About Verpora
A novel approach to delivering VBA success
Newsroom
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Verpora is a highly-specialized agency in the field of innovative contracting and value-based pricing.
Pharmaceutical companies frequently struggle to demonstrate the true value of their innovations to stakeholders and in a science and evidence-led sector, the relationship between people, data, and the systems in which they interact is often overlooked.
In a novel, first-of-its-kind approach, Verpora has pioneered the integration of human performance factors with payer behavior, data science & commercial negotiation strategy to deliver outcomes that are outstanding.
Clients who have partnered with Verpora have…
Forged the use of indication-based and true value-based pricing
Transformed their market access operations by implementing human performance factors
Opened access to restricted patient populations through innovative contracting
Minimised gross to net erosion
Successfully developed and deployed several hundred value-based agreements globally and in the U.S.
Meet the Team
Nick Merryfield
CEO & Head of
Business Consulting
After sales and leadership roles at SmithKline Beecham and Boehringer-Ingelheim, Nick started his career in consulting by founding Infonetica Ltd. and Pharmaceutical Field Ltd. Respectively, each organisation helped the UK pharmaceutical industry improve clinical research activity and manage the evolving payer landscape of the late 1990s. After the sale of the businesses, Nick formed and led NHiS Ltd. During this time, he was responsible for spearheading ground-breaking work on using Hospital Episode Statistics and the 2001 Freedom of Information Act to understand the relationship between drug intervention and outcomes.
Following the acquisition of NHiS in 2013, Nick helped found Verpora Ltd, a global specialist consultancy in the field of value-based contracting. Joined by leading pharmacists and data analysts, the organisation now focuses on contract creation and the improvement of drug usage data by indication to underpin value-based negotiations.
Nick is ABPI qualified and a former Board Director of the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association (BHBIA).
Adam Meads
COO & Head of
Research Analytics
Adam began his career as a research analyst in banking and finance specializing in behavioural research and decision performance as well as buy-side data solutions. He moved into the life sciences sector as a consultant on health system data intelligence at NHiS Ltd (now part of Wilmington plc) before moving to run his own consultancy White Space Analytics (WSA). Following a merger between WSA and Verpora, Adam now leads Verpora’s initiatives in innovative pricing and VBA contracting strategy. He heads Verpora’s Research & Analytics function. Adam is a certified member of the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association (BHBIA).
Omar Ali
Head of Payers
It takes a payer to know a payer’s mind, and Omar’s long experience puts him in an ideal position to unlock critical payer insights. A previous pharmacy & therapeutics payer and adviser to the UK national HTA appraisal body NICE, Omar’s experience encompasses the managed entry of new medicines and health technology appraisals with a deep knowledge of market access, pricing, reimbursement and health economics. For Verpora, Omar manages a global team of experienced pharmacy payers who bring in-depth insights to product value propositions and validation of market access strategy across international launch sequence portfolios. Omar is presently studying for his PhD in Value-Based Contracting.
Matt Lindley
Head of
Human Performance
Drawing on 25 years as a RAF/Commercial pilot, Matt advises on change management, focusing on human performance factors and risk. Using lessons learnt in aviation to drive efficiency, whilst reducing exposure to human error in the workplace, Matt’s experience makes him an acknowledged and in-demand subject expert in speak-up culture, debriefing, human cognition, leadership, communication, situational awareness, decision making under pressure and resilience.
Jenny Dawson
Executive Director,
Performance Data & Analytics
Jenny is a creative problem-solver with strong strategic and critical thinking abilities. She has a passion for business analytics, product development and health psychology nurtured in business intelligence roles at Roche, AstraZeneca and SmithKline Beecham. She brings a wealth of expertise in primary and secondary market research, forecasting, analytics and data management. At Verpora Jenny is responsible end-to-end management of insights products designed to meet our clients’ needs.
Chris Webber
Head of Negotiation
With 17 year’s pharmaceutical industry experience as a brand manager for Roche and Commercial Director at GSK, Chris has real-world understanding of the challenges industry faces in achieving its commercial goals. Following his career in pharma, Chris became Head of Consulting at The Gap Partnership. Chris specializes in sales & negotiation excellence with a focus on commercial performance and bringing plans to life in front of complex customers. His expertise in decision making and influence enables commercial teams to fundamentally rethink their approach and operate in ways that generate deeper intimacy and partnerships with stakeholders.
Paul Dermody
Commercial Director
With over 34 years of experience providing a wide range of services to the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sector, Paul started in the pharmaceutical industry working for Abbott before moving to Janssen in senior management roles. In 2003, Paul co-founded leading contract sales and healthcare services organisation, North 51, before it's acquisition by Bionical in late-2015.
At Verpora, Paul provides leadership to all customer development and marketing operations, consolidating and building on the company’s strong track record as a global specialist consultancy in the field of innovative and value-based contracting.
Adam Buckler
Senior Business Consultant
Adam Buckler is an experienced pharmacist with over 12 years of NHS experience in acute Trusts and at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, a renowned oncology and haematology center. With a focus on Electronic Prescribing & Medicines Administration (EPMA) and Education & Training (E&T), Adam has developed expertise in NHS data systems, capabilities, and processes. He has contributed to the NHSE and NIHR Electronic-Prescribing Toolkit. At Verpora, Adam leads Innovative Contracting consultancy projects, client contracting capability build programs, and provides valuable clinical and healthcare expertise to the VSTx product. He is a certified member of the BHBIA and registered with the GPhC.
Harry Osborn
Account Director
Harry is an associate consultant and experienced account manager, having worked in specialist therapy areas for both AstraZeneca and Sanofi over the past 6+ years. At Verpora, Harry utilises his expertise and knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry to manage client interactions and customer engagement. He also has a background in aviation sciences and is a chartered pilot, granting him a unique insight into human performance factors; how people manage and make decisions in both low and high-stress environments. Harry is a certified member of the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association (BHBIA) and is ABPI qualified.
Mary Knowles
Head of HEOR
With 30 years health industry experience across the EU, US and international markets, Mary is widely recognized for her expertise in specialty areas such as health economic evaluations, patient feedback, ethnographic observations, measuring the impact of new technologies, healthcare professional research, customer experience, customer loyalty and employee engagement. For 10 years' Mary was Sales Director and Business Development Director at Innovex/Quintiles and she holds a Masters Degree from Birmingham University in Health Economic and Health Policy.
Andrew Wiles
Chief Technology Officer
Andrew has a long and distinguished career in data warehousing and analytics. Following his early career in the aviation industry as a Development Manager for Rolls Royce, Andrew switched sectors and led technology teams within the software industry at the SAS Institute and several start-ups. His expertise in advanced Microsoft technology brought him to the field of hospital episode statistics, where he played a pioneering role in the early development of technology to allow pharma to utilise this data. Andrew is now an approved Research Innovator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As part of this role he is the licenced custodial authority, and Verpora’s lead expert, in accessing the record-level claims data of over 40-million beneficiaries for the purpose of assisting innovative contract design.
