Tagged with Disease

Portugal Alnylam, pioneers in the RNA interference field, seek to bring their revolutionary medicine across Europe, and in particular Portugal before 2020. In this interview the new General Manager for Spain and Portugal, Alicia Folgueira Lopez, a rare diseases authority, discusses how to build an affiliate from scratch, the synergies across…

Spain Jose Manuel Rigueiro, general manager of the Spanish affiliate of Actelion, discusses the lack of trust between health authorities and the industry and the challenges of launching new orphan drugs in such a fragmented healthcare system. He highlights the successful launch of Uptravi® and his commitment to avoid business disruption…

Portugal Carla Benedito, general manager of Shire Portugal, provides useful insight into the rare diseases landscape in Portugal. Carla discusses market access models for innovative and rare treatments, encouraging dialogue between industry and government, and the touching nature of working for a pharmaceutical company that knows all of its patients by…

UK With an appetite to take the next step in its rapid development, EUSA Pharma has already established itself as a leading rare-disease and oncology biotech company in just a short period of time. Currently active in both the UK and Europe, EUSA is set to further expand internationally, notably in…

Canada Bob McLay, vice president and general manager of Sobi in Canada, discusses how innovation and collaboration with regulators and payers are helping Sobi to bring its medicines to Canadians suffering from rare diseases, while emphasizing the importance of an adequate rare disease framework to streamline this process in the future.…

India Swati Jajodia, managing director of Swati Spentose discusses her commitment to tackling underserved diseases and the company’s approach to bringing pentosan polysulfate to global markets while working with Key Opinion Leaders and CMEs in raising awareness about interstitial cystitis (IC).    Could you please introduce Swati Spentose to our international…

Canada Looking back on three years of operations in Canada and nine months of approval of Ocaliva® for the rare non-viral liver disease PBC, Brian Canestraro, general manager of Intercept, is proud of how far the Canadian affiliate has come. He is confident that the company has established a solid foundation…

Poland Despite the global R&D excitement around oncology, cardiovascular death still remains the world’s largest killer, and according to OECD data, accounts for roughly a third of all mortalities. This trend is no different in Poland. Nevertheless, the country is taking on the challenge head on, and is considered a leader…

UK Simon Gillespie of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the UK’s leading national heart charity, outlines the organization’s mission, the issues surrounding translational research, and the potential impact of Brexit on the UK life sciences landscape.   One of the key matters for us is that we don’t have direct customers.…

Ecuador Angel Guevara, molecular biologist and professor at the Central University of Ecuador (UCE), discusses Ecuador’s potential as a clinical trial destination, a diverse tropical country with high prevalence of infectious disease and educated healthcare professionals. He explains the differences between public and private healthcare services, notably from the point of…

Poland Piotr Ponikowski, president of the Polish Cardiac Society, discusses the positive steps Poland is taking to construct an effective program against cardiovascular disease as well as the importance of a structured national prevention strategy. Furthermore, he highlights the importance of the Society acting as a partner with the entire value…

Switzerland Kurt Reichen, VP Technical Operations at PaxVax, an American-headquartered fully integrated specialty vaccine company focused on infectious diseases, discusses the establishment of the company’s only site outside of the US in Bern, Switzerland, following the 2014 acquisition of a former Crucell manufacturing site from J&J. The establishment of your Swiss…