Pharma Launch Excellence Summit Main Conference Day 2: Wednesday 3rd December

With 20 new medicines launching in just four years and a strategic shift toward specialty care, pharmaceutical companies face unprecedented challenges in maintaining launch excellence consistency. Graham Addison, Global Launch and Marketing Excellence Lead for AstraZeneca's BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit, shares insights from orchestrating cross-functional alignment across a diverse portfolio spanning 16+ brands and 2,500+ marketing professionals.

·       Strategic framework implementation: How AstraZeneca is standardizing 150+ launch milestones across diverse therapeutic areas while maintaining flexibility for specialized launches

·       Portfolio-level planning: Aligning sequential launches with overarching disease area strategies from L-48 through Day 0 and beyond

·       Digital transformation: Leveraging technology to enhance predictability and capture critical insights from 110+ launch plans

·       Capability development: Evolving marketing excellence programs to meet changing portfolio needs in the specialty care space

·       Discover practical approaches to scaling launch excellence while maintaining critical consistency across global teams, therapeutic areas, and evolving portfolio strategies.

Graham Addison

Senior Director, Global Launch and Marketing Excellence
AstraZeneca

See Bio

Successful launches are rarely decided at launch. They are built years earlier, when evidence, access and stakeholder engagement are planned, often with limited resources. In this session, we explore how Medical Affairs can act as the “backstage” of launch excellence: shaping the value story, integrating evidence generation and dissemination, and preparing the market long before the first prescription. Drawing on real-world experience from multiple launches, we will discuss practical ways to prioritize when budgets are tight, leverage in-house skills, and use insights and omnichannel communication to focus effort where it truly matters. Participants will leave with a simple framework and concrete examples to help Medical teams work as one cross-functional engine, rather than in silos, and to demonstrate the impact of Medical on launch success.

Sandra Almeida

Assoc. Director, Medical Excellence and Innovation Lead
KalVista Pharmaceuticals

See Bio

Supply chain volatility can derail even the strongest launch strategy. Ensuring supply readiness during a critical product debut is essential to protect revenues, patient access, and long-term brand success. By proactively managing risks, aligning cross-functional teams, and embedding agility, launch leaders can safeguard performance and build resilience in an increasingly unpredictable environment. Attend to delve into:

• Anticipating and mitigating launch-phase supply risks with structured, proactive frameworks
• Aligning commercial, supply, and manufacturing functions to ensure end-to-end readiness
• Embedding agility and resilience to adapt quickly to unexpected disruptions

Oyana Goñi Revuelto

Senior Director, Launch Excellence
Bristol-Myers Squibb

See Bio

In the plasma industry, every product sold represents an upfront investment in collection, manufacturing, and long-term patient support. Unlike traditional pharmaceuticals, plasma therapies are born from a limited, donation-based ecosystem - making supply assurance a strategic differentiator. As demand consistently outpaces availability, manufacturers must balance operational sustainability, patient access, and competitive positioning in an increasingly pressurized market.

This session will explore how CSL Behring navigates supply-chain challenges across the Middle East and Africa and positions reliability as a cornerstone of its market strategy and how the Future of Rare diseases will be shaped with new innovative molecules similar to Gene Therapies to complement the existing portfolio.

• Understanding the different elements that will enable a successful Launch in the plasma industry.
• Embedding operational foresight into marketing strategy to manage national-level supply risks.
• Competing on trust and reliability when demand exceeds what the market can supply.
• Tailoring brand value to reflect production realities and long-term product stewardship.
• Shifting the mindset through the innovative molecules [A Gene Therapy perspective]

Karim Daniel

Head of Marketing Middle East & Africa
CSL Behring

See Bio

Talk details to be announced

Michael Takla

Head of Launch Excellence JANZ & Emerging Markets
Viatris

See Bio

For smaller and mid-sized pharma companies, launch excellence isn’t just about bringing new molecules to market - it’s about maximizing the value of existing assets through reformulations, lifecycle extensions, and regional strategies. At Helsinn, Enrico Magnani has led global and regional launches in oncology and supportive care, where success is measured not just by speed to market, but by sustained value creation across the product lifecycle. Drawing on real-world experience, he’ll share how smaller companies can define success on their own terms and build agile, resource-smart strategies that deliver long-term impact. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for lifecycle-focused launch success beyond the first approval.

·       Launching reformulations with strategic intent and regional relevance

·       Defining success metrics that reflect company size and product type

·       Extending lifecycle value through agile, resource-smart planning

Enrico Magnani

Chief Strategy Officer
Helsinn Group

See Bio

Shirley Carrel

Head of Global Marketing & Digital
Neuraxpharm

See Bio

Margarita Saakova

Global Head of Launch
Alexion Pharmaceuticals

See Bio

Wrapping up the summit, we will come together to underline the key insights, highlight actions and equip ourselves with next steps to elevate launch excellence in our own organizations.

This is a collaborative session dedicated to:

·       Translating the event learnings into practical next steps for their launch teams

·       Identifying personal and organizational opportunities for capability growth

Committing to a clear post-event action plan for long-term excellence

Troels Sørensen

Global Head Clinical Practice
Boehringer Ingelheim

See Bio

Sophie Hoehlinger

Former Head of Global Launch Excellence
UCB

See Bio