CamRARE’s Companies Forum
an opportunity learn to network and collaborATE
CamRARE Companies Forum meetings welcome representatives from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare companies operating in the rare disease space who are interested in understanding the regulatory environment for orphan medicinal products and working collaboratively on projects.
Meetings are conducted under Chatham House Rules and held three times a year. Content for discussion is agreed amongst the group and high calibre speakers sourced by CamRARE. Meetings are a half to full day, informative, relaxed and collaborative and members receive presented slides and minutes of the meeting for future reference.
COMPANIES FORUM MEMBERS INCLUDE:
What do our members say?
Owen Marks, Head of Rare Diseases at Pfizer shares his thoughts after attending Cambridge Rare Disease Network’s virtual Companies Forum – an interesting discussion on rare disease clinical trials and learnings from the pandemic.
Recommended reading

Pharmaphorum’s George Underwood talks to CamRARE about the biggest challenges facing rare disease pharma, and how the industry can tackle them.
NEXT MEETING
26 May 2023: The UK Rare Disease Framework and Action Plans 2023
Speakers: Kath Bainbridge, Head of Rare Diseases and Emerging Therapies, DHSC and speaker TBC from NHS England.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Tues 28 June 2022: Medical Education by Industry
How do primary care clinicians learn about rare diseases and genomics, what do they need to know, and how do we contribute positively to that education?
Speakers: Dr Lucy McKay – Medics4RareDiseases, Dr Will Evans, GP, Healthcare researcher, Clinical Lead at Mendelian Health and Chairman of Niemann-Pick Uk
18 January 2022: Innovative Medicines Fund
Speakers: Thomas Strong and Sheela Uphadayaya, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
20 July 2021: Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP).

21 May 2021: Industry & Patient Group Partnering
Ten rare disease patient groups pitch their organisation and unmet therapeutic needs to our Companies Forum partners followed by speed dating with a mission.

9 Oct 2020: Rare Disease Clinical Trials in the Covid/ post-Covid environment
Speakers: Dr. Elin Haf Davies, founder and CEO of Aparito, specialising in remote monitoring for clinical trials; Dr. Steve Anderson, CSO of Covance, Drug Development global CRO; and Dr.Beatrice Panico, Senior Medical Assessor at the MHRA Clinical Trials Unit.
6 MAR 2020: NICE’s Health Technology Assessment process for rare disease assets
Speakers: Professor Ron Akehurst, member of the HST Evaluation Committee and founder of Sheffield University’s School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), one of NICE’s Evidence Review Groups (ERGs) and Sheela Upadhyaya, HST and Topic Selection Specialist. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
29 NOV 2019: Collaborative Strategies for Drug Development for Rare Conditions
Speakers: Prof Chas Bountra –pro-vice chancellor of innovation, Oxford University, “How can we work together to produce more affordable medicines, more quickly” and patient group CEOs Dan Lewi – CATs Foundation, Tess Harris – PKD UK, Allison Watson – Ring20 Research & Support