01.02.2021
The new Chair of the Board of Pharma Industry Finland (PIF), Mr Matthew Iles, wishes to build up closer cooperation
PIF’s new Chair of the Board, Mr Matthew Iles, says that the crises will be solved, the challenges in healthcare will be met and the economic situation in our society will be coped with only by building up good cooperation.
The PIF Board elected on 29 January Mr Matthew Iles, General Manager of AbbVie Oy as the Chair of the Board.
- I will take up the tasks of the Chair in a quite exceptional situation in the society. In the middle of a pandemic which has shown that our branch has a critical role as regards the ability of the society to act. Our branch wants to carry out the task in a responsible manner.
The utilization of research-based information and the development of medicine are accelerating all the time. Our branch invests more than 35 billion euros in pharmaceutical research and development in Europe alone.
Mr Iles says that this will offer possibilities to find more effective treatments but it will also pose challenges. How can the patients get access to new innovations as quickly and equally as possible but sustainably for the society as well?
- The challenges in healthcare will be met and the difficult economic situation in our society will be coped with only by building up good cooperation. I want to participate in building up a closer cooperation with the healthcare professionals, the researchers, the authorities and the different actors in the society. The pharmaceutical industry is, for its part, ready for this.
- The coronavirus pandemic will test our societies in an unprecedented manner. I hope that it will help people understand that the activities of the research-based pharmaceutical industry are always based on reliable information. I also hope that our branch will genuinely be regarded as a partner and as a solution-provider that tries to do its best to beat the pandemic as soon as possible.
The new Chair acts as the General Manager of AbbVie Oy. He has a degree in chemistry and he has worked 20 years within the pharmaceutical industry in Finland, Sweden and in the Baltic countries. The term of office of Mr Iles started right away after the election by the Board.
The Board elected also Ms Jenni Vuola (Sanofi Oy) as the 1st Vice Chairperson and Mr Niilo Färkkilä (Amgen AB, branch office in Finland) as the 2nd Vice Chairperson. The Autumn Assembly of Pharma Industry Finland elected the Board for 2021 on 30 November 2020.
The composition of the Board is here.
Additional details
Sanna Lauslahti, Managing Director, Pharma Industry Finland, tel. + 358 50 512 2380