Russell Reynolds Associates Gathers Insight Into The Future Of Top Pharma Boards

In our recent publication, “Trends in board composition at top pharmaceutical companies,” we reviewed the background, profiles and experience of board directors of the ten largest (by revenue) pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe. We have now updated our dataset to include the top 15 of these companies and 180 of their directors. We also interviewed a number of these directors, both executive and non-executive, to gain insight into the ways in which board composition is changing and into the skills and competencies that will be required in the future.

A few insights emerged consistently from these interviews, and from our ongoing consulting to the pharma industry. In this publication, we discuss these insights and their implications for leadership talent in general, and for board composition in particular, providing data-based evidence to support our findings and predictions whenever possible.

These insights can be categorized under the headings:

Board remit and effectiveness

Evolutionary (not revolutionary) change

The digital opportunity

Greater need for hands-on pharma experience

Winning in emerging markets

We hope this executive briefing document will resonate and even stimulate ideas on ways to enhance board effectiveness in the current market environment and in the face of the challenges we see ahead.

The driving forces behind healthcare in general, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular, have been challenging and enduring over the past few decades—technology, demographics, consumer expectations and affordability.

Yet the current environment has brought accelerating change and complexity, and by implication, pharma companies need to look for innovative new approaches and cutting-edge strategies for success. The list of potential solutions and still-open questions facing the industry includes such topics as beyond-the-pill services, mobile health and finding new “centers of influence”—people and organizations that can boost market access and credibility—as well as the ways in which the industry will define the “end game” going forward, both as a group and for individual companies.

Big pharma companies face an additional challenge as well: defending their market positions against emerging pharma and biotech businesses. According to EvaluatePharma, the top 15 pharma companies are expected to see their combined market share decline from 56% in 2014 to 48% by 2020. [Ref. 1]

To survive—and even embrace—the changes, large pharma businesses need an honest self-assessment, asking themselves if they have the right mix of skills and experience at board level. This paper offers five key categories of insights into board structure and composition to help answer and resolve that question.

To view the full article, visit www.russellreynolds.com/insights/thought-leadership/insights-into-the-future-of-top-pharma-boards