International Pharma Day

In order to resolve the current problems in our health system, a comprehensive and interdisciplinary strategy is required that integrates the numerous existing initiatives from industry, science, politics and society. Hessen, with its high concentration of companies of all sizes, its universities, colleges, non-university institutions and associations, provides ideal conditions for this type of interaction. The House of Pharma & Healthcare, as a registered association, is well-placed to collate the bundled pharmaceutical and healthcare expertise in Hessen and to be an essential driver and incubator for drug research in Germany.

To this end, the House of Pharma & Healthcare promotes ventures between all participants and stakeholders in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector in Germany. It functions as a network for public-private partnership, which cross-links the different interests along the pharmaceutical value chain in order to meet the current and future challenges to drug research, patient care and health policy requirements. Through integration and coordinated application of biomedical knowledge, the House of Pharma & Healthcare assists to bridge the current gap in innovation in drug development.

In spite of all the advances in medicine, many diseases, even today, remain incurable or inadequately treated. Countless patients around the world are waiting for medicines that alleviate their suffering and perhaps even provide a cure. The pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, therefore, is a key growth market, especially since people in many regions of the world extended their life expectancy and the proportion of the elderly is increasing. Although biopharmaceutical companies are the highest funders on research and development worldwide, the number of new, innovative drugs has stagnated for almost two decades. One of the reasons for the high failure rates, despite large investments, is that the results obtained with novel drug candidates in clinical trials on patients are difficult to predict on the basis of early work in the laboratory. Often, experimental models lack precise predictability for subsequent efficacy and tolerability. As a way out of this and other problems, the pharmaceutical industry, therefore, is increasingly turning to partnerships, both with other companies as well as with universities and other research institutions.

The House of Pharma & Healthcare supports and promotes such cooperation. By linking together stakeholders from government, universities, non-university research institutes, pharmaceutical companies, health insurance companies, patient organizations, doctors‘ and pharmacists‘ organizations, health initiatives and regulatory authorities, it creates positive synergies. Sustained development of the knowledge and business acumen in Hessen is also likely to improve the conditions for promising start-ups and new jobs.

The key activity areas of the House of Pharma & Healthcare are:
• promotion of networked, future-orientated research in all areas of life sciences,
• training of highly qualified employees and junior managers,
• establishment of an independent and neutral discussion platform for an interdisciplinary solution to problems in the health system.