Great speaking with Florence Vuichard and Pascal Michel for a story in today's "Schweiz am Wochenende". We talked about medicines people urgently need and sometimes cannot get, because current supplies are in different pack sizes than prescribed or because they are warehoused in different countries from which they cannot be imported due to regulatory hurdles. In my view there would be an easy solution: liberalilze the pharmaceutical supply chain accross borders and agree on prices that reflect the true value of essential generic medicines. We also spoke about the medicines everybody wants but nobody can produce enough of: weight-loss drugs. While this is a unique market situation like I have never seen before, we also need address rising environmental concerns with a dramatically growing number of one-time application devices.
In the lead business story of Switzerland’s largest weekend paper “Schweiz am Wochenende” published today, a full-page interview with Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor addresses two hot healthcare topics people in Europe talk about: shortages for critical medicines and the growing appetite of patients for weight-loss drugs. Says Saynor about the craze for anti-obesity medications: “I have not observed anything quite like this in my 35 years in this industry.” While he sees significant long-term opportunities for Sandoz in this indication, the chief executive of the world’s leading maker of generic and biosimilar medicines also points out that the dramatic increase in use of one-time application devices for the drugs poses environmental questions that need to be addressed. In the interview, Saynor speaks about the first year of Sandoz as an independent company listed on the Swiss stock exchange and how he pleased he is with the last 12 months of operations since the spin-off. But ensuring that patients get the medicines they need and when they need them, at prices they can afford, remains a huge job every day. While generics represent some 70-80% of the medicines produced worldwide, matching demand and supply is not trivial in an industry that is highly regulated by governments. Says the Sandoz CEO: "Every country wants its own package sizes, its own labels, its own information leaflets. And this at a time when we could easily include a digital information leaflet with every medicine as a QR code in all possible languages.” A simple and pragmatic solution to help solve a temporary drug shortage in a specific country in Europe would be to allow the free movement of pharmaceuticals in the EU, Saynor argues. The interview with Richard Saynor ran in some 20 papers published by CH Media Group in Switzerland, including “Schweiz am Wochenende”, “Aargauer Zeitung”, “Luzerner Zeitung”, “Zuger Zeitung” and bz in Basel, reaching about 1 million readers in the country. The full story behind paywall can be read at e.g. https://lnkd.in/dqviGBSt
DataPorium
6d
Richard Saynor, your insights on cross-border medicine accessibility are truly inspiring. how can we better streamline these vital processes? 🌍 #healthcareinnovation
Cross border liberalization of the pharmaceutical supply chain would be a huge step forward. So much in life is a lottery these days
Important insights! Simplifying cross-border supply chains and tackling regulatory hurdles are key to improving access, while sustainability in weight-loss drugs needs urgent attention.
Very valid points to use technology to improve supply chain movement & availability. Would be great to see a English version of the interview.
Good insightful
Independent Pharmaceuticals Professional
2dSays the Sandoz CEO: "Every country wants its own package sizes, its own labels, its own information leaflets. Package sizes are standard, based on treatment duration indication and patient age, not country requirement, the labels and PIL also are common standard. The different is languages. Sandoz CEO should knows these standards if not to ask the professionals.