Read the Conversation
EF: What does 2023 have in store for Roche in Africa?
MT: I see opportunities that will take Roche beyond 2023. Around the world and here in Africa, people have been discussing about the opportunities universal healthcare coverage can bring. This can transform healthcare delivery in Africa for everyone.
Universal healthcare coverage would recontextualize the healthcare industry and the life science industry. I am longing to see universal healthcare delivery maturing in Africa in such a way that a maximum number of African countries embrace this journey and grow toward ensuring that healthcare service and delivery are as close as possible to the patient, without financial constraints.
Healthcare delivery to patients through universal healthcare coverage appears to be the one key conversation that I am consistently hearing from all the external stakeholders with whom I have spoken over the last 120 days. There is a challenge to making universal healthcare happen. When I look at 2023 and follow the different types of external meetings that are taking place, an emerging trend in Africa is: how might private-public partnerships help accelerate making universal healthcare coverage a reality in Africa?
The commitment to universal healthcare coverage, the need for it, and the recognition that the private and public sectors can come together to make it happen faster are the two things that are meaningfully different in 2023 compared to when I was still working on the continent before 2010.
EF: How can access to innovation be fostered in Africa, and what is needed?
MT: Access to innovation is such a broad topic. I have had the chance to work in other parts of Africa and Europe. I am now back in Africa, and I had the opportunity to compare and contrast. Access is more sophisticated than summing it up as access to innovative medicine.
In Nigeria, we've made a significant impact on HER2 breast cancer with a medicine that's turning it from a fatal condition into a manageable one. Despite a current survival rate of 5 out of 10, we're working to match Europe's impressive 9 out of 10. By partnering with the National Health Insurance, we've enhanced access to this crucial medicine, benefiting 50 patients over two years, a number we're committed to increasing significantly. Our resolve remains strong in revolutionizing Nigeria's healthcare.
In order to access innovation, we have to step back and determine why patients where not accessing medicines. For HER2 breast cancer medicine, we had to find the patients who need it. A test called immunohistochemistry has to be conducted, and Nigeria only has three centers that can perform this test. In comparison, the Western Cape in South Africa has sixteen of those machines. Nigeria would need at least 300 machines. Access to innovation should start with assessing the strength of the system to deliver innovation.
If you strengthen that system through win-win private-public partnerships, the patient will win through prompt access to innovation, and there will be a solid system in place to take care of the population.
Our significant scale enables us to form strategic partnerships, such as the one in Nigeria, fostering innovation. In Cote d'Ivoire, we are working with the government, to set a budget to treat their breast cancer patients with unrestricted access to our treatments. This model brings pharma companies closer to governmental needs. Yet, we recognize that more needs to be done to guarantee access to innovation. As players, we should also help improve access through the private-public partnership framework to strengthen the system to help with prevention, diagnosis, and prompt treatment.
EF: Roche is transitioning to personalized healthcare. What is Roche's role in Africa, and how do you balance your priorities across the different countries that you are managing?
MT: The difference between Roche and other players is that we are one of the leading suppliers of diagnostic kits, services, and medicines in the world. We have a sustainable commercial model that allows us to continue innovating. Roche is one of the leading investors in research and development. Between 20 and 25 percent of our revenue goes back into research and development. Regardless of region, Roche enters each market as a partner. We use the same strategy in all African countries. We show up to a point to collaborate on the patient journey and find pain points that we can fix together. We have fixed and strengthened the system while creating value for patients.
We offer personalized lung cancer treatments, using genomic sequencing to match patients with the most effective medicine, embodying personalized healthcare. Our Diagnostic and Foundation Medicine divisions provide key resources to tailor treatment plans for each patient globally.
Our operations have evolved from a traditional sales or marketing model to a model that embraces patient journey partners and health system partners. These partners identify system gaps to enhance patient benefits and Roche's efficiency. For instance, our focus in Nigeria is to increase the number of immunohistochemistry machines, identified as a critical need by our patient journey partner. By doing so, we expect improved patient outcomes.
Personalized medicine is not what Africa urgently needs at the moment. Our goal at Roche is to work with the ecosystem to strengthen healthcare delivery in Africa by collaborating to fix pain points such as diagnosis, prevention, and timely treatment. Our mission in Africa is not just to bring our innovation and access system to patients but also to work with the system to strengthen it. We did it in Kenya with a program called "EMPOWER," to create a network of community leaders to increase awareness about breast cancer and to help some primary healthcare points start doing mammograms to help in the diagnosis of breast cancer so that people know early, because if they know early, we have more chances to increase the survival rate.
The Kenyan team has been working with the National Health Insurance to get reimbursement for our innovation and ensure our medicine at an affordable level. The diagnosis which costs a fraction of the medicine is not currently being reimbursed. We are working to also ensure that it is reimbursed. Our approach is to partner with the system to find the pain point and solve it together and create a win for the patient, the system, and Roche.
We need to figure out how we can prepare Africa for the future. The Africa Genomic Program is one of the biggest investments we have in Africa today. How do develop a University Hospital? How do we obtain more data scientists to start collecting genomes? Having African Genomic Program references in all the clinical trials that are being run around the world today means that the medicines of the future will be also tailored to Africa.
Our initial priority is what patients need now. Roche is contributing to ensuring that universal healthcare becomes a reality by helping the system strengthen itself. Secondly, we need to ensure that Africa becomes a science powerhouse. Africa has a lot of data scientists and good science universities. We need to ensure that our AGP program makes Africa a life sciences powerhouse. We cannot do it alone. We need government institutions to train scientists.
EF: When you look back in 10 years, how would you want to be remembered as a leader?
MT: My wish is that by 2030, we will have been able to change the face of breast cancer in Africa. Through my leadership, I want to contribute to changing the face of breast cancer in Africa. I think that would be meaningful and impactful. Women are the heads of the family. Today, one in every two women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and only one out of two will be alive in five years. This will contribute to the high number of orphaned kids.
Lots of effort is being exerted to bring women into the workplace. Diversity, inclusion, and empowerment of women. If breast cancer wipes out all of our women, there will be a negative economic impact. I want to change the face of breast cancer in Africa. I want to improve the breast cancer survival rate for women in Africa. Today, seven out of ten women who have breast cancer show up when it has already advanced. If we are able to catch those seven when it is still early, we will change the face of breast cancer. Costly innovation is not required. We just need prompt intervention and collaboration to fix that, as seen in Egypt. In Egypt, seven out of ten women with breast cancer show up in the early stages. Before 2019, seven out of ten were showing up when it was already at an advanced stage.
This is the legacy I want. A legacy of children having their mother for a long time and one that has a positive economic impact. At Roche, we make changes from a patient's perspective. Business will follow if you change society.
