Pharmaceutical body selects first Scots lobby chief

Kim Fellows has been appointed as the first Scottish public affairs

director for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry

(ABPI), the trade body that lobbies on behalf of companies involved in

the research, development and manufacture of medicines and

treatments.

Fellows joins in December from pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing

consultancy HCC De Facto, where she is a managing partner. She will set

up and deliver a communications programme to politicians, civil servants

and those who work for and use Scotland’s health services.

The role was created in the summer to coincide with the establishment of

a Scottish parliament and executive in order to give ABPI members a

strong voice and focus in Scotland. Fellows will work closely with ABPI

headquarters in London, reporting to director of public affairs Ben

Hayes.

Director general Trevor Jones said: ’The opening of the ABPI’s Scottish

operations will help to ensure that the industry’s voice is heard by

politicians and decision-makers at all levels of the health service in

Scotland. It is vital that patients get access to the advances in

medical research that come from the pharmaceutical industry.’