Executive Search Consultant Thomas Heeger for Zurich

The pharmaceutical industry and pharmaceutical companies face special challenges in the search and selection of candidates for their organization that are not present in this form in any other industry:
– Research-based pharmaceutical companies – in contrast to generic companies – are highly specialized organizations. They are focused on specific, few therapeutic areas, for example cardiovascular, diabetes, oncology, dermatology, in which they have built up their expertise over many years. There is no pharmaceutical company that can cover all therapeutic areas.
– The life cycle of a drug is very long. Research and development alone take 10-15 years, sometimes longer. From the original product idea in the laboratory to the product launch, 15-20 years pass before all regulatory, safety and quality requirements are met and the product is launched on the market.
– That is why pharmaceutical research is extremely expensive. It is estimated that 600-800 million euros are needed to develop a new drug to market maturity.
– The price a pharmaceutical company wants for its new product is not freely definable. Although there is a European health authority, EMA European Medical Agency, for the regulatory process in Europe, the price has to be negotiated with each country individually. The same is true outside of Europe.

This is exactly where the challenge for Executive Search & Recruiting lies:
– Scientific experts who want to follow a drug – their baby – from discovery to commercialization need to be long-term oriented and stay with the pharmaceutical company for 15-20 years.
– On the commercial side, after the long development phase, a successful product launch is crucial for the long-term financial success of the entire pharmaceutical company. Price negotiations with health authorities are becoming increasingly important. Compared with competitors, the new product must be able to demonstrate a real therapeutic benefit documented in clinical trials. For example, “works better, faster, has fewer or no side effects”.
– In recent years, the “Market Access” department has established itself at pharmaceutical companies as a new discipline and function with enormous strategic importance. Successful candidates not only have a profound scientific, medical-pharmaceutical education complemented by health economics, but also have a convincing track record of their work.

Based on the above examples from scientific research and “market access”, it becomes clear what special challenges executive search and recruiting must meet in order to be able to identify, address and attract the best and right candidates in the market for pharmaceutical companies. It is not only the professional training and experience of the candidate, his scientific background, but above all his personality, his fit, his personal characteristics such as communication and teamwork skills and his future personal ambitions that must fit the environment of the pharmaceutical company.