Pharmacon Interview Series: Rizman Abudaeri, speaker from 4th Annual Market Access and Pricing Asia

Interview Session with Rizman Abudaeri, Director, Market Access, Government and Regulatory Affairs, AstraZeneca, Indonesia

*Views and opinions expressed by guests are of their own, and do not necessarily reflect the view of Informa nor the company that they are representing.

Tell us about speed to market, accessibility and affordability, and how pharma industry if helping the fight against the pandemic.
The effort of the pharma industry to fight pandemic was amazing in the 3 headlines as following:

• Emergency response. Globally, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and other multinational companies delivered the donation of essential medicines and masks to the countries that needed it. They are on top of the donation of local and multinational companies in the countries where they operate as per local needs.
• Facilitate education transfer to speed up clinical experience sharing.
• Rapid response on vaccine development is stunning. Under normal circumstances, vaccine development takes years whereas, now during the pandemic, pharma companies along with research organisations are speeding up the process to less than 1 year.

What are the current issues impacting pharmaceutical market access?

• Lesser chronic patients are visiting the hospitals and doctors face difficulties to continue giving treatments – there are some reasons behind these: such as patients’ behavioral change to stay away from the hospitals to prevent getting infected, lower hospital capacity to prioritize for COVID patients, and confusing government regulations to address this issue.

• The government budget is overwhelmed with the COVID emergency response, social security, and re-activating the economy, whereas the drug access and funding may be deprioritized or seen not urgent.
• Meanwhile, governments tend to be more inward-looking to prioritize their own country needs, which may increase protectionism.
• However, despite the unfavorable impact, the government becomes more aware of the importance of the investment in the pharma sector and medical science to strengthen healthcare sectors, which may have a positive impact on pharma sectors in the medium and long run.

How is the industry managing the risks of product commercialisation during and post-COVID? 

• Adapt and adjust the way of working to deliver the science and products to the patients e.g. embrace digitalization, home service, etc
• Review and revisit portfolio in the medium and long term
• Closely working with the main stakeholders: patients, government HCPs to understand the needs and proactively offer solutions.

What are your thoughts on setting the priority, the access for COVID-19 therapeutics, and other drugs in pipeline?
Given the urgency to fight COVID, it is more of an obligation for pharma industries to spend the best scientific efforts to prevent the disease from spreading further, to cure the patients, and reduce the mortality. Nonetheless, the main long term company objectives and pipelines should not be broadly changed.

What do you hope to take away from Pharma Market Access and Pricing
Understand the other markets’ regulations and policy trends and how the industries react to this, the failure and success that the industry is experiencing, and building the network.

Author

Rizman Abudaeri
Director, Market Access, Government and Regulatory Affairs
AstraZeneca, Indonesia

Rizman Abudaeri is a speaker in Fair Pricing and Drug Affordability Whilst Satisfying Governments Healthcare Policy Panel Discussion which is taking place at the 7^th Pharmacon Asia event happening from 23 – 25 September 2020.

Delivered digitally, the 7th Pharmacon Asia is revamped with fresh content and new format, hosting a stellar lineup of regional and international speakers across 4 co-located conferences from Clinical Trials, Regulatory Affairs, Market Access & Pricing, and Digital Pharma.

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