Global generics market is facing challenges, driven by the US

NEWDELHI: The pharmaceutical industry has been put on the defensive about the rising prices of prescription drugs after criticism by US President Donald Trump. In an interview, Vasant Narasimhan, chief executive officer (CEO), Novartis International AG, talks about pricing issues in the US, how branded drugs have received a new impetus in India, and the firm’s strategy to tie up with start-ups to leverage digital innovation. Edited excerpts:

What’s your reaction to Trump’s continued campaign to lower drug prices?

We are supportive of this. I think it’s all very sensible but the key is going into the details. We are trying to be constructive in this whole discussion. In terms of really figuring out what it means, it’s hard to judge until we see specific policy proposals.

What’s the solution that addresses sustainability?

We would not increase prices for the remainder of this year and that’s really just to wait and see how the environment unfolds. I think we shouldn’t conflate drug pricing with patient affordability. The issue here is how do we make medicines more affordable at the pharmacy counter and how can we address all elements of the system between the rebates that are given in the system, the way insurance is structured to make this a more sustainable approach for patients. We are focusing quite a bit on cell and gene therapy—a single infusion, single opportunity to give medicine and that has to be taken as a different topic altogether from the rest of chronically given medicines that’s going to be an important topic for us to tackle and educate the public on.

Novartis has exited vaccines, animal health business and you also unloaded your consumer health joint venture with GSK. What is the focus?

Our goal is to be the leading or one of the leading medicine companies powered by data science and digital technologies. I want us to be diversified in the different disease areas we cover in our medicines business, diversified in our platforms of cell therapies, gene therapies, traditional drugs, biologics and then diversify by applying data sciences and digital technologies but also try to use our capital to be diversified across sectors.

You partnered with nonpharma firms such as Microsoft and Google to get into digital health. What has been the progress?

We continue to have partnerships with the big players like Google, Microsoft, Apple. We have a joint fund with Qualcomm so we continue to progress there. We have undertaken a number of partnerships with start-ups that are working in the digital health space.

Is the global generics market under pressure?

Yes. That’s undeniable. The global generics market is certainly facing challenges, particularly, driven by the US.