Pharmaceutical Licensing Group
PLG WORKSHOPS, AGM & AWARDS NIGHT DINNER 2012
The first PLG meeting of 2012 was the AGM, Workshops and Awards Night Dinner held at Ironmongers’ Hall, London, on Thursday 2nd February. The meeting again attracted a record number of delegates and we are pleased that so many of you were able to enjoy the event.
After a last minute change in line up, Huw Jones from Daffodil Consulting kindly took to the stage to present on Starting a New Biopharma Business. Thomas Mehrling from Mundipharma followed this with his view on how to Build an Oncology Franchise from Scratch.
Both presentations are available to download from the members’ area of the PLG website.
With over 90 delegates from across the industry in attendance, the pre-dinner networking drinks provided an ideal opportunity to warm up from the cold outside!
After dinner, the PLG were delighted to introduce Trevor Jones to offer his thoughts on the current state of the pharmaceutical industry, as well as entertain with a few well told stories!
Campbell Wilson, Chairman, PLG UK, then began the awards part of the evening. He began by briefly explaining that the PLG awards had been started to highlight those within the industry that had shown particular excellence in their role, be that by concluding a number deals through the year to signing a significant deal for their company.
Geoff Collett, Regional Business Development Director, AstraZeneca, was on hand to announce the winner of the AstraZeneca Business Development Executive of the Year award. Barry Kenny from Heptares was voted runner-up for closing 3 deals (with AZ, Shire & Takeda) in only a 6 week period.
The winner was announced as Dan Thomas from Alliance Pharmaceuticals as the voting panel were particularly impressed with 3 acquisition deals with a sales value in 2011 of £4.7 million. Luckily Dan was on hand to receive his award in person, after giving an impromptu Oscar-style winners speech!
Campbell then returned to the stage to announce that Ashley Cox, Glenmark Generics, had won the PLG Business Development Best Newcomer award. Ashley had demonstrated an excellent attitude towards BD and had used her previous sales skills to help structure BD deals.
Dean Palmer, winner of the 2011 Dawson Scholarship, finished off the official part of the evening by explaining the benefit that his prize of a free module of the PLG MSc course had given him. The Dawson Scholarship is an annual prize designed to encourage young professionals within the industry. Further details about the scholarship can be found HERE.
Congratulations to both Dan and Ashley and we look forward to next years’ nominations.
Dan Thomas, Alliance, gives his acceptance speech
Campbell Wilson & Sharon Finch, PLG,
with Dan Thomas
Cart Attewell, Glenmark, accepting the PLG BD Best Newcomer Award on behalf of winner Ashley Cox