Timo Veromaa

3 posts

Of scales and trends

Professors of Practice Timo Veromaa

I’m a fan of macro figures, so the ignorance of others about the right scale of things is sometimes frustrating. For example, for some it is difficult to separate one million from one billion. On the other hand, the Americans do not make life easy by using the term billion for our milliard, and trillion for our billion. However, focusing on the linguistic nuances of numbers is not the real point here; my interest in macro figures is.

Which is why the 98-page The Pharma 1000 – Top Global Pharmaceutical Company Report by Torreya Partners, published in November 2021, was interesting to read. Torreya Partners is a global investment bank focused on the pharmaceutical industry. I still receive their reports, thanks to our previous collaborations. Nice – our collaboration, as fruitful as it was, was far from being just some cheap fun.

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Freshly minted PhD – what’s next?

Professors of Practice Timo Veromaa

A boat is out on the bay in front of our summer home. Three young men are standing – fishing. It’s an early autumn morning, but these fishermen seem to be out of luck. The boat is drifting slowly towards the open sea, perhaps towards better fishing waters. The fishermen seem determined, resolutely continuing and heading towards the horizon. Or, at least, the skipper of the boat is very active.

Could this be about committing to a goal? Perhaps the fishermen are pursuing their common passion – or at least the skipper’s passion.

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Immunology is on the rise in pharmaceutical trends

Professors of Practice Timo Veromaa

In 2014, the government led by Juha Sipilä presented the growth strategy for the Finnish healthcare sector.  This was a recognition of a sector that has invested significantly in health research and has risen to the absolute top of health research in many sectors globally. Finland offers a tremendous functioning ecosystem for medical research.

Now, in 2021, we already have a third government that has continued to commit to this strategy, at the very least.  However, the recent uproar over funding cuts in science did not increase confidence in the current government’s desire to improve public funding for biomedical research in Finland. The key pillars of the growth strategy include the National Cancer Centre, the Genome Center and the Finnish Biobank Cooperative FINBB. They are still waiting for the necessary government start-up grants. Despite the lack of promised government aid, projects have progressed, although no decision has yet been taken, for example, on the funding of a national drug development centre.

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