Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Lessons learned from the Pandemic: The pandemic taught us, as Organon, the importance of flexibility, inclusivity, and well-being in the workplace. Activity Based Working can be effective, and well-being has become a key focus for companies, emphasizing the need to cater to diverse employee needs.
- Organon’s Growth Strategy: Prioritize investments in WH to deliver the solutions that matter most to women. The strategy also involves maximizing the potential of our current product portfolio and raising awareness about women’s health issues among policymakers.
- Biosimilars' Role in Healthcare: Biosimilars offer affordable solutions for healthcare systems, allowing savings to be reallocated to innovative treatments. Increased data generation and studies are needed to demonstrate their benefits and drive a fair public procurement process.
- Italy’s Strategic Importance for Women: Italy is a crucial market for Organon due to its low fertility rates and aging population. Organon is committed to supporting fertility treatments and addressing chronic diseases, contributing to the well-being of the Italian population.
- Public-Private partnership and Community Initiatives: Organon actively engages with political stakeholders to increase women’s education on matters related to their health. Moreover, the Company is very active on initiatives, such as the “Race for the Cure” in Italy, focusing on breast cancer awareness and screenings. The company also supports employees facing fertility issues by providing benefits, reflecting its commitment to both employees and societal health.
EF: Reflecting on the spin-off process, what are the biggest lessons you learned?
AA: The biggest lesson for me was during and after the pandemic. From an organizational standpoint, we all learned a lot. Firstly, we realized how to be proactive in a virtual environment. We discovered that bringing people into the office is not necessarily tied to efficiency and productivity. Working remotely can still deliver significant value, wherever you are. Collectively, we learned to be more flexible and more inclusive.
Well-being also became a top priority for large international companies. Before the pandemic, people were always a focus. However, "well-being" as a business term is something new. It is a broad concept—it is not just about flexible hours or supporting employees generally. It is about truly understanding and addressing their individual needs. In our Italian organization of around - 220 people everyone has different requirements—whether related to health, family, finances, or personal development. All these varied needs fall under the umbrella of well-being.
The business world and company expectations have changed dramatically. The way we work has evolved, too. Thanks to the new generation entering the workforce, we have seen a shift in demands and needs. The traditional 9-to-6 workday is no longer necessary. Instead, engagement has become essential for productivity and performance, and this connection between engagement and performance is a new focus in today’s business environment.
EF: What are the current priorities on your agenda right now? What challenges and opportunities are you facing in Italy?
AA: The priority for all of us right now is k to keep working on improving women’s health, which is not an easy task because when you talk with political stakeholders they all agree in principle but then it is hard to make change and continue to invest in this direction. We have made significant progress as a relatively new company with a strong portfolio and pipeline. In just three years, we have secured nine business development agreements with different companies that are all direct to bring innovation and new solutions to improve women’s health.
The key question for me is how to bridge the gap between our current growth with the existing portfolio and the future growth that will come from these new launches. This is a challenge I have faced in the past and continue to deal with today. However, when I look at our financials, I am encouraged by the performance of the Italian team, whose high engagement has helped drive top-line growth over the past two years. We expect to continue that growth this year as well.
How did we achieve this? We unlocked the potential of our current products, many of which had been overlooked by our legacy company. We have worked hard to raise awareness, showing that women deserve greater attention, both globally and within specific markets. By doing this, we have been able to tap into the full potential of our existing portfolio. The real challenge for us remains managing this period of transition until we launch our innovative new products.
EF: What do you think needs to happen for biosimilars to take off in the system?
AA: Firstly, we need to understand why biosimilars are important. While there are many reasons, the most important one is that biosimilars provide affordable solutions to the healthcare system. By allowing more access to biosimilars, the system can generate savings, which can then be redirected toward innovative treatments, such as cancer drugs, where the healthcare system often faces significant challenges.
Biosimilars can play a key role in easing this burden. By reducing costs in certain therapeutic areas, policymakers can save money and allocate it toward patients who need more advanced treatments. This is the role biosimilars should ideally fulfill—making healthcare more efficient and allowing the system to provide better treatments to those who need them.
We need to build a stronger understanding of how a fair public procurement, not only based on price, can favour a greater use of biosimilars and also protect company profitability In our market access department, we are working on strong projects to show the financial benefits biosimilars have provided so far and how they are directly linked to the healthcare system’s budget.
EF: Why is Italy important to Organon? Why is a euro invested in Italy better than a euro invested elsewhere?
AA: Italy is significant for Organon because it is a big country in terms of revenue. Also, the demographic conditions of Italy tell us that there is a big need to consider women’s health a top priority and this is aligned with our mission. One out of 5 couples has a fertility problem in Italy, which is concerning. Italy has a low fertility rate of 1.2, but a stable population of 2.1 is needed. This low fertility rate poses a major problem for the country. Policymakers have warned that if fertility does not improve, Italy will face a decline in population, a weakened nation, and an estimated 19% loss in GDP over the next 50 years.
Fertility is critical for Italy’s future, and it is also important for Organon. We are committed to supporting families and couples who desire to have children in realizing their dreams. If someone wants a baby, they deserve to have the resources, better access to treatments, and support to make that happen, and we are here to leverage it. While Organon also addresses other areas of women’s health, such as migraine and contraceptives, fertility stands out as a particularly urgent issue in Italy due to the country's demographic challenges.
Italy’s ageing population adds further complexity to the situation. An older population naturally leads to an increase in chronic diseases, which places a heavy burden on the healthcare system. With a population of around 60 million, Italy faces significant challenges in managing chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, cholesterol, osteoporosis, and migraine. We assume that there are more than 24 million patients with chronic diseases who need sustainable treatment and healthcare services.
This is where Organon’s established product portfolio provides additional value. We offer treatments for chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, migraine, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, and more.
EF: What are you doing beyond the pill to push the agenda for Women's Health?
AA: Our commitment to Government and political stakeholders is to increase educational and communication projects to provide the right information to women to empower them to make conscious decisions when it comes to women’s health and chronicity.
We have several community projects aimed at supporting people, especially women, as we are a women's health company. However, there is one particular initiative that we are especially proud of—our involvement in the "Race for the Cure" over the past three years.
In addition to sponsorships, we have organized for our employees screening programs for breast health and melanoma, providing vital care for women. These screenings are an essential part of our effort, and we hold them annually, with the most recent one in May. Alongside the race, we also run various activities to engage further and inform the public. This is a key nonprofit initiative for us, and we are committed to continuing this work in the future.
One unique aspect of our company I have not seen elsewhere is the support we provide to male or female employees facing fertility challenges within their families. If they wish to have a child and need fertility treatment, our company provides benefits and counselling This initiative reflects our commitment to supporting our workforce and the broader Italian community, where fertility remains a major concern.
EF: In a few weeks, the Women's Health Innovation Summit is taking place in the US, and Organon is a part of the event. Hypothetically, if you could select the key topics of discussion, what would they be?
AA: If I were to address this summit, I would start with oncology, specifically breast cancer, since cancer remains a leading global health issue, and breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Early diagnosis is critical in combating breast cancer. While it is assumed that women regularly perform self-examinations, the reality is that many do not. I am currently involved in a project related to breast health early diagnostics, which I cannot fully detail at this moment, but it emphasizes this issue.
Beyond health, I would also like to see discussions about the societal position of women, which is directly linked to their health. Many women, especially mothers, tend to prioritize the well-being of their families—children and husbands—over their own. They often delay or neglect their own health needs. By empowering and educating women, we can improve not only their health outcomes but also those of their families. Empowered women lead to stronger communities, and this should be a key takeaway at the summit. I would love to see something about the empowerment of women.
EF: What key moments from your journey have you accomplished and would like to celebrate by the end of this year?
AA: Everything starts with people and culture. Performance follows from that foundation. Over the last three years, Italy has achieved impressive engagement scores of 96%, 97% and 91%, among the highest in the world. I have never seen such levels of engagement in my career before.
We are conducting a new survey. If we can maintain this high engagement score by the end of the year, it would be a significant achievement worth celebrating. I believe that when my team is engaged with the company's culture, vision, priorities, and future, performance will naturally follow. That is what I hope to see and celebrate with my people.
EF: Do you have a final message for our readers?
AA: I want to emphasize the importance of women and the broader concept of their well-being—not just in health, but in life overall. Women worldwide deserve a better and healthier life. Achieving this involves addressing various factors, including their living conditions, the environment, awareness, education, and access to necessary medications.
This is a comprehensive issue that everyone—not just pharmaceutical companies, should prioritize, but also policymakers, ministries, and governments. As governments change, so do priorities, and it is essential to establish common objectives between the private and public sectors.
We need to collaborate on what is necessary and how we can work together effectively. By supporting women's health, we ultimately support families, communities, and, in a larger sense, the world. So, let us commit to working together for a better and healthier life for every woman.
