Clinart MENA – Conducting Clinical Studies in the MENA Region for a Strategic Advantage

Dr Alaa Assem of Clinart MENA, a sponsor company at the marcus evans Evolution Summit 2012, on what clinical research capabilities and opportunities the MENA region offers.  Interview with: Dr Alaa Assem, Chief Executive Officer, Clinart MENA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Meeting patient recruitment and enrolment targets is the number one problem in clinical research globally, Dr Alaa Assem, Chief Executive Officer of Clinart MENA points out. To speed up drug development, pharmaceutical companies should consider what the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) can offer – access to large patient pools, as well as local and international expertise. Getting a head start in the MENA markets, with a population of over 300 million and counting, could also prove to be a strategic advantage.

From a contract research organisation (CRO) at the upcoming marcus evans Evolution Summit 2012 Dr Assem discusses the case for conducting clinical trials in the MENA region.

Why do you consider the MENA region as the next destination for clinical trials?

With the right awareness and education, we believe that the region can become the next destination for clinical trials in emerging markets, for pharmaceutical companies that want to accelerate drug development.

Meeting patient recruitment and enrolment targets is the number one problem in clinical research globally, which is slowing down drug development. MENA has a predominantly young population compared to an ageing population in the West. It is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and expected to grow in double digits in the next few years. It stretches from Iran to North Africa, offering a wide range of patients and specific disease areas.

How could conducting clinical research in the region be a strategic advantage?

Certain diseases, such as diabetes and its associated disorders, are more prevalent here. Conducting research in the area would give a company access to its market and patient group, and expertise in the therapeutic field. Going to the Middle East is not simply about cost efficiency. It is about being the first to gain access to the target patient population.

It is also important to note that the expertise in the Middle East is quite sophisticated and up to the Western standard. Many of the physicians here have trained in major centres in Europe and the US, which translates to international as well as local expertise. This cannot be found in other parts of the world.

Why do Western companies tend not to consider the CRO capabilities the region offers?

There is a lack of awareness of what the region can offer. People see the region as one when in fact it is diverse, with many countries at different stages of development. News on the political situation here concerns many, but it often does not reflect reality.

The CRO industry in the region is relatively young. Does this work in your favour?

We believe it does, as it allows us to grow the industry and learn from other emerging markets that started before us. We have an advantage, because this region is young and evolving. There is a lot of room for us to grow and for others to come into the market. We are very optimistic.

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About the Evolution Summit 2012

Offering much more than any conference, seminar or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on achieving quality and compliance, integrating HEOR and the migration of clinical trials to emerging markets.

For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at www.evolution-summit.com 

marcus evans group – life sciences /pharma sector portal

Complementing our Summit format, the Pharma Network – marcus evans Summits group delivers peer-to-peer information on strategic matters, professional trends and breakthrough innovations.

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About Clinart MENA

Clinart MENA is a full service contract research organization CRO headquartered in UAE, providing services across the MENA Region. Services provided are Clinical Operations, Project Management, Clinical Data Management, Medical Writing, Biostatistics, Training, Regulatory Services and Safety reporting. Clinart is ISO 9001:2008 certified and Oracle Gold Partner capable of providing validated and audited clinical research data management services (OC/RDC).

www.clinart.net

About marcus evans Summits

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New companies with a market capitalization under USD 1 billion will now be able to opt-out of regulations within section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act for the first ten years after going public. This option was previously available to companies under USD 75 million.  

Congressman Ben Quayle introduced the Startup Expansion and Investment Act to, “make it easier for emerging companies to access the capital necessary to expand and create jobs”. Quayle noted that removing one of the many regulatory hurdles that inhibit companies from going public would lead to more economic growth.  

“While I understand the delay in SOX compliance for smaller companies, I would encourage companies to prepare for SOX compliance in advance by reading the standards well and understanding the requirements,” said Roxana Santiago, Finance SOX Manager at Hospira, Inc., and a presenter at the upcoming marcus evans 22nd Edition SOX Compliance & Evolution to GRC Conference in Chicago, Illinois, November 15-16, 2011.  

“The standards do offer some flexibility and allow the opportunity to focus only on high risk areas that would detect and prevent material misstatements. Understanding the process for establishing thresholds for materiality would give the company a basis for identifying risks and documenting controls in those areas. Putting these actions into practice prior to actual compliance requirements gives executives a head start.”  

Minisa Becker Capozzoli, Senior Financial Analyst at Hospira, Inc. added: “The Standard proposes starting with the identification of the company’s risks that material misstatements will not be prevented or detected. A few categories of risk include complex accounting areas such as revenue recognition, tax and accounting estimates. In addition to these, companies need to assess other risks specific to their business, such as areas with highly manual intensive process, or poor systems support. Companies will need to look beyond the standard accounting risk categories and reflect upon their business, processes and systems to identify other financial risks.”  

“One of the great benefits of the SOX Act is it forces companies to be more pro-active by designing up-front preventive controls,” Alan Bedwell, Senior Financial Analyst at Hospira, Inc. highlighted. “It also forces companies to re-think and re-visit processes and controls, identify areas with existing gaps or too many controls and streamline processes, thereby becoming more efficient and productive. It offers Senior Management more transparency to the Financial Statements and holds accounting and finance professionals accountable through controls certification procedures.”  

Santiago added, “This is how companies reap the benefits of SOX programs and build integrity and accountability in internal financial reporting processes. Companies have always been required to have solid systems of internal financial reporting controls. The SOX Act simply forces companies to formally acknowledge this through documentation protocols.”  

One challenge with SOX compliance is cost. There are many ways to keep costs down. One way is by not doing more than the standard requires, according to Santiago. Initially SOX compliance was time consuming and manually intensive because many were doing a lot more than they needed to.  

“I would encourage small companies to focus on what is ‘truly’ needed and create the buy-in and awareness within the accounting and finance functions. While the external auditors will review management’s work and provide an independent opinion, they are not as close to the business and related risks as the company, and should be challenged where applicable,” Santiago concluded.  

Roxana Santiago, Minisa Becker Capozzoli and Alan Bedwell of Hospira, Inc. will be co-presenting at the marcus evans 22nd Edition SOX Compliance & Evolution to GRC Conference in Chicago, Illinois, November 15-16, 2011.  

For more information, visit the 22nd Edition SOX Compliance & Evolution to GRC website.

Trade secrets were rated as the most important intellectual property (IP) in the recent 2011 Intellectual Property Survey Report, followed by trademarks and patents.  

The survey also found differences in how US and European companies value IP: “US companies value patents greater than their European counterparts. Trademarks, though, are much more highly valued in Europe than in the US.” Only 55 per cent of US companies in the survey believed that trademarks have a high or medium level of importance in protecting revenue, a contrast to the 80 per cent of European companies.  

“There are two elements to assess when considering whether a technical innovation can be kept as a trade secret and protected accordingly,” suggests a speaker at the upcoming marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012.  

“First, is it worthwhile protecting it? Second, is it possible to keep it secret in view of the number of people who need access to it?”  

If the answer to both questions is positive, then keeping a technical innovation as a trade secret is the appropriate way. However, often one of the answers is a “No” for internal know-how, so spending extra resources for trade secret protection might not be the best way of protecting that piece of know-how.  

He added: “Although it is a case by case assessment, depending on the business and the industry the company is in, trade secrets are not typically the safest way of protecting IP. If the company has a strong consumer reach, trademarks play a more important role. For technology driven companies with less need of a consumer brand, patents or trade secrets would take the upper hand. It also depends on how a company is managing its value chain. If many aspects of the business are internalised and the company has few transactions with business partners, suppliers and customers requiring disclosure of IP, then a trade secret might be more appropriate.”  

He predicts a trend towards more formal protection of IP, such as patents, as the more interaction companies have with each other, the less feasible it is to protect technical innovations by trade secrets.  

“Trade secrets are less tangible and less easy to be evaluated by business partners,” he concluded. “I would assume that globalisation and having more players in the value chain will lead to a higher importance of registered IP rights, like patents.”  

The marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012 will take place in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 23 – 24 April.  

For more information, visit the event website: www.iplawsummiteurope.com

Idris Elba is a nominee for a Golden Globe award this week for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards will take place on Sunday 15 January 2012.  

In the BBC crime drama Luther, Ken McReddie Associates actor Idris Elba plays the role of Detective John Luther, a “near-genius murder detective whose brilliant mind can’t always save him from the dangerous violence of his passions”.  

For his role in Luther, Idris Elba has won the NAACP Outstanding Actor award and also been nominated for a Golden Globe, EMMY and a Golden Satellite for the series’ first season.

At this year’s Golden Globes, Idris Elba will be up against Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), William Hurt (Too Big To Fail), Bill Nighy (Page Eight) and Dominic West (The Hour) in his category.  

Idris Elba is well known for his role in NBC’s drama The Wire, and has also starred in Rocknrolla, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and the US version of the hit comedy series The Office. For his role in American Gangster, he has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture.  

KMA is a marcus evans company.  

For more information on Ken McReddie Associates and Idris Elba, please visit the website: www.marcusevanskma.com

A record number of consumers are going online for their shopping this holiday season, despite the economic uncertainty.  

Forrester Research expects holiday season online retail sales in the US to grow 15 per cent from last year, with November and December as the busiest time of the year.  

Similarly, more Australians are buying their presents online than ever before. The Australian eCommerce market is set to reach AUD 37 billion by 2013, up from AUD 27 billion in 2010. However, 44 per cent of this is expected to be spent overseas, with the price and variety of goods available from international retailers attracting Australian consumers.

“Success comes down to knowing your customers, how they prefer to engage with you and offering the right promotions,” according to Amanda Suefong, eCommerce Merchandising Manager ANZ at Lenovo Australia & NZ, and a speaker at the marcus evans New eCommerce Era Conference.  

To drive revenue and gain more market share, Suefong recommends that Australian companies take a look at their current online marketing strategy and pinpoint the tactics that are generating the highest ROI. They should see a good return on email marketing, especially if it is segmented and targeted, she adds. Retailers should also have an integrated search, mobile and social strategy in place together with clear sales targets that are reviewed frequently.  

“Consumers are becoming a lot more tech savvy and expecting a personalised experience. They expect retailers to understand and know what they want, and engage with them on multiple channels.”  

Companies are also becoming more savvy in getting to know their customers, but a lot more can be done. “There is so much data that online retailers can utilise to provide a better consumer experience. They have access to customer feedback through many channels. It is up to each individual company to mine that data and improve services across different channels. This is where some online retailers fail. Amazon is exceptional at understanding customers and providing the personalised service that consumers are starting to expect from all online retailers.”  

Suefong adds that a good search strategy, both organic and paid, can generate a good ROI. “Companies must identify what customers are typing into search engines that drives traffic to their websites and what keywords they are using on the company’s website internal search, in order to provide relevant content and matching products.”  

As more and more people choose to shop online, reaching consumers and maintaining their loyalty throughout the whole year will become critical to the success of many companies.  

The marcus evans New eCommerce Era Conference will take place in Sydney, Australia, 27 – 28 February 2012. For more information, please visit the event website by clicking here

Electric vehicle (EV) charging will become more convenient in the US, as the nation’s largest drugstore chain announced plans to offer charging stations at about 800 locations by the end of the year.  

The marcus evans 2nd Annual Electric Vehicle and Intelligent Battery Applications forum attendees may want to follow how Walgreens’ initiative will impact the industry in the US and consider how European consumers could be encouraged to embrace EVs.  

“As more American embrace environmentally sustainable technologies, our convenient locations make us uniquely positioned to help address the concern around accessibility or ‘range confidence’”, said Mark Wagner, Walgreens President of Community Management and Operations.  

According to the official press release, the Department of Energy estimates that “Walgreens will make up as much as 40% of all public EV charging stations across the country”.  

With many retail chains across Europe, similar schemes would boost support for EVs on the continent.  

The marcus evans 2nd Annual Electric Vehicle and Intelligent Battery Applications took place in Vienna, Austria, 14-16 September.  

The conference offered insights into the main challenges related to high-power, fast charging stations and smart grid systems for the vehicle-to-grid connection interface to evaluate the best strategies and potential application to reduce costs and increase vehicle’s performance.  

For more information, please visit the website: 2nd Annual Electric Vehicle and Intelligent Battery Applications

Offshore tax abuses are robbing the Treasury of $100 billion in lost revenue yearly, said Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.

It may be of interest to Tax Officers at the recent marcus evans Tax Officers Summit XII 2011, that Levin recently introduced legislation to “close offshore tax loopholes and strengthen offshore tax enforcement.”  

“People are sick and tired of tax dodgers using offshore trickery and abusive tax shelters to avoid paying their fair share. This bill offers powerful new tools to combat offshore and tax shelter abuses, raise revenues, and eliminate incentives to send US profits and jobs offshore,” Levin said in a press release. “Its provisions, which can help stop the $100 billion per year drain on the Treasury, will hopefully be part of any deficit reduction package this year, but should be passed in any event.”

The proposed measures will affect US corporations in many ways. Corporations with management and control located primarily in the US will not be able to claim status as foreign corporations, therefore will be subject to domestic taxes. US dollars that are “supposedly kept offshore by foreign subsidiaries of US Corporations but, in reality, are deposited into accounts physically located in the US,” will also be taxed.  

Another provision that may also affect Tax Officers is one where multinational companies may be required to provide basic information on a country-by-country basis in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This would “increase transparency and facilitate IRS inquiries into transfer pricing, foreign tax credits, and abusive offshore tax shelters”.

Senators Conrad, Bill Nelson, Sanders, Shaheen and Whitehouse are cosponsors, with many small businesses, labor and public interest groups, including the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition and the American Sustainable Business Council, also backing the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act.

The marcus evans Tax Officers Summit XII 2011 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 10-12.

For more information, please visit: www.taxofficerssummit.com

The much anticipated film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring KMA actress Joely Richardson, is to open across cinemas in the US and Canada on December 21 and in the UK on December 26.  

Joely Richardson stars alongside Daniel Craig, well known for his James Bond roles, and Rooney Mara and Christopher Plummer.  

The thriller, based on the international bestseller by Stieg Larsson, is directed by David Fincher of Seven and Fight Club, and an Academy Award nominee for Best Director for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  

Well known for her roles in NIP/TUCK, The Tudors, The Patriot and the recently released Anonymous, Joely Richardson has won a Golden Globe for Best Drama Series 2005 and been nominated for Golden Globes for Best Performance By An Actress In A Dramatic Television Series in 2004 and 2005.  

Joely Richardson will also return to the London stage in 2012, with The Lady from the Sea at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, February 23 to March 17, under the direction of Stephen Unwin.

KMA is a marcus evans company.

For more information on Ken McReddie Associates and Joely Richardson, please visit the website: www.marcusevanskma.com

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board’s selection of Christina Lagarde as its new Managing Director may be of interest to marcus evans Finance Conference and Summit attendees.

Lagarde’s 5-year term started on 5 July 2011, replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the top IMF post. She is the 11th person in this role.

A French national, Lagarde has been France’s Minister of Finance and Economy since 2007.

According to an IMF press release, “In 2009 Christine Lagarde was ranked the 17th most influential woman in the world by Forbes magazine, the 5th best European executive woman by The Wall Street Journal Europe, and became one of Time magazine’s top-100 world leaders. The Financial Times also named her European Finance Minister of 2009.”

The IMF is an organisation of 187 countries that works towards securing financial stability, facilitating international trade and setting up global monetary policies.

For more information, visit marcus evans Finance Summits and Conferences  

Trade secrets were rated as the most important intellectual property (IP) in the recent 2011 Intellectual Property Survey Report, followed by trademarks and patents.  

The survey also found differences in how US and European companies value IP: “US companies value patents greater than their European counterparts. Trademarks, though, are much more highly valued in Europe than in the US.” Only 55 per cent of US companies in the survey believed that trademarks have a high or medium level of importance in protecting revenue, a contrast to the 80 per cent of European companies.  

“There are two elements to assess when considering whether a technical innovation can be kept as a trade secret and protected accordingly,” suggests a speaker at the upcoming marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012.  

“First, is it worthwhile protecting it? Second, is it possible to keep it secret in view of the number of people who need access to it?”  

If the answer to both questions is positive, then keeping a technical innovation as a trade secret is the appropriate way. However, often one of the answers is a “No” for internal know-how, so spending extra resources for trade secret protection might not be the best way of protecting that piece of know-how.  

He added: “Although it is a case by case assessment, depending on the business and the industry the company is in, trade secrets are not typically the safest way of protecting IP. If the company has a strong consumer reach, trademarks play a more important role. For technology driven companies with less need of a consumer brand, patents or trade secrets would take the upper hand. It also depends on how a company is managing its value chain. If many aspects of the business are internalised and the company has few transactions with business partners, suppliers and customers requiring disclosure of IP, then a trade secret might be more appropriate.”  

He predicts a trend towards more formal protection of IP, such as patents, as the more interaction companies have with each other, the less feasible it is to protect technical innovations by trade secrets.  

“Trade secrets are less tangible and less easy to be evaluated by business partners,” he concluded. “I would assume that globalisation and having more players in the value chain will lead to a higher importance of registered IP rights, like patents.”  

The marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012 will take place in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 23 – 24 April.  

For more information, visit the event website: www.iplawsummiteurope.com

The number of cancer cases could surge by 45 per cent in the next 20 years, according to new research which may be of interest to people attending healthcare events.

The study which was published by Cancer Research UK, and published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that by 2030 there could be around 432,000 cancer cases a year, with male cancer’s rising by a staggering 55 per cent over the period.

The reason for this increase it says is down to the population aging. However, while the number of cancer cases is expected to increase the survival rate is also expected to get better.

However, the report does warn that the NHS risks being overwhelmed unless they start to take action now.
Marcus Evans presents business training events, created by experienced professionals and with information presented by industry experts.
 

A third of people are unhappy in their job according to new research, which may be of interest to attending human resources conferences.

The survey from Reabur.com, found that while one fifth of Brits love their job 31 per cent were unhappy in their current position, what’s more seven per cent said they hated their job.

When asked why they were unhappy in their job 29 per cent said it was because their role wasn’t challenging enough and 34 per cent said it was because they were bored.

However, it was not all bad news as 22 per cent say they love their current job and 12 per cent were impartial towards their current role.
Marcus Evans presents human resources conferences, created by experienced professionals and with information presented by industry experts.
 

Sentiment among UK manufacturers has fallen sharply according to new research which may be off interest to people attending manufacturing events.

The new survey from the CBI has found that sentiment has deteriorated sharply among UK manufacturers as they predict that the next few months will see a significant drop in activity.

They expect orders and output to fall over the next quarter while firms are also predicting a run-down in their stock holdings. In fact this fall in sentiment was the sharpest decline since April 2009.

Out of 446 manufacturers responding to the latest Quarterly Industrial Trends Survey 30 per cent believe that domestic orders rose in the three months to October while 25 per cent said that they had fallen.

Marcus Evans presents manufacturing events, created by experienced professionals and with information presented by industry experts.
 

Australia has become a less attractive investment option since new taxes on carbon and mining were proposed, according to reports which may be off interest to people attending mining business events.

Evy Hambro, managing director of BlackRock told The Age that ‘Australia has definitely dropped down the list relative to its historical position because of the uncertainty around the tax changes.’

In fact Mr Hambro says that the new taxes are ‘two new burdens that are having to be shouldered by resource companies’, adding that it could lead to unemployment and lost investment in the company.

However, despite growing pressure over the proposed mining tax, Australia’s PM Julia Gillard insists that the government will go ahead with the planned increase.

Marcus Evans presents mining business events, created by experienced professionals and with information presented by industry experts.
 

There is still around half the North Sea oil and gas reserves left according to reports which may be of interest to people attending energy conferences.

Scotland’s energy minister Fergus Ewing has said that it’s now beyond doubt that there is almost as much North Sea oil and gas left as has already been extracted.

He added that oil and gas will be a key element of the Scottish Government’s bid to “re-establish Scottish independence”.

However, his comments go against a recent report from industry body Oil & Gas UK which said that there could be as little as 14 billion barrels left in the area. This means that at current extraction it could run out in 17 years.

Marcus Evans presents energy conferences, created by experienced professionals and with information presented by industry experts.