the area of atrial fibrillation. From his period in this field he is the inventor of a series of compounds, which have advanced to phase 2 clinical trials. After holding a series of managerial positions within the Cardiovascular Discovery Research Management, Magnus moved to the Strategic Planning & Business Development organization in 2006. In parallel to his scientific career, he joined the executive MBA program at Henley Management College 2005.
Magnus graduated at the University of Lund (Sweden) in 1989 and took his postgraduate studies at Stockholm University (Sweden) where he did his PhD on Medicinal Chemistry targeting the HIV protease enzyme.

Stephen Clulow, Ph.D, Director of Healthcare Program Management at NineSigma, has 20 years experience in biotechs and pharmaceutical companies in UK, Europe and USA. This includes: lead isolation, optimization and late-stage compound profiling for small molecules and biopharmaceuticals; leading interdisciplinary teams to generate business cases for new products; implementing IT systems for clinical data management, biomarker data mining and knowledge management. In his current position with NineSigma Stephen enables healthcare companies to solve challenges, fill product pipelines and enhance their capabilities through external partnering.

About NineSigma

NinesigmaNineSigma is one of the most experienced and advanced Open Innovation service providers. Founded in 2000, NineSigma has been offering open innovation solutions long before it was an accepted management practice. NineSigma is responsible for a large part of how open innovation is practiced today, and continues to evolve its services and organization to ensure that organizations will be prepared to move their business to the next level of open innovation capability, regardless of where they are today. NineSigma engages companies across all industry sectors with the global innovation community and enables their organizations to leverage our open innovation network of external resources to solve immediate challenges, fill product pipelines and integrate new knowledge and capabilities into their organizations.