DG’s Column
Dear Readers,
Welcome to my editorial column!
The purpose of this column is to provide perspective on the issues that the biopharma industry we represent is addressing in collaboration with partners here in Geneva and around the world. These include the innovation ecosystem, vaccines, pandemic preparedness, antimicrobial resistance, access to medicines and many others. Over the years, I’ve written for a number of publications including a weekly column in the Basler Zeitung, a leading Swiss newspaper from my home town. Today, I am also a contributor to publications such as the New York Times, Project Syndicate, the Financial Times, the Diplomatic Courrier and Health Policy Watch. I have also been on a number of podcasts, reflecting my desire to understand the other side. I hope you enjoy my thoughts, which reflect my commitment to continue bringing you expertise and reflections on key issues and policies that relate to my work with IFPMA. I’m a regular commentator on COVID-19 issues. I know that in this fast-changing world, divergent opinions matter and I would like to engage you in these conversations and hear your thoughts as well. Please add your comments below or follow me on Twitter: @ThomasCueni or on LinkedIn.
So let’s get talking!
This blog was originally published in The Medicine Maker. Technology transfer partnerships have been the cornerstone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling rapid scaling of health innovations but also raising new challenges. Now, we need long-term, sustainable national policies to ensure tech transfer continues to improve access to ...
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This article was originally published on Pharma Boardroom on 2 March 2022. As the focus of the global COVID-19 pandemic response shifts downstream from the development and production of vaccines to vaccination campaigns themselves, IFPMA Director-General Thomas Cueni lays out the biopharmaceutical industry’s three new overarching priorities: supporting country readiness, ...
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This piece appeared first on PharmaBoardroom. Drawing on the findings of a recent report launched under the Business Ethics for APEC SMEs Initiative, Thomas Cueni of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) outlines the benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of adopting ethical practices. Cueni highlights some of ...
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Against the backdrop of increasing concerns around Omicron, last week we convened a media briefing on the biopharmaceutical industry’s efforts over the past year since the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered. This was a unique opportunity to share insights from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ ...
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This op-ed was originally published for Swissinfo on 16 December 2021. Thomas Cueni, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, calls for unrestricted access to pathogen sharing to help the world prepare for new variants and future pandemics. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, only experts knew what ...
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This op-ed was originally published for Media Planet's AMR Campaign on 18 November 2021. AMR is a silent pandemic that needs attention now. Globally, we need to take action or it will continue to claim lives. It’s been 18 months since the world was struck by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though ...
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This op-ed was originally published for Media Planet's Infectious Diseases campaign on 23 September 2021. With the world’s gaze focused on ramping up production and delivery of 11 billion safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses within a year, it is important that we turn an eye to the future. As ...
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Last week we convened another media briefing on the biopharmaceutical industry’s efforts to ramp up manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and supplies. We were joined by CEOs and executives from Pfizer, Roche, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, whose 3 main take-aways I would like to share with you. The historic ...
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Developing COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year was a monumental achievement – but to improve the efficacy, manufacture and distribution of vaccines and combat emerging variants, governments, regulators and research scientists must work together to drive further innovation. Imagine if scientists invented a COVID-19 vaccine that can be given ...
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Step 1 of the biopharmaceuticals 5-step plan to address vaccine equity A number of countries with access to sufficient doses to vaccinate their own populations have pledged 1 billion doses so far for low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries in 2021 and 2022. We now need to ensure those pledges are ...
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This oped was originally published on in the Down to Earth (16-30 June 2021 Edition). Scarcity of raw materials and trade barriers could dent hopes for 10 billion vaccines produced by end of 2021 Back in March 2020, vaccine innovator companies started working on how they would set up manufacturing ...
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Original article published on Taggesspigel on 15 June 2021. Mr Cueni, of all things, the COVID-19 pandemic, triggered by a virus, could further fuel the development of resistance in bacteria: many Covid 19 patients in hospitals are given antibiotics unnecessarily. G-7 health ministers are warning of a "creeping pandemic" and ...
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Talking to CNBC-TV18's Parikshit Luthra (4 June 2021), IFPMA Director General Thomas Cueni shared his perspective on global vaccine supplies. Main interview highlights from Thomas Cueni: We from IFPMA called out to governments across the world to join us in a five-step plan to urgently address vaccine equity. The first ...
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This oped was originally published on International Business Times on 11 April 2021. Imagine if China had refused to share Covid-19's genetic sequences with other countries. Vaccine development would have been delayed indefinitely. Monitoring the virus would have been next to impossible. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Chinese scientists shared the ...
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This oped was published on the Financial Times on 25 April 2021 1998, 39 pharmaceutical companies sued Nelson Mandela’s South African government to stop legislation that allowed pharmacists to substitute generic HIV/Aids drugs for brand-name ones. It was one of the dumbest things the industry ever did. What started as ...
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On the first anniversary of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT Accelerator), high-level representatives – from pharma and biotech trade associations and vaccine manufacturers from both developed and developing countries – met to discuss the challenges of scaling-up vaccine production and ensuring vaccine equity. Present at the meeting were ...
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I am honored to have been invited to speak on behalf of the innovative pharmaceutical industry at the launch of the new Global Diabetes Compact on 14 April 2021. The Global Diabetes Compact is being launched at an important time in history of diabetes. 100 years ago, the discovery of ...
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On 9 April 2021, I participated in very lively debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, and moderated by John Donvan, Putlizer Prize Finalist and America's best recognized moderator of live event debate and four-time Emmy Award winner. I agreed to disagree with Brook Baker, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of ...
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This blog was originally published on Media Planet Infectious Disease campaign on 24 March 2021. Whilst we are still in the midst of COVID-19, the worst pandemic since 1918 which is affecting every part of our lives, we can draw some lessons that will allow us to be better prepared ...
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A summit was convened in a matter of weeks by Chatham House, in collaboration with COVAX, IFPMA, DCVMN, and BIO, took place on 8-9 March 2021. A discussion document helped inform participants, gave an overview of the current COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing supply chain and identified emerging challenges. While the meeting was conducted under Chatham ...
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This blog was originally posted on Pharma Boardroom on 23 February 2021 The story of COVID-19 vaccines is one of incredible collaboration. Never before has there been such an effort on a mass scale to solve a global health crisis. We've seen a decade of normal vaccine development compressed into ...
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Last week, IFPMA hosted the fifth and last CEO COVID-19 media briefing of 2020 with CEOs and top executives from Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Roche. I joined the CEOs as they shared their take on progress achieved in 2020 and insights into 2021 and beyond. ...
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Dame Sally Davies, UK AMR Special Envoy and Thomas Cueni, IFPMA’s DG have shared platforms on panels. This time at the World AMR Congress, saw the duo in a different format, with Dame Sally pitching questions at Thomas Cueni and asking him if industry has done enough to tackle AMR. ...
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Watch full interview hereThomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to Al Jazeera English, on the side lines of the World Health Summit, about collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry and governments to make sure COVID 19 vaccines are available in poorer countries; as well as industry’s commitment to the most rigorous ...
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On Saturday October 17, I was honoured to take part in the 8th edition of the African Invention and Technological Innovation Fair organized by the Organisation Africaine sur la Propriété Intellectuelle (OAPI). Innovation, creativity and intellectual property are linked to socio-economic development. The African Invention and Technology Innovation Fair plays ...
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I recently participated in Chatham House Webinar: Creating a New Generation of Antibiotics. It was a great opportunity for me to tell Jim O’ Neill, how little over a year ago, he played a role in speeding up industry action on AMR - something I had decided the IFPMA should ...
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Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to BBC World Service Marketplace Morning Report about the efforts and challenges to produce and deliver a vaccine for COVID-19 Victoria Craig One of the keys to getting economies back to some form of normalcy is a vaccine. The US said that it could ...
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Interview - Asahi TV Japan - Solidarity at the core of COVAX Facility Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to Asahi TV in Japan on 18 September 2020 about COVAX and the importance of working together in order to guarantee a safe and effective vaccine in both richer and poorer ...
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The biopharmaceutical industry has made addressing the pandemic its top priority, devoting its resources, expertise, know-how, and intellectual assets to developing potential treatments and vaccines at record speed, while committing to and engaging in unprecedented levels of international collaboration and coordination through initiatives such as ACT-A, ACTIV and CEPI to ensure equitable access to products being developed. ...
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Today I had the pleasure to participate in The New World Model, an online event on the future of industry, organised by the World Free Zones Organization. The event seeks to explore the different angles of the new industry business models likely to emerge in a post-pandemic landscape. I was ...
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This article first appeared in the Global Cause on the Infectious Diseases campaign. A printed publication was enclosed within every copy of New Scientist magazine and the content is available online on the Global Cause website. The campaign featured exclusive content from key thought leaders and industry voices about pharmaceutical ...
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On 3rd September, CEOs from five companies – Pfizer, Roche, MSD, Gilead, and Lilly took part in the latest IFPMA COVID-19 virtual media briefing dedicated to the on-going efforts to find a treatment for COVID-19. During the course of the pandemic, we have witnessed a remarkable show of solidarity, partnership, ...
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Interview - BBC World News – COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers want to reassure the public and send a message to regulators 10 September 2020 – By Thomas B. Cueni [embed]https://youtu.be/0lwEAL7gU1M?t=127[/embed] Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to BBC World New programme Outside Source, on 8 September 2020, about the need for ...
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We all want a coronavirus vaccine. But no matter how urgently action is needed, it is imperative that the highest standards of quality, safety and efficacy are upheld. [...] We must prioritise thorough validation of the results of pre-clinical and clinical trials by independent expert bodies. There is no place ...
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On 24 July, Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, joined Imogen Foulkes for the Inside Geneva podcast on Swiss Info, to talk about the development, production and eventual distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Their discussion highlighted the importance of broad-based collaborative efforts among all stakeholders as well as the vital necessity of ...
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Published on Thomas Cueni’s LinkedIn profile. Last Wednesday, I sat down with @Chatham House’s @Emma Ross (moderator) and epidemiologist Professor @David L. Heymann to discuss the latest science and developments in the #COVID19 pandemic. During the interview, we discussed how the pharmaceutical industry is collaborating on an unprecedented scale to develop ...
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Authors: Dr. Jeff Blackmer, Mr. Thomas Cueni, Mr. Gaston Fernandez, Ms. Nancy Travis, Mr. Russell Williams The dual health and economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the importance of ethical business conduct. Emergency government measures, widespread economic and social disruption, as well as unscrupulous actors taking ...
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Published on Thomas Cueni's LinkedIn profile. COVID-19 is not business as usual for any of us, especially not for the pharmaceutical industry. As we enter into the sixth month of the COVID-19 pandemic, I think it is no understatement to say that the global biopharmaceutical industry has been at the ...
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Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to BBC Sounds on 26 May on about the extent and importance of collaborations both between biopharmaceutical companies and with other stakeholders, notably universities and biotech companies to combat the COVID-19 crisis. At this stage, it is still impossible to know with certainty whether ...
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This was originally published in the Financial Times on Sunday, May 17, 2020. We must not send the wrong message to pharma companies that have taken huge risks As we confront an unprecedented public health, social and economic crisis brought about by Covid-19, our hopes are pinned on scientific innovation ...
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Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director-General, spoke to CNN about the challenges to be faced in the manufacturing of a COVID-19 vaccine on a large-scale and how the industry, as a whole, will respond to the challenges. 00:02 to 1:04 (Transcript of Thomas Cueni's part) ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER (AS): At least, 100 ...
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Last week, high-level representatives from seven companies – Takeda, Merck, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, MSD, Pfizer and Sandoz – took part in a second IFPMA COVID-19 virtual media briefing dedicated to the on-going R&D efforts to find a treatment for COVID-19. It was an important milestone, taking stock of all that ...
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Thomas Cueni, IFPMA Director General, spoke to BBC Newshour on 19 March about the commitments made by the global pharmaceutical industry in addressing the COVID-19 global health crisis. Industry has the tools and solutions to fight and defeat the novel strain of coronavirus. In this unique situation, industry commits to tackle this issue ...
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In recent weeks, we have seen an unprecedented rapid response from governments, international organisations, health care professionals, the biopharmaceutical industry and many others to respond to one of the biggest global health crisis the world has experienced in recent decades: the novel coronavirus, or so-called COVID-19. Both professionally but also ...
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This article was originally published in French in AGEFI on March 3, 2020. Before it first emerged in December, the COVID-19 virus was unknown. Just a month later, the sharing of this new virus's genome within the scientific community swiftly enabled researchers to set in train the initial stages of ...
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COVID-19: An Unprecedented Mobilization of the Scientific Community On Thursday, 26 February 2020, Thomas Cueni spoke to Suisse media (RTS La Matinale). He explains how the innovative biopharmaceutical member companies of IFPMA are already helping and are taking practical steps to engage. Those companies with potentially relevant knowhow have teams ...
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This article was originally published on Health Policy Watch on February 10, 2020. “We all have a vested interest to stop this epidemic,” says Thomas Cueni, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA). As WHO on Tuesday convenes a Global Research & Innovation Forum to rapidly ramp up ...
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This article was originally published in STAT News on February 5, 2020. As the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV increases each day, scientists around the world are racing to find a treatment. Since the virus was first reported from Wuhan, China, at the end of December, ...
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This article was originally published in Life Science Leader on January 29, 2020. A staggering 1.5 billion people, each year, are treated for a neglected tropical disease (NTDs). These diseases can be painful, blinding and disfiguring, keeping children out of school and adults out of work, are often attached to stigma in ...
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This article was originally published in Media Planet UK on November 18, 2019. 700,000 people around the world, who die each year through antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections, would be on the minds of many during this year’s World Antibiotic Awareness Week. AMR is a global health emergency caused by the ...
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This article was originally published (in German) in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) on November 14, 2019. Antimicrobial resistance: A ticking time bomb The more indiscriminate antibiotics are used in everyday medical practice, the higher the likelihood that they will lose their effect. Pathogenic bacteria are enormously adaptable. If we want to win ...
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Thomas Cueni on The McKay Interview show - The value of innovation and bringing innovations to LMICs
Last month I sat down with Michael McKay from the WRS to discuss the biopharmaceutical industry and its role, opportunities and challenges in this very complex world of health. As I was telling him during our lengthy conversation, the biopharmaceutical industry is responsible for a lot of what has changed ...
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This article was originally published (in German) in the print edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on October 29, 2019. Progress in discovering new antibiotics is imperative Boosting R&D to fight superbugs: getting the risk-reward ratio right Fifty years ago, the global health community thought it had won the war ...
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This article was originally published in the Financial Times on October 30, 2019. Rich countries must pay more to achieve health for all in poorer countries Trade association chief argues the case for differentiated pricing If you live on as little as $2 a day, even finding 20 cents for ...
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This blog was originally published on Health Policy Watch on 25 October 2019. As the World Health Summit opens Sunday in Berlin, one of the key themes running through the conference will be how industry, government and civil society leaders can collaborate more effectively to build strong health institutions – ...
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This oped was first published on Pharma Focus Asia on 7 March 2019. Seventy years ago, average life expectancy globally was 47; today it is 72. Seventy years ago, 50 million people worldwide were infected with smallpox; today none. The disease is eradicated. Thanks to initiatives such as Gavi (the ...
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This oped was published first on IP Watch on 16 January 2019 The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and are not associated with Intellectual Property Watch. IP-Watch expressly disclaims and refuses any responsibility or liability for the content, style or form of any posts ...
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This oped was first published first on PharmaBoardroom on 12 December 2018. At least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services, according to a 2017 report from the World Bank and World Health Organization[1]. And each year, large numbers of households are being pushed into poverty ...
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This oped was first published in The Pharma Letter on 6 December 2018. Business performance is mostly about the tangible: robust pipeline, successful launches, development of sales, financial results, profit margins, and the like. One less tangible but absolutely crucial measure of success relates to “how” we go about our ...
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This oped was first published in the Antimicrobial Resistance campaign in the Guardian on 12 November 2018 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is on course to overtake cancer and account for 10m deaths a year by 2050. Already, 700,000 people die from drug-resistant infections (“superbugs”) each year. AMR could cost the ...
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This oped was first published on AGEGI on 25 October 2018. Résumé : Avec Ebola chaque pays est vulnérable face aux épidémies et la solution passe par une couverture universelle de santé et un travail collectif Même si l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) a récemment décidé qu’il n’y a pas ...
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This oped was first published in the World Medical Journal (Vol. 64, September2018). An efficient healthcare system depends on mutual trust between all parties – but how should that translate concretely into the day to day reality of whether a healthcare professional should be given a subscription to a journal ...
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This oped was first published on Health Policy Watch on 28 September 2018. It’s often hard to see progress when the realities surrounding you are bleak: non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the world’s biggest killer, responsible for around 70 percent of global deaths. Each year some 40 million people die of ...
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This interview was first published on Pharma Boardroom on 25 September 2018. This second installment of an exclusive two-part interview with Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), defines ‘fair pricing’, gives IFPMA’s take on so-called “cost-plus” pricing models, and talks about access ...
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This interview was first published on Pharma Boardroom on 18 September 2018. In this first installment of an exclusive two-part interview, IFPMA’s Thomas Cueni expounds on how IFPMA has grown from an association of associations to also include companies as members, key milestones in the organization’s 50 years of existence, ...
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This blog was first published on the Diplomatic Courier on 13 September 2018 The alarm has rightly been sounded on a silent killer. Faced with the staggering figure that 40 million people lose their lives each year to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), it is time to leave our comfort zones ...
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This blog piece has been first published in Africa Health Journal, July 2018 Latest Ebola response holds key to global health security Thomas Cueni discusses the important role of immunisation and the critical role of the pharmaceutical industry in combatting new threats such as with Ebola The recent deadly outbreak ...
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This letter was first published on the Financial Times on 4th July 2018, in response to the article titled "Pharma sector failing to tackle superbugs, says O’Neill" (26th June 2018) I respectfully disagree with Jim O’Neill’s comments on pharmaceutical companies’ inaction on combating antimicrobial resistance (“ Pharma sector failing ...
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This blog was first published on the Media Planet supplement for the Guardian on 27 June 2018 Last month, President Kagame told the World Health Assembly: “In Rwanda, a combination of community-based health insurance, community health workers, and good external partnerships led to the steepest reductions (a halving) in ...
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This blog was first published on Devex on 23 May 2018 At the 2014 Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany, the late Professor Hans Rosling quizzed his audience of leading scientists on average life expectancy. Given three choices, just over a quarter of the crowd picked the correct answer ...
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This blog was first published on EPM on 23 April 2018. We have been lucky to live through a period of improving global public health, facilitated in part by innovation from and partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry. However we now find ourselves facing a new threat from an old foe ...
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This blog was first published on Diplomatic Courier on 21 April 2018. “Business as usual will not work any longer regarding NCDs. The global burden and challenge of NCDs is of such a scale and magnitude that it requires thinking out of the box and new partnerships and financing mechanisms”. ...
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This blog was first published on Diplomatic Courier on 11 April 2018. 1948 saw the birth of the UK’s National Health Service providing healthcare free for all at the point of delivery - and 55 countries meet for the inaugural World Health Assembly. Seven decades later, Ebola and Zika ...
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Before the World Economic Forum, Davos’ first claim to fame was as a haven for wealthy tuberculosis sufferers in the 1800s and 1900s: the rarefied air of the Magic Mountain, as Thomas Mann dubbed it, offered a “certain” cure. The Davos visitors of those days, like Mann’s Hans Castorp, were ...
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This interview was first published on NZZ on 24 February 2018. Interview by Birgit Voigt NZZ on Sunday: Why is the pharmaceutical industry not developing more new antibiotics? Thomas Cueni: Today, there is simply no economically realistic business model that would justify investments of over one billion Swiss Francs ...
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This blog was first published on Life Science Leader on 22 January 2018 As we start 2018, those of us in the healthcare sector are anticipating greater progress in global health. Without a doubt, healthcare has been transformed over the past five decades, through innovation in both prevention and treatment ...
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This blog was first published on Diplomatic Courrier on 1st December 2017. These humbling, resilient young women are at the epicentre of the continuing HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa. They’re strong and they need to be. They provide healthcare, lend helping hands to abandoned victims, raise awareness, help shoulder the ...
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This blog was first published on Life Science Leader and Pharma Times on 14 November 2017. Stand and deliver - practical steps to stop antibiotic resistance It is rapidly becoming the world’s biggest killer. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is on course to overtake cancer (8.2 million annual deaths) and account for ...
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Help wanted in the fight against AMR: World Pharma Association wants to see incentives - but also more regulation This interview was first published on Medscape Deutschland Antibiotics resistance is a global problem. At the World Health Summit 2017 in Berlin experts issued an urgent call for new developments and ...
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In my home country, Swiss citizens do not take kindly to the state trying to nudge them towards a healthier lifestyle. Be it smoking, alcohol, sugar in food or a lower level of salt consumption, they are quick to rant about the Taliban at the Federal Office of Public Health. ...
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This blog was first published on Devex on 10 October 2017 Almost 20 years ago, in 1998, 39 leading pharmaceutical companies sued the South African government to stop legislation on parallel imports and generic substitution. It was one of the dumbest things the industry ever did. What started as a ...
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The headlines were about North Korea, warmongering, sanctions and, well, diplomacy. But this year’s UN General Assembly in New York in truth devoted far more time to sustainable development, climate change, mass migration and poverty – and how to provide universal health care (UHC), including for the 400 million who ...
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I have not forgotten the Chinese taxi driver who wanted to sell me a Rolex for $100 in Singapore a while back. Nor have I forgotten his absolute fury when I laughed and told him that if I wanted to buy a fake Rolex, I could have done it in ...
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Fair pricing activists applauded the news earlier this month that the FDA approved another drug to cure hepatitis C. That this new medicine is cheaper and treats people quicker than the existing hepatitis C drugs goes to show how fast healthy competition can change the outlook on health spending. Not long ago, ...
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We are used to social media exploding and controversy over statements made by President Donald Trump. But over the past month, a shockwave of anger and charges of European arrogance and racism have been levelled at France’s new, charming, and youthful President. What triggered the social media storm that spread ...
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In January 2016, more than 100 companies and industry associations had signed a Declaration on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, followed by a Roadmap of several big pharma at the UN High-Level Meeting in September 2016 – a common framework of principles for global measures to curb the development of antibiotic resistance. ...
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Thinking about how to be a healthy older person is like thinking about glaciers crashing into Arctic seas as a result of climate change. Too far away to imagine, and we’ll worry when the effects reach our doorsteps. In reality, the challenge is here today asking all of us, at ...
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I must admit I had been somewhat skeptical about the "WHO Fair Pricing Forum" held last week in Amsterdam. There were multiple reasons for my apprehension. One concern was clearly that the notion of “fair” is pretty much in the eye of the beholder, another was that none of ...
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Over the course of my lifetime, human lifespan extended by three decades. Today we hope to lead healthy lives well into our 80s. Now I have to declare a vested interest in this topic: I am an aspiring role model for active and healthy ageing (I’m past 60 and look ...
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As we look forward to hosting the Geneva Pharma Forum during current World Immunization Week, finding solutions to pre-empt or mitigate vaccine shortages is top-of-mind here at IFPMA and for our members. What’s more, recently the first Access to Vaccines Index (ATVI) was published – a set of report cards ...
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After 30 years in the world of policymaking and business, there is not much that can faze me; but it is fair to say that nothing could have prepared me for meeting Agnes. This has been a week when Geneva played host to ministers, scientists, WHO officials, philanthropists and business ...
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The name Kantha Bopha is well known in Switzerland. Beat Richner, pediatrician, cello player, and savvy fundraiser, has been working there tirelessly for over 20 years on his life-long project. He had already worked at the Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh in the early 70’s, then the terror of the ...
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Animal testing has been and will remain controversial. Whereas most people accept the need to test new medicines or vaccines on laboratory animals before they are authorized for human use, it is also widely accepted that there is a need to strike the right and careful balance between expected benefit ...
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It is quite amazing how health policy discussions are often held in a distorted and simplified manner. Nowhere does this apply more than in discussions on drugs and the pharmaceutical industry. Although a large portion of public health spending is accounted for by hospitals, doctors, other health care personnel, and ...
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(This is a re-posting that was first published on Monday 13 March in the Basler Zeitung) ‘Vets are expensive. Antibiotics are cheap.’ In a nutshell, this was a quote extracted from last week’s BBC report of the growing global problem of antimicrobial resistance highlighting the plight of overuse of antibiotics on ...
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Costs of cancer drugs have risen significantly in Switzerland over the past ten years, from an estimated CHF 445 million to CHF 775 million at ex-factory prices. Bearing in mind future combination treatments in immune-oncology, treatments which are likely to bring from now on unhoped for outcomes, it is timely ...
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We need an informed societal debate on how much prolonging life should be allowed to cost (Note to our readers: This is a re-posting that was first published on Monday 27 February in the Basler Zeitung) Recently, the Secretary of Health for the Swiss canton of Zurich, Thomas Heiniger, called for ...
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