CPHI Milan 2024: Pharma Developments in Emerging Markets

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Rafael Ferrer, interim chief business officer at Acino, talked about his company's recent efforts to reach customers in Africa, the Middle East, and most recently, Latin America.

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Pharmaceutical Technology® Europe sat down with Rafael Ferrer, interim chief business officer at Acino, to talk about expansion into emerging markets, such as Latin America. Acino has been concentrating recent efforts there, in Africa, and in the Middle East, and Ferrer says the new drug pipeline often doesn’t extend to these areas.

“A large part of what we're trying to do is really be able to bring access to innovative drugs to patients in these geographies today,” Ferrer says. “If you look at the data, more or less, of 100 or so products that have been launched in the last 10 years, let's say novel molecular entities, be it new chemical entities or new biologic entities, only about 10% to about 30% of those ever make their way to emerging markets. So, there's a significant gap in terms of access to novel therapeutic modalities and novel medicines across our geographies. And for us, we see it as a mission to be able to improve access to novel medicines, while at the same time, of course, continuing to provide, you know, high-quality, well-known, well-proven brands, which are a large part of our portfolio.”

Ferrer also talked about the pitfalls of the regulatory landscape when it comes to these markets.

“The regulatory complexities and realities of Brazil are not the same as those of South Africa or the ones in Kuwait or the UAE, right?” he says. “So, we have to take that into consideration. I think [we] at Acino are very well positioned in the sense that not only do we have in-market teams that truly understand the local regulations and are able to work with regulators, with the regulatory bodies, to understand what are the pathways of getting new drugs, new medicines, to market across those markets, but also are really uniquely positioned to be able to execute on that, with the overall support that we have behind the corporation that we built.”

Click the above video to watch the full interview.

Visit Acino at Booth 10G21. CPHI Milan is being held from Oct. 8–10, 2024 in Milan, Italy.