Implementing a Robust Compliance Program in a Remote Environment

Fabiana Lacerca-Allen, SVP Compliance, Aimmune Therapeutics, USA

Implementing an effective Compliance program can be complicated and challenging in the best of times, especially when you operate globally in a rapidly changing environment. These challenges and complexities have not only been exacerbated but have rapidly evolved as a result of the global pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has had a monumental and lasting impact on corporate work environments and employees by creating a wide-spread shift in work patterns, habits, behaviors, and work locations. During the past year, companies and their employees needed to quickly, and in many cases haphazardly, transition into primarily remote work settings. This rapid transition to a remote environment has had some unexpected positive outcomes in terms of increased work productivity, improved employee satisfaction, access to a more diverse talent pool, and reduced overhead costs that may lead to long-term adoption of partial or full remote work environments for many companies.

M. Fabiana Lacerca-Allen has over 30 years of experience in legal and compliance roles, working for leading American companies such as Aimmune, Elan, Mylan, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Microsoft, Merck, and AT&T. She has counseled and litigated in the field of international business transactions and international environmental law. She has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry in leadership roles in charge of legal and compliance teams. She has counseled and represented clients on a broad range of questions, including strategic business initiatives ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, and corporate policy. Ms. Lacerca-Allen has provided legal support and strategic advice on opportunities and trends in law particularly within the government sector, as well as with major and strategic corporate accounts. Fabiana has established policies and oversight on key areas of compliance affecting international markets, and she has been able to positively impact the perception of compliance, creating compliance training programs and relevant standard operating procedures and has been involved in validating and aiding due diligence in the compliance industry, frequently being requested as speaker and participant in forums. She has been recognized in the industry by Hispanic Executive Magazine in 2013, http://hispanicexecutive.com/2013/fabiana-lacerca-allen/; recognized as 2015 Women in Leadership, Inspiring Leaders: http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2015/may/12/know-who-you-want-to be-kidnapped-with-and-four-more-tips-for-leaders; served as Chair to the Bay Area Ethics & Compliance Association (BECA); and served as Co Chair for CBI, an Advanstar company serving the Life Sciences industry. Ms. Lacerca-Allen was invited to join the Gioja Research Institute while she was a student researching on environmental law. She was recipient of 1992 UCLA’s tuition waiver based on merit and recognition, and she represented UCLA in the Roscoe Foundation National Essay Contest submitting a paper on Global Warming. About your organization Aimmune was created in response to a united call to action from the leading minds and key stakeholders in food allergy who met at an advocacy-sponsored research retreat in 2011 to reach consensus on the direction of food allergy treatment research. Among the outcomes of the retreat, the group concluded that a standard oral immunotherapy (OIT) approach needed to be established, and associated products needed to be developed. When no pharmaceutical company showed interest in developing an OIT treatment, the food allergy community formed Aimmune. Today, Aimmune is working to fulfill the 2011 shared vision of developing a peanut allergy treatment and making it available to allergists for patients worldwide.

Aimmune was created in response to a united call to action from the leading minds and key stakeholders in food allergy who met at an advocacy-sponsored research retreat in 2011 to reach consensus on the direction of food allergy treatment research. Among the outcomes of the retreat, the group concluded that a standard oral immunotherapy (OIT) approach needed to be established, and associated products needed to be developed. When no pharmaceutical company showed interest in developing an OIT treatment, the food allergy community formed Aimmune. Today, Aimmune is working to fulfill the 2011 shared vision of developing a peanut allergy treatment and making it available to allergists for patients worldwide. Among the outcomes of the retreat, the group concluded that a standard oral immunotherapy (OIT) approach needed to be established, and associated products needed to be developed. When no pharmaceutical company showed interest in developing an OIT treatment, the food allergy community formed Aimmune. Today, Aimmune is working to fulfill the 2011 shared vision of developing a peanut allergy treatment and making it available to allergists for patients worldwide.