BUSINESS

Roche is committed to serving Kingdom’s healthcare industry

January 04, 2018

Samar Yahya

JEDDAH — “As the largest economy in the region, KSA seems to be is on the cusp of change at an accelerated pace. Saudi Arabia has far-reaching plans to transform the country in order to reduce its dependency on oil, and at the same to improve public health for its fast-growing population. Many efforts have been taken by the government regarding this, including the opening of medical, nursing and health schools,” said chairman of the Board of Directors for Roche Holding Ltd Dr. Christoph Franz to Saudi Gazette during his visit to the Kingdom.

“So, I think there is a lot of positive change going on, and we do strongly support the ambitious goals set out under Saudi Vision 2030”.

On the healthcare systems around the world and Saudi Arabia Franz said: “A few months ago I visited some hospitals in Africa, to see the situation for myself. Often, the problem lies not in the price of medicines but in the political or social system — for example, if the necessary medical infrastructure or mandatory health insurance is lacking. Those would be essential prerequisites. But there is no “one size fits all” solution. By assessing access challenges on a country-by-country basis, we have identified four key factors that need to be in place for patients to be successfully treated: disease awareness, diagnosis, healthcare capacity, as well as appropriate funding. We are committed to working with partners all over the world to create tailored solutions that can provide access for more and more patients”.

“In Saudi Arabia specifically, we are strengthening our partnership with the Ministry of Health to work on an outcome-based funding for patients with diabetes through a personalized diabetes management system. Roche also supports initiatives to raise awareness of breast cancer early detection to ease the burden and implications of later diagnosis.”

On Roche’s commitment to the region and Saudi Arabia in terms of R&D, Franz commented that the Roche is committed to serving the healthcare industry of the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia in particular. “In the Middle East, we are building capabilities in clinical research in partnership with the Saudi Arabian General Investments Authority, Saudi Food & Drug Administration and key research centers.”

In the past year Roche had made important decisions in terms of strategic direction and Franz said: “We follow the science. We always pursue avenues that will lead to us understanding a condition better and responding with new mechanisms. Our company has a 120-year history of advancing the field of medicine and bringing novel treatments and diagnostics to patients.”

“This year for example, we got further approvals for our cancer immunotherapy Tecentriq for lung and bladder cancer patients, we are launching the first ever approved medicines for two forms of multiple sclerosis and we have just received FDA approval for Hemlibra for the treatment of people with hemophilia A with inhibitors, the first major medical advance in hemophilia in 30 years.”

“The Diagnostics Division has also made great strides by introducing a number of key new instruments and diagnostic tests; particularly the new immunochemistry platform cobas e 801. This new module for clinical laboratories enables doctors to make faster and better treatment decisions, based on extremely reliable test results”.

“We continue to focus on science and innovation. The testament to this is our annual investment of $10 billion into research and development — more than any other healthcare company.”

On the importance of having both pharmaceutical and diagnostic division, Franz explained that Roche’s strategy to have both pharmaceuticals and diagnostics fields under one roof is unique. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics have made Roche the leader in personalized healthcare - a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible.

“Our crucial edge comes from interweaving the expertise of our two divisions and drawing upon it throughout the development process, all the way up to approval for new diagnostic tests or new medicines. Very early on, we had the foresight to invest in innovative new approaches like genetic engineering and related molecular sciences, though at the time they were still in their infancy. This gave us a head start.”

“By combining the specialist knowledge we have in molecular biology with technology, we are able to press ahead with personalized healthcare at an unrivalled pace.”

About Roche’s view and business opportunities, “Digital is not just the future — we are facing digitization already on a daily basis. Just imagine: In 2001, the human genome was — for the very first time — fully decoded. The Human Genome Project took 13 years and cost almost $3 billion. Today, you can get your genome sequenced for approx. $1,000 in just one day! The recent scientific progress has been breathtaking”.

“We intend to build on our leadership in personalized healthcare. Here, the combination of diagnostics and medicines will remain extremely important. But now, with the “digitization of healthcare”, there is also a third element or dimension — “big data”! Essentially, this involves the systematic collection and analysis of huge amounts of real world data, providing valuable information on experience with our medicines in practice. It also involves linking this data with our own internal data from clinical studies.”

“Our aim is to transform the wealth of medical data into valuable knowledge, not only for research, but also to facilitate the selection of therapies for individual patients.”

On Roche’s encouragement of innovation Franz said: “Innovation has a lot to do with diversity. I’m deeply convinced that you need diversity in thinking, above all, to enhance the chances of innovation. And if you want this diversity in thinking, it is helpful if you have people with different experiences and with different backgrounds. You need a good mix of male and female, young and old, and so on — everywhere in the company.”

“Innovation is not something that can be "programmed" in our industry, but we can create the right environment for it to happen. For example, creative people need space. We create this essential freedom, in part, with our decentralized organizational structure where the emphasis is on self-sufficient, independent units.

“Innovation also means staying open to the outside world and selectively forming partnerships. We at Roche have a lot of good ideas, but of course we are not the only ones with good ideas. And we need to continue taking risks. Trying out new things and constantly reinventing ourselves. With innovation you go down new, unfamiliar paths. You will never discover anything new unless you try to do things that other people think are impossible!”


January 04, 2018
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