Ulo Palm, a speaker at the marcus evans Evolution Summit 2012, on the necessity of common quality standards in unregulated biomedical research. Interview with: Ulo Palm, Senior Vice President - Clinical Operations & Biometrics, Forest Research Institute

1. A Common Quality Language for
Better
Biomedical Research Results
producing different results that others should not be any rules, but if you want
are then unsuccessfully trying to to be productive with your creativity,
validate. The majority of the efforts put you need to use tools in the way they
into biomedical research are going into were designed for.
replicating work, instead of building on
each other’s work and creating For example, you cannot be a very
synergies. If you take into account that creative musician without knowing how
USD 100 billion a year is spent on to play any instruments. Only when you
mostly non-reproducible biomedical know and follow the basic rules can your
research, this has major implications mind free up for creativity. You do not
from a productivity perspective. want to be creative in how you conduct
your research, but in the concept of
Besides not spending our money research. If the technical aspects of
Interview with: Ulo Palm, Senior efficiently, we seem to be unable to turn biomedical research were standardized,
Vice President - Clinical Operations the promises of modern biology into scientists would really be able to focus
& Biometrics, Forest Research new effective drugs for patients on the science.
Institute worldwide.
We need a common quality language to
What should these standards create synergies in biomedical research
The lack of a common language on the include? How would compliance be that could lead to breakthroughs for
quality of non-regulated biomedical monitored? patients who are desperately waiting for
research is resulting in the poor new research outcomes.
reproducibility of findings, says Ulo They must cover the process from the
Palm, Senior Vice President - Clinical concept of an idea to the publishing of
Operations & Biometrics, Forest research results. This is about creating a
Research Institute. This is wasting common language in biomedical
valuable resources and hindering research.
innovation, as the majority of the work
is having to be repeated by different
laboratories, he adds.
These standards should be voluntary;
we still have to continue to trust people.
This is about
A speaker at the upcoming marcus
Scientists would state whether they
followed the standards and over time,
creating
evans Evolution Summit 2012, in
Wheeling, Illinois, April 30 - May 2,
there would be methods developed to
verify that they did. To start with, if labs a common
language in
Palm discusses how common standards were requested to provide a statement
for non-regulated biomedical research that they did follow the standards, it
would create synergies that could lead would go a long way.
to drug development breakthroughs.
Would such standards nurture or
biomedical
From your perspective, why is there
poor reproducibility of biomedical
hinder innovation and creativity?
research
research findings? They would increase creativity
significantly. There is a misconception of
There are no common quality standards what creativity is. People often think
or methods, therefore laboratories are that in order to be creative, there

2. About the Evolution Summit 2012
The Pharma Network -
marcus evans Summits group
This unique forum will take place at the Westin Chicago North Shore, Wheeling,
delivers peer-to-peer information
Illinois, April 30 - May 2, 2012. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition
on strategic matters, professional
or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought
trends and breakthrough
leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event.
innovations.
The Summit includes presentations on the future of drug development, developing a
culture of safety and maximizing return on investment.
www.evolutionsummit.com
Please note that the Summit is a
Contact
closed business event and the
number of participants strictly Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits
limited. Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
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About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss
strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to
individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
Upcoming Events
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To view the web version of this interview please click here: www.evolutionsummit.com/UloPalm