April 2009
Professor Douwe D. Breimer
Professor of Pharmacology at Leiden University
Former Rector Magnificus & President Leiden University
Member of the 2009 EuroBiO Steering Committee
How do you see 2009?
As it is the case for everyone, I find it difficult to predict what is going to happen in the course of this year. I sincerely believe, however, that the life sciences sector will do more than just survive; it will in fact move forward.
When I speak of the Life Sciences, and the issues that affect mankind, the notion of values enters into the picture. And these actions focused on development, research and innovation - the factors that kindle hope - will receive strong support, whether at the political or entrepreneurial level. Psychologically speaking, people are inclined to invest in what has meaning. And when I say this, I am not thinking only of start-ups and new projects but also of follow-up investments. We all know that innovation is the key to growth, even more so when the added value involved is close to improved health of the individual.
You mentioned political support. What is the case for the Netherlands?Political involvement is strong. For example, a little over two years ago, the Dutch government launched a public-private research collaborative programme called Top Institute Pharma(TI Pharma), comprising partnership of strong academic groups with industrial companies. This collaborative body, focussing on drug discovery and drug development as regards new concepts and new products, testifies to have a major impact of this sector on our country's economy. It is providing for collaborative solutions to optimize research towards societal needs and is responsive to the requirements for innovation of industrial companies.
This year, you are part of the EuroBiO Steering Committee. In what way do you feel that this ''encounter'' between the different actors is fundamental in this sector? What do you expect from professional events?As I see it, there are three levels of encounters. It is essential for professionals to be positioned at a local level. For example, we organize the Life Sciences Café, monthly meetings that generate a networking system in the Bio Science Park. At the national level, each country organizes meetings that also appear to be essential for the economic development of a sector. At both levels, the academic participants actively contribute.
However, apart from the pure scientific meetings, at the international level, events are most often primarily for the benefit of industrial companies in a B2B approach, and it is more difficult to include academia. However, this international level corresponds far more to the needs of academia as well, because in essence research goes beyond national borders. We need a panoramic view where the public and private sector meet, at least at the European level, and EuroBiO's new positioning for its 2009 edition meets this need by clearly opening up its doors also to the academic world.
Douwe Breimer PhD is Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He was Rector Magnificus of Leiden University from 2001 - 2007 and the last two years also President of Leiden University. Before that he was the Director of Research of the Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research (LACDR). He graduated as a pharmacist at Groningen University in 1970 and in 1974 he obtained his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Nijmegen. In 1975 he was appointed Professor of Pharmacology in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Leiden University and in 1986 also in the Faculty of Medicine (Leiden University Medical Center). He also is the Founder and former Chairman of the Center for Human Drug Research( Leiden).He is life member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), member of the Academia Europea, membre correspondant étranger of the Académie Nationale de Pharmacie (Paris) and foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (USA). He was President of the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) and Scientific Secretary of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). He received several scientific distinctions, among which are honorary doctorates from Universities in Budapest, Gent, Pamplona, Uppsala, London, Tokyo and Montreal.
Douwe Breimer will chair one of the sessions at EuroBiO, in Lille - France.Setting up a Special Cluster Path
EuroBiO is adding a conference-workshop cycle designed by and for clusters, entitled ''Enabling and Therapeutic Innovations''.See all the details in our special EuroBiOnews, to appear at the end of April.
Question of the Month, in partnership with
For you, what was the most significant pharma-biotech deal in the first Quarter of 2009? For what reason? Do you think that this represents a major step?
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