Norway Equality has long been a deeply held ideal in Norway, where the concept of allemannsretten – the legal right to roam – permeates all aspects of society. Notably, surplus wealth produced by Norway’s sizeable petroleum industry is deposited into the Government Pension Fund Global, today the world’s largest sovereign wealth…

Switzerland Although Switzerland is ahead of many of its competitors in Europe on levels of healthcare innovation, one potential stumbling block is access to and use of data. The country’s decentralised healthcare system means that many data sets are siloed and heterogeneous within regions, creating issues in terms of conducting research…

Switzerland A trained physician with several years of practice under her belt, Katharina Gasser then moved into clinical research as an investigator before joining the pharma industry in 2005. Now head of Biogen’s Swiss affiliate and chair of the executive committee of industry association Interpharma, Gasser cites her diverse background as…

Switzerland Alvotech – the biosimilars arm of Icelandic-headquartered generics player Alvogen – is positioning itself for future growth via a very different strategy to that of the Big Pharma players with biosimilar portfolios. Chief Commercial Officer Anil Okay, who sits in Switzerland, explains the four company traits that he believes will…

France The latest from French pharma where Sanofi has inked a deal to produce 125 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine as it faces delays with its in-house product and the impact of this on the country’s global scientific standing. Also featured are the rising problem of anti-vaccine sentiment, an exclusive…

Sweden Anders Blanck of Lif, the trade association for the research-based Swedish pharmaceutical industry, outlines the steps already being put in place for Sweden to become a leading country in the implementation of precision medicine. Blanck highlights the impact of Sweden’s December 2019 Life Science Strategy – which includes initiatives on…

Norway Photodynamic therapy (PDT) firm Photocure is probably Norway’s most significant recent international healthcare success story. CEO Dan Schneider explains how the company was able to action a more effective global commercial strategy and carve out a niche in the relatively uncrowded oncology drug-device combination market.   Despite its technology being…

Norway Norway has long held a strong international position in neuroscience and is home to Professors May-Britt and Edvard Moser, a married couple and the 2014 winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Mosers, along with their former mentor John O’Keefe, won the award for their work on…

Norway Many countries have struggled to adapt to the shift to remote working and digital communication brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. However, these tools were already well-utilised in the vast but sparsely populated country of Norway and digital is increasingly being seen as a key component in…

Spain The latest from Spanish pharma, including the wide swathe of COVID-19 syringes, vaccines, masks, and tests being produced in the country, Grifols’ Egyptian entry, a new generation of leadership at Almirall, and Esteve’s European Expansion.   Weapons “made in Spain” in the war against Covid-19 (La Razón – Spanish) https://www.larazon.es/salud/20201214/iecgoyhkpfeifhlfgpracvgtci.html…

Italy A roundup of some of the most important recent stories from Italian pharma, including an in-depth interview with Menarini CEO Elcin Barker Ergun, a public health management crisis in the south of the country, Chiesi’s latest mobile health partnership, and the potential rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021.  …

Switzerland PharmaBoardroom highlights three of the most enterprising and dynamic pharma affiliate country managers working in Switzerland today and their strategies for success in one of the world’s most innovative nations.   Henrik Asmussen, General Manager, Amgen Switzerland   Danish national Henrik Asmussen, head of Amgen Switzerland since 2017, outlined the…