By EuroGalenus.
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A roundtable discussion on pharmaceutical and biotech companies was held yesterday at IE Business School’s Aula Magna, organised by the Healthcare Alumni. The session was organised and moderated by alumni Luis Truchado, Director of EuroGalenus Executive Search and Ricardo Gallego, Senior Medical Manager at Biogen-Idec.
First, Aurora Berra, CEO of BMS-Spain and European VP, outlined the actions taken by her company to take the best of each organisational model and give rise to a new Biopharma company that has achieved an outstanding portfolio and the development of an agile and entrepreneurial culture. Just a few days ago, Forbes magazine named BMS as the best pharmaceutical company of 2011.
Esteban Plata, President and CEO of Abbott Spain, took the floor to outline the three pillars that make up the sector: its durability and long-term vision, the importance of intellectual capital in the knowledge era and the permanent offer of quality employment, where investment is made in training and development at all levels of the organisation: from R&D to value-added services.
Andreas Abt, Managing Director of Roche Spain, then highlighted his company’s strong commitment to R&D, with more than 20% of turnover devoted to this important part of the healthcare value chain. In addition, Roche made an early commitment to biotechnology with its investment in the Californian company Genentech in the 1990s and maintains both units in a situation of healthy competition to obtain more valuable products for the therapeutic arsenal. Roche also emphasised that it is currently most concerned about the problem of late payments to public hospitals in Spain. In this regard, finding a solution to the debt problem is a priority for the company, both locally and internationally.
Finally, Guido Decap, general manager and VP of Biogen-Idec explained the importance for a biotech company like his to focus on therapeutic areas where there is a great need for innovation to improve disease treatment. In the case of Biogen-Idec, this has translated into a ‘pruning’ of research projects with low viability and a refocus on neuroimmunology.
After a lively debate with IE alumni working in the sector, it was time for a glass of Spanish wine, offered by CRO Apices, which allowed for networking among all participants.
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