Announcing a new strategic market access consultancy

Research Partnership is today launching a new market access consultancy called "Access Partnership".

Research Partnership is today launching a new market access consultancy called "Access Partnership" which will provide services to the pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech industries.

Access Partnership will work with manufacturers to help them develop the value strategy for their technologies, including pricing, market access and payer engagement, in order to achieve commercial success for their innovations. The company's global headquarters are based in London, UK, with other offices in the US and Singapore.

The company has also made two senior appointments. Rob White joins as Global Director of Market Access and Dr Shrinivas Rao Mukku joins as Global Director of Pricing and Reimbursement.

Rob White (shown above) has over 20 years experience within the pharma industry at Sanofi Aventis and MSD leading on a number of roles including delivering market access strategies and tools to support brands in key areas such as diabetes, HIV, oncology, cardiovascular as well as the device space. Rob has developed an extensive payer network which he has used to help clients deliver relevant payer value propositions and support segmentation across the EU and US markets. Rob has also delivered training for pharma KAM teams and supported teams with contract negotiations and the development of business cases to drive brand market access.

Shrinivas Rao Mukkuhas 18 years of research management, training and consultancy experience in Europe and South East Asia. In the last 6 years, Shri has helped pharmaceutical companies to develop pricing, launch and value strategies for more than 37 products globally specifically in oncology, dermatology and orphan drugs. He has conducted research on value based pricing and AMNOG reforms in Germany and published in international forums. He is also appointed as a module leader and examiner for 'Healthcare Economics' at the University of Cambridge and has supervised research of eight master students. Shri is a Gates Scholar, has a PhD in bioprocess technology from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand and an M.Phil (2007) in bioscience enterprise from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Access Partnership will be led by Mike Mallinson who is joining the company at the end of the year. Mike is a highly regarded pharma executive with over 30 years experience gained both agency and client-side, who has presented and published papers on market access issues at many international meetings.

Commenting on the launch, Mary Assimakopoulos, Founding Director of Research Partnership said, "We are delighted to be establishing this new company alongside Research Partnership's market research and consulting capabilities. Understanding and developing an effective market access strategy is now critical to the success of a global healthcare brand and therefore an important incremental addition to our service offering. We are committed to investing in the long-term future of our new company."

Commenting on his appointment, Rob White said, "I am extremely excited about this new opportunity and look forward to taking on this leading position for a global market access consultancy business. I recognise the synergies between market research and market access - this new company means we can offer a truly end-to-end business solution to our clients".

Rob White and Shri Rao Mukku will officially launch Access Partnership at the ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research) Annual Asia-Pacific Conference in Taipei 2-4 September, where they will be meeting clients and hosting a drinks reception. They will also be exhibiting and presenting at ISPOR's Berlin Conference in November.