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Pharmaceutical Executive - Leadership, Strategy & Market Access

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Latest Executive Roundtables

Asembia 2025 

Topic

Sales and Marketing

1rem

AI influencers represent the cutting edge of digital storytelling. But when applied to pharmaceutical marketing, innovation must be balanced with integrity.

Flawless but Fake? The Ethics of AI Social Media Influencers in Pharmaceutical Advertising

In today’s environment, aligning the Target Product Profile with the appropriate Value Evidence Archetype is not just good practice, it is a strategic imperative.

Bridging Vision and Value: How Target Product Profiles and Value Evidence Archetypes Must Align for Market Access Success

Marketing and sales personnel who leverage the expertise and insights of MedAffairs can often have better success.  

From Science to Sales: Leveraging Medical Affairs for Commercial Triumph

The recent shift in Health Economics and Outcomes Research functions across major pharmaceutical companies highlights a lack of understanding of its value. 

HEOR: From Proving Product Value to Proving Its Own Worth

Oncology Care Index Reveals Physician Struggles with Cancer Innovation Pace

, Biljana Naumovic, US President, oncology, solid tumor, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, discussed how the company is responding to growing challenges in cancer care revealed by its Oncology Care Index. With 76% of healthcare providers reporting feeling overwhelmed by the pace of innovation, the index offers critical insights into the barriers physicians face when translating breakthroughs into clinical practice. Naumovic outlined how J&J is using these findings to drive meaningful support for oncologists—through enhanced research access, community-based care models, responsible integration of AI, and targeted efforts to reduce cognitive burden across the care continuum.

Pharmaceutical Executive: The Oncology Care Index highlights that 76% of HCPs feel overwhelmed by the pace of innovation. How is J&J supporting oncologists in translating breakthroughs into practical patient care?

We launched the Oncology Care Index to better understand what’s top of mind for physicians as they navigate the rapidly accelerating pace of innovation. Just in 2024 alone, the FDA approved 50 new indications and 11 new molecular entities—an unprecedented level of activity.

The Index allows us to identify what’s working and where gaps remain. It reflects the complexity that oncologists are facing and helps guide conversations beyond the therapies themselves—into how care is actually delivered.

To help alleviate the overwhelm, we’re focused on several key areas. One is identifying actionable levers that can be addressed collaboratively, such as the meaningful implementation of AI, strengthening support across the care continuum—since patients often see multiple providers—and ensuring physicians have timely access to information, even before drug approvals, to help them anticipate where the field is heading.

That said, the Oncology Care Index isn’t about positioning Johnson & Johnson as the sole solution. It’s about elevating the challenges and sparking broader discussions—among oncologists, the wider healthcare community, and other stakeholders—so we can collectively improve the system and support providers more effectively.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) launched the Oncology Care Index to better understand the mounting pressures oncologists face amid rapid innovation—highlighting that 76% of healthcare providers feel overwhelmed. In 2024 alone, the FDA approved 50 new indications and 11 new molecular entities, underscoring the urgent need to translate breakthroughs into practical care. J&J uses the index not as a self-promotional tool but as a catalyst for industry-wide dialogue around care delivery, implementation of innovation, and systemic barriers.

Two insights from the index stood out: the difficulty community oncologists face in accessing clinical research and the fragmentation in the continuum of care as patients transition between treatment centers. To address these, J&J is expanding access to community-based clinical trials and co-developing protocols with community providers, particularly in areas like multiple myeloma and lung cancer. They're also pushing for policy changes that support non-academic trial sites. At the same time, the company is investing in training and infrastructure to ensure continuity of care and appropriate treatment closer to patients’ homes.

J&J sees artificial intelligence (AI) as a major opportunity to alleviate provider burden but acknowledges that true adoption requires collaboration across the ecosystem. The company is leveraging AI to improve trial recruitment and streamline decision-making but stresses the need for open, connected databases and industry-wide alignment.

To combat burnout and cognitive overload, J&J is focused on delivering timely, contextualized education and CME programs, supporting advanced practice providers and nurses, and enhancing patient support services.

Looking ahead, J&J hopes to see decreased provider overwhelm and more seamless integration of innovation into care, driven by empowered community oncologists, improved transitions of care, and greater engagement of frontline healthcare workers in both research and treatment delivery.

Videos

Biljana Naumovic, US President, oncology, solid tumor, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine explains how insights from the Oncology Care Index are helping address oncologists’ challenges with keeping up amid a surge in cancer treatment breakthroughs.

Video Series

Understanding the Long-Term Impact of Surgical Adhesions

Surgical adhesions—abnormal fibrous scars that form after surgery—remain one of the most underrecognized threats to long-term patient outcomes. Though commonly associated with orthopedic procedures like knee and shoulder surgeries, adhesions can also lead to severe complications such as infertility, chronic pain, and life-threatening bowel obstructions following abdominal or gynecological operations. Their delayed onset and subtle symptoms often lead to misdiagnosis or treatment delays, especially when patients seek care outside their original surgical team. In a conversation with 

, Chris Springate, CEO of ARC Medical, shares how greater awareness, preventive strategies, and innovations like ARC’s JoCoat and IPCoat are helping surgeons reduce adhesion-related complications and improve recovery.

Pharmaceutical Executive: Surgical adhesions are often described as a "silent epidemic." Why do you think they have remained an underrecognized issue despite their widespread impact on patient outcomes?

It’s a complex issue. One reason is that symptoms from surgical adhesions often don’t present until weeks or even months after surgery, which can make the connection less obvious.

To explain, surgical adhesions are internal scars—fibrous bands that form between tissues and organs after surgery. These aren’t the scars you want. For example, after gynecological procedures, some women develop a condition known as a “frozen pelvis,” leading to chronic pain and even infertility. In abdominal surgeries, adhesions can cause bowel obstruction or strangulation, which can be life-threatening and often require emergency surgery to correct.

Adhesions also occur after orthopedic procedures like knee replacements or ACL surgeries. Patients may lose range of motion—sometimes unable to extend beyond 90 degrees, making basic tasks or rehabilitation difficult. In orthopedics, there's more awareness due to active monitoring of joint stiffness using tools like goniometers.

In contrast, after gynecological or abdominal surgery, symptoms can emerge much later. Patients may present with pain in the emergency room and receive pain management without a proper diagnosis. It can take years before the root cause—adhesions—is identified. Surgeons may use ideal techniques, but the body’s inflammatory response can still lead to adhesions. And because patients often return to a different provider, the original surgeon may never see the long-term outcome.

We’ve seen some progress. About 85% of abdominal and gynecological surgeries are now done laparoscopically, with the hope that minimally invasive methods would reduce adhesion formation. However, adhesions still frequently occur—even with perfect surgical technique—suggesting we need continued innovation and awareness in this area.

Surgical adhesions, which are abnormal fibrous scars that form inside the body after surgery, have often been overlooked despite their significant impact on patient outcomes. These adhesions can cause long-term complications, such as infertility following gynecological surgeries, chronic pain, and even life-threatening bowel obstructions after abdominal surgeries. While adhesions are well recognized in orthopedics, such as after knee or shoulder surgeries, their symptoms may take weeks or months to present, complicating diagnosis. Patients often visit emergency rooms, where different surgeons may provide varied treatments, leading to delayed or incorrect diagnoses.

Over the past 15 years, awareness among surgeons has increased, thanks to efforts from key opinion leaders in the field. Today, more surgeons are focusing on adhesion prevention, using techniques like minimizing operating time and applying barrier products, such as films, gels, or liquids, to reduce adhesion formation.

ARC's products, JoCoat and IPCoat, are liquid medical devices designed to prevent adhesions. JoCoat is used in knee and shoulder surgeries, while IPCoat is used in abdominal or gynecological surgeries. Both products contain a high-molecular-weight polysaccharide that forms a temporary, biodegradable physical barrier, preventing adhesion formation. This barrier is non-pharmacological and does not require degradation to work, classifying it as a medical device. Initial clinical results show that these products significantly improve patient outcomes by reducing stiffness and increasing range of motion post-surgery. Surgeons have reported that the application of these products is quick and easy, with the potential to improve recovery and reduce complications related to adhesions.

Chris Springate, CEO, ARC Medical, discusses how postoperative adhesions continue to cause chronic pain, infertility, and life-threatening complications—despite advances in surgical techniques and often going undiagnosed for years.

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