World Generic Medicines Congress, 26 Feb - 1 March 2013, London, UK

Main Category: Conferences
Article Date: 31 Jan 2013 - 2:00 PST


The benefits of generic medicines are well celebrated and provide improved patient access to affordable effective treatments. The demand will remain strong with escalating healthcare costs but in this crowded, rapidly changing market it is critical to adopt the right strategy, overcome barriers to entry and stay ahead of the game.

Generic and biosimilar manufacturers face a vast array of challenges and hurdles that they must navigate to really achieve strategic, operational and commercial excellence. We recently asked some of the industry leaders about the current key challenges facing the generics industry.



We asked Goran Kapicic, Managing Director, Actavis, China, What are the key challenges the generic industry is facing in China?

"China's status as one of the world's largest pharmaceutical market rests mainly on the size of its population, rather than its maturity. Foreign generic companies should consider forces that may influence the attractiveness of the China market in the years ahead. Will China deliver on high expectations for growth? Are foreign companies being too bullish? Have they adapted their operating models to match local conditions? There is delicate balance between the appetite for growth and the ability to manage the risks associated with it. Understanding China properly requires not only passion and initiative, but also commitment, time, resources and action."

We asked Zhivko Mukaetov, CEO/MB President, Alkaloid AD Skopje, What are the challenges and business prospects for generics in the SEE?

"Despite the general conception of the Southeast European region as troublesome, due to the fact that it consists of 11 transitional economies (excluding Greece and Turkey), it is a region that poses extraordinary challenges and great opportunities from the aspect of worthy investments and business prospects. The process of disintegration of the historical powerhouse created many divisions in the region, but the trade cooperation and exchange between these countries played the key role in surpassing the barriers. Some of these countries facilitated their commercial activities through the CEFTA agreement, whereas the fall of the customs barriers increased the level of trade exchange and some of the companies which have grown to be regional players, started their growth right from the neighbourhood. All the countries in this region have close political, cultural, business and personal ties and the impressive figure of nearly 144 million inhabitants (that is larger than Russia and twice as big as Central Europe) makes this region rather challenging on a global scale. With its competitive business environment, low labour costs and highly skilled and competitive workforce this region is called Europe's next business stop."

We asked Michael Kotsanis, Chief Commercial Officer, Synthon, What are the market opportunities and challenges for biosimilars in Europe?

"The significant market opportunity for biosimilars cannot be disputed. Biologicals are one of the fastest growing market segments in the pharma industry. Prices are high and volume is substantial. A number of these biological blockbusters will come off patent over coming years with a significant number of companies claiming to be involved in the development of biosimilars. In the EU a major challenge confronting biosimilar uptake is the lack of substitutability of biosimilars for the originator molecule. This is despite the substantial development costs required by regulators to show comparable safety and efficacy of biosimilars in clinical Phase 3 studies."

Goran, Zhivko, and Michael will all be speaking at World Generic Medicines Congress Europe 2013.

The World Generic Medicines Congress addresses the key market trends, policy updates, strategic overview & future environment for the generics sector. With focus on:

• How to become a successful generic player
• Global policy update
• IP developments
• Big Pharma and generics
• Commercial strategies for biosimilars
• International market focus and review
• Building scale market share and value

This conference is officially the largest strategic generic conference in the industry and will provide participants with a comprehensive review of business strategy for affordable medicines.


For further information please visit http://www.healthnetworkcommunications.com/genpr

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