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MA M MARCH A 2011 THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF PHARMA
VOLUME 31, NUMBER 3
Castellani Takes Charge at PhRMA The fundamental question is about the industry’s future: Public utility or competitive engine of growth?
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NETHERLANDS: Innovation through Collaboration
The Night Watch, Rembrandt van Rijn, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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espite its diminutive size, the Netherlands has historically carried a large weight in the world because of certain This sponsored supplement was produced by Focus Reports. cultural endowments: small but united, entrepreneurial, innovative, and externally oriented. During the Dutch Project Director: Elyse Deutscher Golden Age, the “Low Country” monopolized international trade Editorial Coordinator: Manuel Felipe B. Mendoza and commerce, giving rise to tulip manias, artistic masters, and Contributors: Koen Liekens, the world’s first multinational corporation. Though the sun has Irina Afanassenko long set on that era, the historic imprint of the Netherlands’ open & Leonardo Barquero mindedness to the world defines its present industrial standing. Today, the pharmaceutical industry looks to the Netherlands for For exclusive interviews and more info, please log onto a world-class medical infrastructure, new standards in innovation, or write to contact@focusreports.net and a closely-knit community of stakeholders. Like many countries, the Netherlands will need to adopt new approaches to tackle the increasing challenges of cost-containment pressures and fiscal austerity. But as history has proven, “going Dutch” has come to mean a proactive nature and ambitious attitude that makes no challenge too big. MARCH 2011
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lated to today’s pharmaceutical industry, ingeAt an initial glance the Netherlands might nuity, collaboration, and commercial prowess not seem like the most attractive of pharare embodied in a “build, bundle, and benefit” maceutical markets. Sandwiched in between approach—the three-pillar strategy of the Dutch big brothers France, Germany, and the life sciences and health sector to combine the United Kingdom, a modest population of country’s strong research talents with commerover 16.5 million Dutch inhabitants hardly cial opportunities through public/private partdrives global growth for multinationals. But nerships and various investment vehicles. it is precisely the assets derived from a small “We are very good at the way of doing remarket, mixed with a unique Dutch identity, search, clinical research predominantly,” says that makes the Netherlands an ideal destiDr. Michel A. Dutrée, general manager of Nenation for international commerce, pharmafarma, the leading association for researchMinister Edith Schippers, the ceuticals included. based pharmaceutical companies in the NethNetherlands Minister of Health That the Netherlands is a country literally erlands. “The Netherlands has invested heavily built on ingenuous innovation goes a long in clinical research infrastructure that is based way in explaining the creative flair of the culture. Inhospitable in universities and the country’s top hospitals. We have almost below-sea-level conditions bred infrastructural novelties in the 28 top clinical hospitals whose excellent medical specialists form of iconic windmills and Amsterdam’s dizzying array of provide valuable research for industry. Our research strength canals. Cooperation, collaboration, and coalition-building were and good relationships with biotech fi rms and universities is a essential for survival. Furthermore, the country’s rich history as major reason why big and intermediate pharmaceutical coma trader nation engendered a sharp commercial instinct. Trans- panies are interested in the Netherlands.”
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“It is very easy for government and industry to work together in the Netherlands since we are such a small country. The collaboration between the two entities is very pleasing for government.” — DR. MICHEL A. DUTRÉE, GENERAL MANAGER, NEFARMA
Further underpinning the attractiveness of the Netherlands for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies is a strong pipeline of top-level talent. Dutch education levels are consistently ranked among the highest in the world. A 2007 Global Talent Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit placed the Netherlands third (after the US and Canada) in its ability to attract and promote talent. Similarly, in the 2008 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 11 of the Netherlands’ 12 universities ranked among the world’s top 200. As Dutrée explains, “In contrast to other European countries, we have a network of universities here. Rather than competing with each other, Dutch universities work together since, ultimately, they are all government fi nanced. Private fi nancing streams do exist for Dutch universities, but base funding all comes from the government. It is very easy for government and industry to work together in the Netherlands since we are such a small country. The collaboration between the two entities is very pleasing for government.” “A typical and more traditional Dutch strength that comes from being a small country is to be very internationally oriented with an inclination for going all over the world,” assesses Jan Wisse, managing director of Niaba, a leading Dutch biotechnology association. Consistent with this trait, approximately 87 percent of Dutch over age 15 speak English, 65 percent speak German, and 25 percent speak French, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Strength in small numbers, ingenuous innovation, and openness to the world have indeed branded the Netherlands as a gateway to Europe. Top 50-pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen and Genzyme have chosen the country as its headquarters for European activities.
PHARMA IN THE LOCAL CONTEXT Most pharmaceutical executives rank the Netherlands as first among the “next tier” of European markets behind France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. “The Netherlands has been for years a significant market for the international pharmaceutical industry,” states Michael Dumas, country manager of the Italian pharmaceutical giant Menarini in the Netherlands, “not by volume and turnover, but through the innovative character, the high level of carrying out clinical studies, the level of planning and organization, and infrastructure in the country.” Translated to the bottom line, Curd Lejaegere, managing director of Daiichi-Sankyo Benelux, notes that “financial performance for pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands typically has slow uptakes, but continuous growth. Other markets have initial steep curves which eventually flatten out after two years. Initial returns and results take longer in the Netherlands, partly driven by entrance guidelines or initial market accessibility constraints, but continuous growth can be counted on.” According to Nefarma, pharmaceuticals generated $4.88 billion (€3.55 billion) in total revenues in 2009. Employing over 50,000 people—27 percent in R&D—and accounting for 9 percent of private Dutch R&D investment, a 2010 study by
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PENNY WISE, POUND FOOLISH?
Roland Berger Strategy Consultants cites the high-quality, cost-effective healthcare that pharmaceuticals provide by imparting health and wealth to Dutch society. Cost-effective is a defining term for pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands. The same study concluded that in 2008, the Netherlands spent only $430 (€313) per person on medicines—10 percent below the European average. In 2010, pharmaceutical expenditures were estimated to account for only 9 percent of the €60 billion ($82.5 billion) total Dutch healthcare budget, similarly low for European averages. Largely driving these trends is a greater than 70 percent generic penetration rate, among the highest in Europe. Generic penetration, however, is just a piece of what many local executives describe as the unsustainable pressures of cost-containment in the Netherlands today.
A TURNING POINT Despite enviable research infrastructure and a knowledge economy that are conducive for the pharmaceutical industry in the Netherlands, enormous cost-containment pressures make it difficult to bring products to market with favorable returns. The Netherlands underwent a major S5 FOCUS REPORTS
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overhaul in 2006 by implementing a universal insurance mandate to curb soaring healthcare costs. Previously a public system, the Health Insurance Act of 2006 required every Dutch citizen to purchase health coverage from a private insurer, with the government establishing quality of care guidelines. The theory behind managed competition was for providers
Managed competition has effectively increased the buying power of insurers without a concurrent rise in advising power by pharmaceutical companies. The generics industry has been hit particularly hard by a cost-containment “preference policy.” In 2006 “along came a new stakeholder to the table called health insurance companies, which made this business completely different,” says Kalman Petro, managing director of Actavis Benelux, No. 3 in the Dutch generics market. The preference policy means that when a number of medicines contain the same active agent, only the cheapest medicine—the “preferred product”—is reimbursed, as decided by the insurance companies rather than physicians or pharmacists. This has created deflationary pressures with prices being pushed to their lowest. The policy has realized noticeable
“The long-term sustainability of the business will come through our ability to show that we are able to create solutions rather than just delivering a product.” — DR. ULOFF MÜNSTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MERCK to attract as many patients as possible and allow freedom of mobility across insurers to stimulate better quality care. Successfully, compulsory insurance now covers all but approximately 1 percent of the Dutch population. However, a negative side-effect since 2006 has been a preponderant shift in deciding power to the health insurers who are neither equipped nor incentivized to uphold
returns, with generics prices dropping over 53 percent from May 2003 to April 2010, according to Roland Berger. But the industry has reached a dangerous point in which cheaper prices are doing more harm than good. Some manufacturers have stopped making certain economically unviable products, moving the picture away from healthy competition to uncertainty of
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The Merck Netherlands team
supply. When a manufacturer has cornered the lowest price of a medicine, within one to two months they find themselves having to supply far greater quantities, regardless of production capacity. Petro recalls “one company that reduced the price of a product below the 5 percent bandwidth. Suddenly a small preferred company with less than 1 percent market share was responsible for supplying 80 to 90 percent of the total market. Companies are not going to order products if they are not preferred, which makes things very dangerous. The customer—the patient—is suffering.” Offering his view of the preference policy, Dr. P.F. Bongers, chairman of Bogin, the Dutch generics association assesses that “for the generics industry, if only the lowest price possible is the guiding principle next to long periods of preference, then you are endangering the continuity and quality of supply. Our aim is for fair market competition, but the preference system is not stimulating normal market competition within generics.”
price for therapeutically interchangeable drugs. Medicines with equivalent modes of action are clustered into one group, with the average price calculated based on comparable doses. The fi rst price below the average is the reimbursement
price. With such high generic penetration, traditional lines for R&D companies in the Netherlands such as primary care have become relatively small. As Uloff Münster, managing director of Merck-Serono in the Netherlands explains, “The most important step is to get to the reimbursement stage. This is a marketspecific issue because copayments are not well accepted in the Netherlands, unlike in other European countries. If a medicine is not reimbursed in this country, the introduction of this new medicine does not make much sense.” The maximum price for pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands is determined by the average prices of comparable drugs from four reference countries:
UPHILL FOR THE INNOVATORS R&D companies are equally squeezed by price pressures between generics penetration affecting reimbursement schemes and the maximum price levels for their medicines. Introduced in 1991, the GVS system is a reimbursement
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Restructured for Success The new, stronger roles of payer bodies in the system have led to various restructurings at the affiliate level for pharmaceutical companies, often for the better, in order to revamp their communication strategies with stakeholders. Ferring, the 60-year old Swiss biopharmaceutical specialist in reproductive health, Anita Goedknegt, General Manager, Ferring urology, gastroenterology, and endocrinology, found that a whole new approach was needed in order to communicate its value offering to the “new kid on the block.” Anita Goedknegt, general manager, explains that “prior to 2006 pharmaceutical companies had a large group
of sales representatives or account managers who were predominantly focused on the prescribers. The prescribers were the decision-makers with whom you needed to be in constant contact. After the policy change it was no longer just the doctor in charge. We as an organization needed to change everything—and I mean everything.” Human resource changes were necessary in order to align Ferring’s structure, processes, and organizational attributes with evolving market needs. “Our growth was driven by a stronger connection between the organization and the market environment,” she explains. Growth and results for that matter have been extraordinary for Ferring since 2006, despite not introducing new products to the Dutch market until 2009. “Up to 2006, we were in a stable annual growth scenario. In that year we changed the entire organization, including its structure and quite some processes, which altogether created a ‘hockey stick growth’ for our affiliate.” Operating in niche markets of fertility, obstetrics, and inflammatory disease, Ferring has consistently relied on double-digit growth in volume, and is projecting similar success for 2011.
Belgium, France, Germany, and the UK. With a reference pricing arrangement, the tenuous macroeconomic situation sweeping Europe can have a potentially destabilizing effect on pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands. Han Brouwer, general manager of orphan drug specialist Actelion’s Dutch affi liate, explains, “We have a very tight economic situation here, much like the rest of Europe. European Union countries that are running into fi nancial difficulties are now cutting healthcare costs. Because our reference pricing is based on a basket of countries, we will face price cuts due to the fact that other countries have to decrease their healthcare prices for economic reasons. The price/quality phenomenon in the pharmaceutical business is eroding dramatically.” A tricky road remains for the Dutch pharmaceutical industry and the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport. They must soundly manage austerity plans in the face of aging populations and rising healthcare costs while continuously incentivizing innovation for biopharmaS7 FOCUS REPORTS
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“For the generics industry, if only the lowest price possible is the guiding principle next to long periods of preference, then you are endangering the continuity and quality of supply.” — DR. P. F. BONGERS, CHAIRMAN, BOGIN
Ferring HQ, St. Prex, Switzerland
ceutical companies. Annual spending on healthcare is forecast to reach $76.5 billion (€55.7 billion) by the end of 2010, a 12 percent increase from 2005. In October 2010 a new conservative government came to power to manage these challenges. The atmosphere they inherit will see total expenditure on health and
welfare services rise 3.3 percent to reach €63 billion ($87 billion) in 2011, according to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Certain austerity measures in the 2011 budget will impact the reimbursement of certain drug classes and save approximately €32 million ($44 million) for health insurers.
PICASSO—Truly a Work of Art With 7 percent growth in 2009, Boehringpharmaceutical companies, specialists, er Ingelheim continues to defy convenphysicians, patients, and dieticians—to tional growth in a 1 to 3 percent market optimize quality of care. uptake for R&D-based companies in the PICASSO initiates activities in four areas Netherlands. Perhaps by no coincidence, to achieve its goal: quantifying and meaits above-average performance is attribsuring quality of care; supporting scienuted to a different sales strategy. “Our tific research; aiding local innovations in approach in the Netherlands today is very COPD intervention; and increasing COPD different from what it was 10 years ago.,” awareness. says general manager Xander Bos. “Our To date PICASSO has completed 12 approach then dictated that the larger scientific studies in COPD and has supthe share of voice, the more market ported 11 daily practices in care optimizaXander Bos, General Manager, success—of course backed by the best Boehringer Ingelheim tion. PICASSO has become a respected products. Today we have several products partner in the Dutch healthcare landscape in the market but share of voice is not with closely established partnerships central in our approach anymore. The size with renowned organizations such as The Netherlands of our organization is still the same as it was five years Organization for Health Research and Development. ago, but over the past few years we have decreased the Since 2004 PICASSO has also supported 15 projects that number of our sales representatives. Instead, we now optimize care for COPD patients. According to Boehringer have other people working in the market with more of a Ingelheim, COPD treatment over the past six years has focus on account management activities.” increasingly moved toward identification, self manageWhat has become increasingly central, however, is Boehment, spirometry, and undoing recurring bottlenecks ringer Ingelheim’s focus on engaging industry stakeholdassociated with smoking prevention. A major testament ers to improve patient care. The flagship program to to PICASSO’s success has been helping local caretakachieve this is Partners in Care Solutions (PICASSO). ers recognize and circumvent bottlenecks in the care Co-founded in 2001 with Pfizer at the University Hospital process—the starting point for discussion with caretakers of Maastricht, PICASSO consistently unites stakeholdthat ultimately garners support for local initiatives. ers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—
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Country Report FROM CRISIS SPRINGS OPPORTUNITY Despite cost-containment measures that have been exacerbated with the greater role that health insurance companies have come to play in the system, there are some advantages. Most immediately, it has emboldened companies, inciting some to raise their voices in defiance of reforms and motivating them to succeed in the face of regulatory barriers. “The Dutch environment still challenges Menarini to maintain the level of investments, hoping that access to new medicines will be more driven by the general opinion of Europe,” says Dumas. “Finding the right balance between the system’s sustainability and fair prices rewarding innovation is critical and far from easy.” Proudly present in over 110 countries and initially drawn to the Netherlands in 1996 because of high-quality infrastructure, organization of healthcare, and top-level physicians, Menarini’s commitment to a vast international presence guarantees a committed fight for its established product lines in the Netherlands. The added layer of a payer body has also forced pharmaceutical companies to be more methodical and meticulous in presenting the pharmacoeconomic value of their products. This has indeed penetrated the commercial mentality of Merck-Serono, a market leader in the Netherlands through biotechnology products in fertility, neurodegenerative disorders, and oncology. According to Münster, “The new landscape will increase the complexity of any decisionmaking process which already is not so easy in this country. There are lots of bodies involved and various layers to work through in order to come to a reimbursement decision. We as an industry, and Merck as a company, need to better understand what drives these decisions. We need to understand in the larger sense what will make the future pharmaceutical world tick.” He adds that as a result, “we will need to in-
“Finding the right balance between the system’s sustainability and fair prices rewarding innovation is critical and far from easy.” — MICHAEL DUMAS, COUNTRY MANAGER, MENARINI
crease our effort to strongly document not only the long-term clinical value of our new products, but also the pharmacoeconomic value. It will not be enough to show only clinical data in the future.” Ultimately, the right products in niche markets will always drive growth, even in the face of cost-containment, as experienced by Italian-based Chiesi. The Netherlands was one of Chiesi’s fi rst startup affi liates outside of Italy, according to general manager Maurits Huigen. Established in 2007, immediately after
structural reforms to the healthcare system, Chiesi doubled its growth in the Netherlands in its fi rst two years on the backs of products such as Foster for respiratory care; Bramitob, a tobramycin nebulization solution for the treatment of chronic lung infections; and Curosurf for the treatment of respiratory distress symptom in premature babies. More importantly, such niche market opportunities will not limit themselves to pharmaceutical companies alone. Related companies that are able to provide
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“Because we are smaller and industry players know each other a little bit better, some initiatives are very well organized and take place a bit faster here.” — ERIK LOMMERDE, GENERAL MANAGER, NOVO NORDISK improved outcomes in a cost-effective manner generally carry the potential to play an increasingly important role under budget-tight regimes. An example as such is Netherlands-based Agendia, providing breast cancer patients with what President and CEO Dr. Bernhard Sixt describes as “pathologyondemand.” Dubbed “cancer’s crystal ball,” the FDA-cleared MammaPrint, provides physicans with a breast can-
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cer recurrence test that will identify those patients where chemotherapy or hormonal therapy will work. “MammaPrint reduces the incidence of unnecessary treatment and improves the quality of treatment for those who do need it. Medical costs are reduced, patients receive better care, and many patients are spared the unnecessary burden of chemotherapy; it is truly a win-win-win situation,” Sixt explains.
Dr. Bernhard Sixt, President & CEO, Agendia
THE NEW PHARMA Greater connectivity between organization and market environment speaks to an overarching theme: Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking to move beyond product to solution; to become a total partner rather than just a supplier. Local industry executives almost unanimously agree that this will defi ne the “new pharma” of tomorrow. “The long-term sustainability of the business will come through our ability to show that we are able to create solutions rather than just deliver a product,” says Münster. Local industry executives almost unanimously agree that this will define the new pharma of tomorrow. “Just a product is not enough. New pharma needs to be solution-oriented rather than focusing only on the pharmaceutical ‘hardware’—that is, the product,” says Münster. “On top of that, there should not be the slightest doubt that we will deliver top quality and that we are ready and able to ensure high standards. The long-term sustainability of the business will come through our ability to show that we are able to create solutions rather than just delivering a product.” Partnering with the industry and reshaping organizational processes have played a large part in Novo Nordisk’s success in the Netherlands. “Novo Nordisk wants to change diabetes, with products being just a part of the process,” says Netherlands general manager Erik Lommerde.
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“If you want to be involved in diabetes care, the only right way forward is to become a complete stakeholder in the treatment process. It is also why we have been changing our organizational setup in ways that are probably not ideal for short-term commercial interests, but are ways that we believe are necessary in order to be a long-term partner in diabetes care on a local and regional level. For example, we have been setting up account managers with no commercial objectives.” In practice, Novo Nordisk has the ambition to incentivize its representatives based on HBA1C indicators— a measurement of glycated hemoglobin in the blood, often considered one of the best ways to check for diabetes. In linking representatives with eventual HBA1C tests, Novo Nordisk’s incentives would be “purely based on improvements in quality of care, not on how many products they sell,” says Lommerde.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL … AND EFFICIENT Comfortably growing between 3 and 5 percent in the Netherlands on the backs of overall market expansion and Victoza, its main driver, Novo Nordisk feels quite at home in the Netherlands. Despite its vast global presence spanning offices in 76 countries, the Netherlands is a rolemodel market for Novo Nordisk. “We are the 10th largest Novo Nordisk affiliate, so our absolute contribution to the group’s performance is significant,” according to Lommerde. “Generally speaking, we are typically ahead of the game in the Netherlands with a lot of new initiatives taking place here. Healthcare reforms happen in every country, of course, and are not specific to the Netherlands. But because we are smaller and industry players know each other a little bit better, some initiatives are very well organized and take place a bit faster here. For that reason I think that a good way for a company to get acquainted with new initiatives is to roll them out first in the Netherlands. This is also a cultural
The “Other” Innovation Pharmaceutical companies are in business to break new barriers in innovative medicines. But thinning pipelines and price pressures make conventional innovation harder to come by. With numerous costcontainment reforms in the past five years many industry leaders view the Netherlands as prohibitive for new innovation. However, with a fresh set of eyes and an active agenda on patient care, French pharmaceutical company Ipsen’s local Dutch affiliate is redefining a standard for success when it comes to innovation.
Dr. Adrienne M. de Waal, Country Manager, Ipsen
“We are a small organization with limited budgets so we must be creative to develop meaningful solutions,” says Dr. Adrienne M. de Waal, country manager of the Netherlands. Therefore in addition to flagship lines in neurology, endocrinology, and an orphan drug treating IGF-1 deficiency—a child growth hormone—Ipsen considers its customer approach and market entrance as equally important determinants of its innovation. Developing specific homecare programs for patients in which nurses administer injections directly in patients’ homes, provide treatment followup, and report feedback to the doctor, Ipsen places itself as close and supportive to the patient as possible. “Innovation from this perspective translates to being very service-oriented,” says de Waal. “From a patient perspective it is very customer friendly to have dedicated home care, compared to the alternative of additional visits to a general practitioner or the hospital.” Ipsen’s shift to more Web-based services is another element of the “other” innovation that it provides. “We cooperate in specific medical projects with doctors by facilitating the construction of databases that collect historical and current treatment information for a very rare and genetically inherited disease. By building this database and analyzing the information, doctors can deduct the best treatment. Future patients will benefit from this information and receive the best treatment right from the start. The setup of this database has been judged as innovation for patients; without it they are treated by ‘trial and error’ to receive the best options.”
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Country Report element of the Netherlands—we are eager to try new things and are not afraid to fail sometimes.” Not being afraid to fail has defi ned Actelion in the Netherlands. General manager Han Brouwer recalls the “ultimate entrepreneurial spirit” of starting the Netherlands-Benelux affi liate from nothing. “We did not have a product since it was not yet approved by the European Medicines Agency. I started from my garage and worked from my wooden desk with a 25-meter cable for my telephone,” he recounts. From that rawness Actelion has leveraged the small Dutch landscape and its orphan drug portfolio to build and shape new pharmaceutical markets. “We are selling orphan drugs which make up a specialty market, with the dynamics being much different than traditional big pharmaceutical compa-
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Alie Tigchelhoff, Managing Director, Utrecht Science Park
nies.” Playing a different ballgame in a small market, a key component of Actelion’s success is its unique relationship between talent and corporate strategy. This orphan drug business needs a different approach, which means that we have to look for unique people with
different competency sets than most pharmaceutical companies. Whereas in traditional pharma most people are part of the system, we try to build the system around the competency set of individuals,” say Brouwer. With 12 affi liates throughout Europe, Daiichi-Sankyo has the largest presence of any Japanese pharmaceutical company in Europe. The company’s European Group goal is to average 10 percent annual growth and €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in net sales by 2012. While the Big Five markets will clearly drive growth, the Netherlands carries a large weight in group performance when regionally clustered as a Benelux entity. Referring to Benelux’s relative importance, Curd Lejaegere, Managing Director Benelux, Daiichi-Sankyo, notes that “the top five markets are re-
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Country Report sponsible for more than 80 percent of of “what happens if the government that €1.2 billion goal, with the rest of does not have a proper strategy for innothe countries in Europe contributing to vation.” The renowned Dutch research the other 20 percent. Within the region, culture and knowledge economy took a however, Benelux is more than favor- hit, according to some. ably competing with the UK and our More positive views in the pharmaturnover is in fact highceutical and life sciences er than theirs.” In adcommunity look past dition to turnover, the Organon and Abbott strength of the Benelux to the richness of the cluster offers advantagcountry’s science parks. es to the Daiichi-Sankyo Leiden Bio Science Park, Group and, by extenapproximately 30 minsion, serves as a model utes from Amsterdam, for any pharmaceutiis the largest life sciences cal company spreading knowledge cluster in the across Europe. “Future Netherlands and home to affi liates, can learn more than 70 specialized from our experience life sciences companies. Curd Lejaegere, Managing in product-launching Director Benelux, Daiichi-Sankyo The younger and sequences. All of the rapidly growing Utrecountries lined up next to each other cht Science Park began in 2005 and have launch sequences. Products can be has since successfully attracted more spread all over Europe but you have to than 30 companies and knowledge study how to implement them and ex- institutes in the life sciences and sustract the best lessons from the successes tainability sectors. In addition to three and failures, which is what we have premier knowledge institutions—the gained considerable experience from in University of Utrecht, the University this region,” he notes. Medical Center of Utrecht, and the University of Applied Science—and ENGINES OF INNOVATION steadfast support from the City and The Netherlands drew global head- Province of Utrecht, managing direclines across the pharmaceutical com- tor Alie Tigchelhoff believes that much munity in the summer of 2010 with of the park’s strengths lies in its ability the announcement of the closure of to network with and leverage the cretwo large-scale R&D centers. In June, ative industry resources of nearby cities Merck announced the closure of Orga- Amersfoort and Hilversum. We want non’s R&D facilities in southern Hol- to attract companies in the life sciences land. Operations will be shifted to the and sustainability side, but we do that US as part of a corporate strategy to in combination with the cities around streamline global activities. Previously a us,” she explains. “We are the motor homegrown Dutch success story before of the science industry and we link to being acquired by Schering-Plough, Or- larger networks that extend beyond ganon’s closure and the expected layoff just the city of Utrecht.” To Tigchelof 2,200 jobs dealt a major blow to the hoff, Utrecht Science Park’s value offer local industry. Last September, Abbott means sharpening its core focus area similarly announced the closure of its rather than stretching them thin. “As Weesp-based R&D facility (near Am- sustainability is a broad field, we have sterdam), resulting in the loss of 510 lo- had to target a core focus which is comcal jobs. Dr. Dutrée of Nefarma called ing to be bio-based sciences and water. the Organon announcement a symptom In life sciences we have a focus on pub-
lic health, which involves everything from infectious diseases, immunology, and zoonosis.” She adds that in addition to those core life sciences fields, “we are also working on stem cells and cancer. Hubrecht Institute, an institute of the Royal Academy of Sciences that is globally renowned for its work on stem cells, works in close cooperation with the Utrecht Medical Center.”
THE ROAD AHEAD 2011 and 2012 will be pivotal years for shaping the future of the Dutch pharmaceutical industry. Against soaring costs, a new government will be tasked with ensuring accessible, affordable healthcare while still promoting a continuous supply of high-quality pharmaceutical treatments. Industry is collectively urging the authorities to keep a long-term perspective with regards to the healthcare system and not jeopardize long-run sustainability for shortterm cost gains. Underpinning the continued success of healthcare and pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands is the long-term viability of innovation—for so long a defi ning trademark of the country. Innovation that comes through to the market on all fronts—technological, patient care, and marketing—benefits all stakeholders, from government, to patients, to healthcare providers, and companies as economic players. To meet the challenges that come with ensuring innovation government of course cannot act alone. Greater communication and collaboration amongst all industry stakeholders is necessary in order to frame and achieve common needs. Perhaps no culture is as historically well versed in collaborating to innovate as the Netherlands. An American pharmaceutical executive recently assigned to the Netherlands best sums up the Dutch ability to overcome the odds: “A word that I use to describe my colleagues quite often is pragmatic. It is not fancy, it is not fluffy, it is just all about getting it done.”
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