Johnson & Johnson’s Blasine Penkowski Elected National Pharmaceutical Council Board Chair

The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) today announced that Blasine Penkowski, MBA, Chief Strategic Customer Officer of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., has been elected Chair of NPC’s Board of Directors for 2019-2020. Ms. Penkowski has served in other NPC Board positions, most recently as Vice Chair.

“Companies driving biopharmaceutical innovation face diverse challenges in today’s health care landscape. Blasine offers rich experience and strategic insights that are critical in guiding NPC’s efforts to bring smart health policy research and analysis to these pressing discussions,” said NPC President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Leonard. “As health spending and value top the national health care agenda, we’re excited about the vision and leadership Blasine brings to our work to identify research-based solutions that promote patient access and continued innovation for patient benefit.”

Ms. Penkowski has been with Johnson & Johnson since 2014. For its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies in North America, she drives patient access to transformational medicines by leading strategies focused on health policy and advocacy, trade and account management, and pricing and contracting.

Throughout her career, she has managed product portfolios from research and development through launch and maturation, with a special focus on working with major stakeholders across the ecosystem who utilize real-world evidence and pharmacoeconomics to make population health decisions.
 
At Janssen, Ms. Penkowski has led work to develop novel outcomes-based contracts for therapeutics, expertise that aligns with NPC’s core priorities. Ms. Penkowski previously worked at AbbVie and Abbott, where she led various therapeutic franchises, corporate transitions, strategic marketing and real-world evidence.

NPC’s Board of Directors also elected other members to its executive committee:

• Michael L. Ryan, PharmD, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Value, Access, Pricing and Health Economics and Outcomes Research, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Vice Chair)
• Steven J. Romano, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals (Treasurer)
• Mark J. Nagy, MBA, Vice President, Global Patient Outcomes and Real World Evidence, Eli Lilly and Company (At-large)
• Justin McCarthy, JD, Senior Vice President, Patient and Health Impact, Pfizer Inc. (At-large)

In addition to the executive committee, the Board of Directors made appointments to two standing Board-level committees. Jan Hansen, PhD, Vice President, Evidence for Access Medical Unit, U.S. Medical Affairs, Genentech, Inc., will serve as chair of the Board-level Research Committee, and Christine Marsh, MBA, Senior Vice President, Market Access, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., will serve a second term as chair of the Strategic Advisory Group. These committees provide input to the Board on research projects and strategic guidance, respectively.

“In the current health care landscape, we need policy solutions that put patients first,” Ms. Penkowski said. “That’s why NPC’s portfolio of health policy research and analysis is such a critical resource. Sound, high quality evidence is something needed by anyone trying to make our current system work better for patients – whether a physician, provider, payer, PBM, biopharmaceutical manufacturer or policy maker. Even if we don’t all share the same opinions, NPC helps ensure we’re all starting with the same facts.”

About the National Pharmaceutical Council
The National Pharmaceutical Council is a health policy research organization dedicated to the advancement of good evidence and science, and to fostering an environment in the United States that supports medical innovation. Founded in 1953 and supported by the nation's major research-based pharmaceutical companies, NPC focuses on research development, information dissemination and education on the critical issues of evidence, innovation and the value of medicines for patients. For more information, visit www.npcnow.org and follow NPC on Twitter @npcnow.