Insights for the Win

                                                                          Photo/John Halpern; click to enlarge

This was the first gathering of Pharmaceutical Executive’s Editorial Advisory Board since first speaking with them when I took over the reins in January 2017. Over the next months, I met with them in-person, or over the phone, to gain insights into the industry, specific hot topics, and about the Pharmaceutical Executive mission. Having the opportunity to have those who could make it all in one room last month was both an honor and a learning experience. And, as in other years, the editorial staff was there to hear first-hand from these experts. And before you know it, we’ll be on another teleconference to go over our hot topics and ideas for 2019 editorial coverage. Suffice to say, it’s going to continue on the path of providing the “bio” in biopharma.

Peter Young, of Young and Partners, provided an overview of industry investments, with an eye toward an anticipated increase in biotech acquisition for 2018. Young also pointed to China as a robust area for life sciences, which led to discussion around investments and financing in that country, as well as reverse activity with China pharma conducting trials in the US.

The EAB and staff also discussed the Pharmaceutical Executive magazine and website. The insights ranged from ideas on how to grow our younger audiences, gain visibility into the biotech audience, and offer information that may help the C-suite jump-start its innovation transfer. Like any other business, we are a balance of resources and ideas; profit and sustainability; short-term decisions and long-term strategies. 

But with all of those decisions, the editorial staff strives to keep the reader in mind. We routinely send out readership surveys; keep an eye on audience involvement in our social media; know the number of people who are listening to our new podcast; and we monitor our website traffic daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly to find out what you’re reading and what’s not resonating.

Keep in mind, you can always drop me an email about what you like, or don’t like. We receivied one recently about our April issue, which praised us for our “particularly enlightening” variety of articles. A win for you, is a win for us!

Lisa Henderson is Editor-in-Chief of Pharm Exec. She can be reached at lisa.henderson@ubm.com. Follow Lisa on Twitter: @trialsonline