MONTHLY HEALTHCARE NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 2014
A GLOBAL LEADER IN STRATEGIC HEALTHCARE COMMUNICATIONS
London | Singapore | New York
MONTHLY INTELLIGENCE | UPCOMING EVENTS | CONFERENCES
Q&A WITH
ANDREW WARD
HOW FT’S ANDREW WARD SEES THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF HEALTHCARE. CONSILIUM’S
TEAM TURNS THE TABLES AND INTERVIEWS ANDREW ON HIS FT HEALTHCARE BEAT, THE
DIGITAL LIFE OF A JOURNALIST TODAY, HIS PASSIONS AND HOWLERS…
1. Which story has given you the greatest
satisfaction this year?
Covering the AstraZeneca-Pfizer deal was
undoubtedly the biggest challenge but also
exhilarating because $100bn cross-border deals
don’t come along very often in any industry.
Charting the signs of stirring in UK life sciences
through stories such as Circassia’s £200m float and
Adaptimmune’s $100m fundraising has also been
fun.
2. Where has your career taken you en route
to the pharmaceutical sector in London?
I joined the FT as a graduate trainee from
Manchester University in 2000 and had a spell
covering the media sector before spending 10
years as a foreign correspondent in Seoul, Atlanta,
Washington and Stockholm. I came back to London
in 2011 and served two years as UK news editor
before returning to reporting in my current role at
the beginning of this year.
3. Online or print: What is the FT’s primary
focus given the revamp of the paper, how
do the two sit together?
Digital subscribers account for more than two-thirds
of our 677,000 global circulation so online is
increasingly our primary focus. This number is the
highest in the FT’s 126-year history so, although
newspaper sales have fallen, the growth in digital
readership is more than offsetting that decline. About
half of total online traffic is through mobile devices
so we’re having to rethink the old rules from the print
era. That said, we’re still committed to maintaining
a strong newspaper and we demonstrated that with
the redesign unveiled last month.
Continues on next page...
CONSILIUM APPOINTS
JONATHAN BIRT AS A PARTNER
CONSILIUM SIGNIFICANTLY STRENGTHENS TEAM WITH APPOINTMENT OF JONATHAN
BIRT AS PARTNER AND LAURA THORNTON AS EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT
This month Consilium Strategic Communications
announced the appointment of Jonathan Birt
as a Partner. Jonathan has more than 20 years
of experience as a leading sector journalist
and senior executive specialising in financial,
corporate, investor and medical communications.
As a Managing Director at FTI Consulting and
Financial Dynamics in London and New York
until 2013, he specialised in pharmaceutical,
medical
and
agricultural
technologies.
His
expertise includes financial reporting, M&A
transactions, IPOs, fundraisings, media relations,
media
training
and
crisis
management.
Continues on next page...
MONTHLY
INTELLIGENCE
MEDIA MOVES
• Lauren Davidson is now
Business Reporter at The Telegraph
Analyst moves
• Terence McManus is now an analyst at
Credit Suisse, previously at Jefferies
• Steve McGarry has left Société Générale
Q&A WITH
ANDREW WARD
continues
4. What time does you work day start and
what are your deadlines on a typical morning?
One of the main features of this new digital world
is that deadlines are fluid. In the past, a journalist
could amble into the office in late morning, take a
long lunch with a contact and still have plenty of
time to file for an evening deadline. Sadly those
days are gone. Now, if there’s a big story breaking
in the morning there is an immediate demand to file
for the web and then build out the story through the
day. The idea is that by late afternoon there should
be a comprehensive story online that is ready to be
picked up for the next day’s newspaper.
5. Which type of story and area are you
most passionate about in healthcare?
As a corporate reporter I like the personalities
and strategies involved in business but this job
also provides opportunities to write about science,
regulation, politics and public policy. And in
healthcare there’s always a human interest angle.
So it’s one of the most varied and interesting
industries to cover.
6. What is the biggest howler that you’ve
heard of or committed this year?
There is nothing worse than making a mistake and
seeing the story staring out at you from the news
stands for the next 24 hours. One of the advantages
of the web is that any mistakes can be quickly
corrected. But you have to be careful not to let the
existence of that safety net lead to a fall in standards.
8. What are the key elements that you
think that make a great story?
FT readers are generally time-starved, high-level
operators in business, finance and policymaking.
So every story involves a challenge to grab their
attention and convince them in the first two or three
paragraphs why the story matters to them. The ideal
FT story is one that has significance across borders
and across sectors. It doesn’t always have to involve
big companies. In the case of healthcare, a start-up
delivering an innovation in digital health might be
of interest to a venture capitalist in San Francisco,
a health official in Beijing, and a big pharma
executive in Basel.
9. What does your editor look for in a
healthcare story at the moment?
Multi-billion dollar M&A deals have been our main
focus as well as GSK’s problems in China. Our UK
editors have been interested in the disputes between
Nice and Roche over cancer drug pricing and also
the debate over the strength of UK life sciences in
the wake of the Pfizer-AstraZeneca drama.
10. How far ahead do you plan stories?
Some stories are planned weeks ahead. Many
stories arise unexpectedly on the day. The challenge
is to strike a balance between chasing the day-today news while carving out time for longer-term
stories.
11. How do you balance your life as an FT
sector correspondent with having a family life?
It’s been difficult this year with so much going on
but I try my best. There are some periods when it
is relentless so you have to claw back a bit of time
when things are quieter.
7. Who is the most interesting person/
company you have met since you started
the healthcare beat?
12. How can companies and PR advisors
help you more?
The big pharma CEOs and chairmen tend to be big
characters and it’s been especially interesting to
meet some of them this year amid all the M&A under
way in the sector. It was fascinating watching the
chess game between Pfizer and AstraZeneca and
there’s a similar drama going on in the US between
Allergan and Valeant.
As a non-scientist I have come to appreciate those
people who are able to explain science in a clear
and lively fashion. Because I’m writing for a nonspecialist audience I have to be able to explain the
science in layman’s terms -- but to do that I have to
first get to grips with it myself. More broadly, like all
journalists, I appreciate companies that are open
and communicative.
APPOINTMENT ARTICLE CONTINUES
Jonathan has worked with many of the world’s
largest companies and led communications for a
number of high profile international acquisitions.
He also has extensive experience with smaller and
growth companies in the UK, Europe and North
America. Jonathan was formerly head of European
equities at Reuters and head of UK equities at Dow
Jones, with specific responsibility for covering the
European pharmaceutical, biotechnology and
chemicals sectors as well as a wide range of
business, financial and economic reporting. He
has lived and worked in the US, Japan, France and
VOTE:
the UK. He has a degree in French and Spanish
from Durham University. Jonathan will augment
Consilium’s senior team and support advisory work
internationally.
Consilium
Strategic
Communications
also
announced the appointment of Laura Thornton as
an Executive Consultant. Laura joined Consilium
in July 2014 from financial PR firm Tulchan
Communications where she advised a variety of
companies. Laura has a degree in Neuroscience
from The University of Bristol.
VOTE BY VISITING OUR
ONLINE NEWSLETTER
QUESTION:
Should the UK Takeover Panel take disciplinary
action against companies that break promises
made during M&A battles?
YES NO
CONFERENCE
CALENDAR
2014
OCTOBER
Economist Healthcare in the Middle East, Dubai (14 October)
NOVEMBER
BIO–Europe 2014, Frankfurt (3 – 5 November)
Bryan, Garnier & Co Healthcare Conference, Paris (6 – 7 November)
Credit Suisse Annual Healthcare Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona (11 – 14 November)
Medtech & Diagnostics Innovations Summit, Hotel Nikko Dusseldorf, Germany (13 November)
FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference 2014, London (17-18 November)
Consilium Strategic Communications Healthcare IR Conference, London (18 November)
Jefferies Healthcare Conference, London (19 – 20 November)
Canaccord Genuity Medical Technology and Diagnostics Forum, New York (20 November)
BIO Convention in China, (TBC)
Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit, (TBC)
Lazard Capital Markets 11th Annual Healthcare Conference, (TBC)
DECEMBER
Berenberg Bank 12th Annual European Conference, Pennyhill Park, UK (1 – 4 December)
Piper Jaffray 26th Annual Healthcare Conference, New York (2 – 3 December)
NASDAQ OMX 31st Investor Programme, London (2 – 3 December)
Australia Biotech Invest 2014, Melbourne (3 December)
Deutsche Bank Access Pharmaceutical Corporate Day, London (4 December)
25th Oppenheimer Annual Healthcare Conference, New York (10 – 11 December)
2015
JANUARY
Boston BioTech East/West CEO Conference, San Francisco (10 – 11 January)
JP Morgan 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference, San Francisco (12 – 16 January)
BioTech Showcase 2015, San Francisco (12 – 15 January)
FEBRUARY
17th Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference, New York (9 – 10 February)
The Economist Events Pharma Summit 2015, London (26 February)
MARCH
European Life Science CEO Forum Partnering and Investing
in Biotech & Pharma Industry, Zurich (3 – 4 March)
Pharma Partnering & Investment World Asia 2015, Singapore (23 – 26 March)
Boston BioTech BD Conference, Boston (24 – 25 March)
The Economist Asia Healthcare Conference, Hong Kong (TBC)
EVENTS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN THE MONTH AHEAD
Tristel PLC,
2014 Earnings Release (13 October)
Merck & Co., Inc,
Q3 2014 Earnings Release (27 October)
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC,
Research and Development Day (14 October)
Epistem Holdings PLC,
2014 Earnings Release (28 October)
Avacta Group PLC,
2014 Earnings Release (16 October)
AstraZeneca PLC,
PDUFA, Xigduo XR, type II diabetes (29 October)
GlaxoSmithKline PLC,
Q3 2014 Earnings Release (22 October)
Smith & Nephew PLC,
Q3 2014 Earnings Release (30 October)
HIGHLIGHTED FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY IN SEPTEMBER
COMPANY NAME
AMOUNT
RAISED
TYPE OF
FUNDRAISE
COUNTRY
DATE
NeuroSigma Inc.
$50 million
IPO
US
29-Sep-14
Coherus BioSciences
Inc.
$86.3 million
IPO
US
25-Sep-14
Adaptimmune
$104m
Series A
US
25-Sep-14
Coherus BioSciences
Inc.
$86.3 million
IPO
US
25-Sep-14
Avanir
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
$200.2 million
Share Sales
US
24-Sep-14
Eureka Therapeutics
Inc.
$21 million
C Round
US
23-Sep-14
Tracon
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
$27 million
Series B
US
22-Sep-14
Scholar Rock LLC $20 million
Series A
UK
15-Sep-14
AM-Pharma B.V.
EUR 12.2 million
Series E
NETHERLANDS
12-Sep-14
Kolltan
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
$86.3 million
IPO
US
12-Sep-14
Virobay Inc.
$50 million
IPO
US
11-Sep-14
Xenon
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
$51.8 million
IPO
CANADA
10-Sep-14
Flex Pharma Inc.
$40 million
Venture Round
US
8-Sep-14
Clovis Oncology Inc.
$250 million
senior notes
to institutional
investors
US
4-Sep-14
Depomed Inc.
$300 million
Bumped-up note
deal
US
4-Sep-14
Fractyl Laboratories
Inc
$40 million
Series C
US
4-Sep-14
Propeller Health
$14.5 million
Series B
US
4-Sep-14
Affimed Therapeutics
AG
EUR 11.7 million
Series E
Germany
2-Sep-14
Clearside BioMedical
$16 million
Series B
US
2-Sep-14
Tokai and Viking
$75 million IPO
UK
2-Sep-14
Source: BioCentury
UPCOMING
EVENTS
18 NOVEMBER 2014
ANNUAL HEALTHCARE
CONFERENCE
1PM-6.30PM
Consilium Strategic Communications will be holding
its Annual Healthcare Conference, in association
with Covington & Burling LLP, at the London Stock
Exchange.
A free to attend conference with international
panel speakers from industry, government and the
investment community with lively debate on current
global healthcare affairs across financial markets.
Panel topics are:
· Novel Funding Mechanics
· Go West – “Attractiveness of the US Market”
· “The future of healthcare?”
· Capturing Value in Innovation
· Big Pharma – “Does M&A create value
or reduce costs?”
To register your attendance please email:
[email protected]
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Geraldine O’Keeffe, Partner, LSP
Lord Drayson
Andrew Ward, Pharmaceutical
Correspondent, Financial Times
Francois Maisonrouge, Senior Managing
Director, Evercore Partners
David Baynes, COO, IP Group
James Noble, CEO, Adaptimmune
Riccardo Braglia, CEO, Helsinn
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
David Solomon, CEO, Zealand Pharma
Edwin Moses, CEO, Ablynx
Justin Gover, CEO, GW Pharma
Catherine Moukheibir, Exec VP/Senior
Advisor: Finance, Innate Pharma
Ken Noonan, Senior Advisor, LEK
Peter Keen, CEO,
Cambridge Innovation Capital
Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London
VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION: WWW.CONSILIUM-COMMS.COM
CONSILIUM STRATEGIC
COMMUNICATIONS
OUR PROPOSITION AND VALUES
A global leader in strategic
PR and IR focussed solely on
healthcare
Focussed to enhance and
protect reputations throughout
M&A, capital markets activities,
financial calendar work, media
management, analyst relations
and crisis preparedness
Unparalleled international
network with access to
leading key financial and
scientific commentators as
well as government, KOLs and
other industry bodies
Carefully managed client base
with long-term, strong client
relationships
Trusted advisor to senior
executives and boards across
healthcare services, pharma,
biotech and medtech sectors
Senior, unmatched specialist
advisors with a deep
understanding of the sector well-established team with
decades of industry and leading
agency experience
International offering with
offices in London, New York,
Singapore with a global network
of affiliates (US, Russia,
Scandinavia, Holland, Dubai,
Hong Kong, China, South Africa)
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