Archives: Speakers

Christian Friis – (Strategic Trial Planning Manager) brings more than 20 years of experience from the industry. Christian has worked in Regulatory, as CRA in a CRO and as International Trial Manager in Biotech for close to eight years. In 2010 Christian joined Ferring where he has had several roles with increasing responsibilities and latest he progressed into the role as Clinical Project Leader, in Global Clinical Operations. In 2021 Christian joined Global Trial Planning at Novo Nordisk and he is responsible for country allocation of the haemophilia trial portfolio.

Having had a normal weight in childhood, obesity entered my life when I had my child in 1993. I gained a total of 40 kg over the next 14 years despite diet monitoring, physical exercise and obesity medication available back in time. No matter what I did I couldn’t stop putting on weight… I was almost 100 kg in 2007 and the consequences of so much weight were so clear: pain in lower back, ankles and knees, fat in my liver but even more scary – high blood sugar levels. I was a single mother and my only concern was that my health would deteriorate so badly that I’d leave my kid an orphan. As nothing less invasive seemed to help me in losing my body weight, I decided to have bariatric surgery. Although I’m having a normal weight for the last 11 years, I still struggle every day to keep it in control. Today I use my story to advocate for the cause of defeating Obesity together with my scientific background. I am a pharmacist contributing that better and effective drug treatment for losing weight is available to an affordable cost to all people in need of it. The collaborative relationship between patients living with a chronic disease and pharma is a win-win situation. Patient experiences, perception and opinions are heard by the companies behind new therapeutic options that hopefully will bring more quality to patients’ life. This close dialogue helps to educate and raise the awareness of the burden caused by these diseases both on an individual and society perspective. The potential products can show exciting results in the laboratory and animals but only patients have the actual experience in their disease control. By giving the patients the opportunity of sharing their feedback from beginning of a product development the companies are able to make available better treatment options that meet patients’ expectations on a faster fashion.

Francisco is an Economic Analyst, MBA and a certified Non-Executive Director (NED), member of UK`s Non-Executive Directors Association, with 30 years of experience in International Air Freight Logistics specialized in Temperature Controlled management Air Cargo operations for pharmaceuticals.

He joined IATA in 2014 as Regional Cargo Manager for the EU, UK, Turkiye, Israel, Ukraine and Russia & CIS countries. Currently responsible for the global Air Cargo Training department. He also has been acting as Instructor and Validator for the CEIV Pharma Certification program since 2014 as well as Consultant for pharma temperature control projects at airports in Europe, US, Canada, Latin America, and South Africa for Airlines, Ground Handling Companies, Logistics Operators, Freight Forwarding Companies and Trucking Companies.