On April 19, 2017 the MCPHS-Boston IPhO Chapter hosted its 4th Annual “Emerging World of the Industry Pharmacist” event on the MCPHS-Boston campus. The focus of this year's event was, "The Rise of Rare Diseases and its Growing Impact on Healthcare."

100+ Industry experts, pharmacists, fellows, and students gathered to gain more insight on the growing impact of rare diseases in the pharmaceutical industry. The evening began with a networking session followed by dinner and presentations from three industry experts who work with rare diseases on a daily basis.

Dr. James Alexander, CEO and Founder of IPhO, moderated the event and spoke of the importance of rare diseases in the pharmaceutical industry and the unique role it has within all departments.

Jonathan Picker, MD, PhD from Boston Children's hospital shared his personal experience of launching Fragile X and Global Gene Corp, two multinational biotech companies that deliver genomics data platform solutions for various patients, including those with rare diseases. Will Richmond, MBA, Senior Director of Market Access Sanofi Genzyme, spoke about his individual experience of engaging with various specialists and finding patients from the rare disease population. Concluding the presentation was Georgina Lee, PharmD, Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs with Biogen. Dr. Lee discussed the fast track approval for rare disease drugs, granted by the FDA and how these medications receive a faster response in regards to the submission of their advertising and promotional material.

Bernie Tyrell, RPh, MBA, Associate Dean and Chair of the Pharmaceutical Business and Administrative Sciences Department at MCPHS University, delivered closing remarks for the evening and emphasized the importance that pharmacists have in this unique, up and coming field.

Many thanks to the MCPHS-Boston IPhO Student Chapter, including student leaders Vannary Chhay, Christine Marotta, Amy Trottier, Divyani Patel, Sarah Caisse, Judi Abboud, and James Geiser.

Authored by Adam Quicquaro, 2018 PharmD Candidate, 2016-17 MCPHS-Boston IPhO Chapter President