Anyone who’s been subjected to my interminable ramblings at conferences had a conversation with me at a trade event or read this column knows that I can go on for quite a while with theories and models about business that don’t necessarily match up with Reality As We Know It. I like to think we’re all like that, and we need conversation to bring us out of our coccoons.

Last year, I met a business writer who taught me an important lesson. He said, “One of the big mistakes writers make is D.A.R.K.: Don’t Assume Readers Know.” That is, the writer/editor may think a topic is common knowledge, but he’s probably wrong; there’s likely an audience that’s very interested in learning about that topic from the ground up.

To that end, our Salary Survey questionnaire, concludes by asking respondents for the topics and issues of interest to them. They gave me a bunch of great ideas for future articles, coming from both sponsor and provider points of view. Here’s some of what you had to say:

• ObamaCare [Variations of this came a up a lot.]
• New ways of manufacturing – any out-of-the-box thinking on alternatives to traditional manufacturing.
• Stop talking so much about China and India and talk about Russia and Eastern Europe! This region is underutilized as industry rushes to the Far East! [You had me at “Stop talking so much.”]
• Lean Manufacturing pros and cons
• How to get better pay packages
• How are mergers & acquisitions being used to build a global service platform?
• Big pharma cutting R&D and strategically depending upon small companies to fuel their pipelines. A lot of implications here, especially as a trend for contract pharma producers. When will VC ramp back up to support the “demand” at the small companies for these new compounds?
• Tradeshows and their usefulness or lack thereof.
• What’s going on with biosimilars?
• Lean and green manufacturing techniques
• The tightened-up “New FDA”
• The failure of the QBD/PAT “revolution” – Why doesdevelopment limp on as before?
• Financial health of CMOs. Which CMO mergers might make sense?
• Government overspending on CROs
• How are costs in Asia rising, and when will price parity with western providers negate benefits of moving east?
• Minorities in top management: CEO, COO, VP. [This topic comes up in an Online Exclusive that we’re working on this summer; keep an eye out on contractpharma.com]
• Venture capital funding and aversion to risk. [This theme came up often, indicating that respondents still aren’t seeing a renaissance in VC money.]
• More attention for the mission of pharma, how it really contributes to life and why should we be proud to work there. I want an article on this with content; I know all the superficial stuff. Thanks!