Philip Blake demonstrates his passion for the pharmaceutical industry in everything he says and does. In fact, his devotion to the advancement of healthcare in Canada is equalled only by his respect for the people who work in it. Despite a dizzying travel schedule, Blake nevertheless ensures he connects with staff and customers as much as possible. Being the “face” of the company is extremely important, says Blake, who asserts, “You don’t do business by sitting in head office counting invoices and developing strategies. You do business by really being out there and working with policy makers, understanding their issues, talking with our patients/customers, physicians, and being as close as possible to the people within Bayer.”

Blake, who brings 20 years of experience to his post as President and CEO of Bayer Inc.’s Canadian operation, is a die-hard company man, having spent his entire pharma career with the company. In his first job at Bayer in the UK, where he was born, Blake says he spent 10 years doing “every job there is on the commercial side,” before pursuing progressive appointments in Germany, Japan, and the US, where he focused on drug development, marketing, and brand strategy developments.
He concedes, however, that pharma wasn’t his first career choice, having studied medical microbiology at university in the UK, and working in clinical research for several years. With no aspirations to go into medicine, his interest turned to pharma when he realized “the real benefits we could bring to people would be by improving the way treatments are delivered and providing physicians with better choice.”

That continues to be a mandate for Blake who, over the last six years in Canada, has overseen the Consumer Care Division, Diabetes Care Division, Animal Health Division, and Bayer Material Science Division in Canada. Two “exciting” developments are keeping him ultra-busy these days—the separation of the chemical and agricultural divisions from the healthcare side and the recent acquisition of Berlex’s business which Blake says will strengthen Bayer’s healthcare presence significantly. Moreover, the combined pipeline of Bayer and Schering is “certainly one of the strongest in the industry with a large number of Phase II and Phase II products in major areas.”

Blake says he is proud to have been able to build Bayer into one of the top five healthcare companies in Canada, adding, “Sticking to your focus of having strong R&D is what’s going to build this industry now and into the future.” Canada, he says, is a country with the greatest opportunities. “It’s nice to see that policy makers and politicians remain very open to working with our industry. Many other countries haven’t developed such a sophisticated relationship,” he observes.

Blake, who is slated to be chairman of Rx&D in 2007, is optimistic about building on the work that’s been done by his Rx&D predecessors who he credits with maintaining a cohesive industry approach to working with government and provincial providers. He has “great respect” for the integrated healthcare systems in Canada, adding “We have to help the integrated system provide bette-r access to Canadians for the huge advantages they can now gain from using modern pharmaceuticals. That’s the job of our industry.”

En francais

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