Author: Christian Velten

AI is increasingly competing with pharma and healthcare industries on information and knowlegde about their products. This should not be ignored anymore.

In today’s dynamic political landscape, European pharmaceutical companies have a unique opportunity to thrive despite the challenges presented by evolving US policies. While tariffs and cost pressures may cause hesitation, this moment calls for innovation and bold strategies. Are these obstacles a chance for growth, or merely an excuse to hold back?

Dr. Christian Velten speaking at 2025 Reuters Pharma Barcelona conference about closing the feedback loop and taking action on customer feedback

A disclaimer first. I am not Swiss myself. So, I claim being a (mostly) unbiased and impartial advocate. Since late 2008, I am working in multinational Swiss-based companies. And in all of them I now and then met other non-Swiss colleagues who whispered complaints about their Swiss colleagues. Typically it is about Swiss people being perceived as being slower with business progress, too much into details, causing delayed decisions. Thereby taking some non-Swiss colleagues’ nerves. After having had the opportunity experiencing myself the “Swiss way” and its business impact for a couple of years, I need to say … that…

Presentation on “Patients’ VoC – measuring Patient Experience & taking action on it” at the 17th Annual Patient Affairs Summit in Berlin Germany

Medical Affairs Professional Society webinar on Patient Experience Management (PXM) and Digital Patient Engagement Strategy.

Do you also sometimes feel flooded with bad news? Wars, climate change, natural disasters, species extinction, hate speech, political egomaniacs, weakened economy, financial uncertainties, real or perceived restrictions to freedom … an endless list of mental toxins that are bombarding us day by day by day. Do you also sometimes feel an antipathy to continue watching or reading the news? I recently was reminded about the amazing amount of positive things that are happening on our beautiful planet, too. How many aspects have factually improved over the last decades. And to not let the ‘bad-news-sells’ principle allow to dominate my…

Since late 2022, I am leading the Roche Pharma corporate Voice-of-the-customer (VoC, customer feedback) Program. During the past ~2 years, I have been designing, setting-up and deploying VoC @Roche Pharma. As part of that I have set-up a lean and high performing cross-functional matrix team driving the effort. The program’s set-up includes … Since the MVP had been activated in summer 2023, we see an increasing number of VoC success stories across the organization, showing real-life proof of business impact and value. CLIENT:Roche Pharma Global Product Strategy(as a Roche employee)PROJECT TIME FRAME: September 2022 – today

People who know me a bit better also know that photography is my personal passion. Even provided it is not really my preferred genre, but I took an opportunity to improve my capabilities on landscape photography at a 1-day small-group workshop in the Black Forest, Germany. Together with a professional photographer we started in the darkness of the pre-sunrise morning, walking up the Herzogenhorn peak (where the photo above was shot). This was followed by additional locations around, the Feldsee (lake) and the Fahler Wasserfall (waterfall). Photography is my perfect way to clearing my head and resetting my brain. Looking…

Music was my first love … and I really enjoy playing it. As a young man I had been a quite active trumpet player. For the last ~20 years I switched to singing in a choir. I particularly enjoy doing music together with others, forming one orchestrated musical body, listening to each other, contributing to a unified sound, and – certainly – performing on stage. Plus, it is pure fun. On December 14th/15th 2024, the Müllheim Chamber Choir (I am singing in) performed two fantastic pieces of music, the “Sunrise Mass” by Ola Gjeilo and the “Misatango” by Martin Palmeri…