Mark Barrett

Mark has more than thirty years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with the last fifteen years working specifically on orphan and ‘ultra-orphan’ medicines. He has a proven track record in product development, sales, marketing, and business management, as well as international experience across medical device and ethical pharmaceutical products. He has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by rare disease patients.

In 2014, Mark founded Orphan Insight Ltd., a specialty consulting firm that provides support to companies looking to enter the rare disease market and those already in this market. Clients include GSK, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Insmed, Prosensa, BioMarin, and NPS Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to becoming a consultant, Mark spent seven years at Alexion Pharmaceuticals as managing director for the UK and Ireland. He established UK and Ireland operations for this US-based company with the primary objective of commercializing Soliris® (eculizumab) in that region. Soliris was successfully launched for the treatment of two different conditions, achieving commercial targets despite significant market access barriers.

Before joining Alexion, he was general manager at Orphan Europe, where he was responsible for all operations in the UK and Ireland in multiple therapeutic areas for rare and very rare conditions. Mark previously served as general manager of Profile Pharma Ltd., where he was responsible for the development, licensing, and commercialization of Promixin® (colistimethate sodium).

Mark shares his expertise with many different groups. He is a member of the Department of Health’s working group on the development of the UK National Strategy for Rare Diseases. Mark serves on the management committee of Rare Disease UK, a multi-stakeholder group focused on improving quality of life for rare disease patients. He is a member of the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) stakeholder group on the development of the Highly Specialized Technology assessment process. In addition, he served as co-chair of ABPI Orphan Medicines Industry Group from 2009 to 2014.