Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Italy's healthcare system: Italy faces a dynamic market due to its aging population, regional disparities in healthcare access, and a shortage of healthcare professionals and limited financial resources.
- Opportunities in innovation: Despite challenges, Italy presents great opportunities in healthcare innovation, with a strong focus on research and development, particularly in pharmaceuticals, rare diseases, and digital health initiatives.
- Importance of regulatory reform: Alessandro highlighted the need for faster regulatory processes to bring innovative treatments to market in Italy. Alessandro is confident the new AIFA administration will work to improve early access.
- Collaboration with stakeholders: Otsuka collaborates with various stakeholders, including patient associations, to raise awareness of rare diseases and support research, aiming for a value-based healthcare approach.
- Employee well-being and talent retention: Otsuka prioritizes employee well-being through flexible working arrangements and innovative health programs, which helps attract and retain top talent in a competitive market.
EF: What attracted you to Otsuka a couple of years ago?
AL: I fell in love with Otsuka when I saw the level of innovation, and after my interview, I was even more convinced it was the right step to take as I felt I was dealing with good people. The company has an excellent environment; it is possible to have different opinions. There is a lot of emphasis on working in a harmonious atmosphere, which is not just a concept but a tangible reality. People are the most important asset of any company, and from my first day in Otsuka, I could feel this, and our new hires reported similar experiences.
EF: What are the current priorities on your agenda? What are the challenges and opportunities are you facing in Italy this year?
AL: Italy and Japan have among the highest aging populations in the world. Other countries look to Italy and Japan to see how our healthcare systems deal with this issue. The percentage of older adults increases healthcare costs, and because resources are limited, we face a sustainability challenge. Public data in Italy plays an essential role in shaping system investments and driving stakeholders to deliver the best possible outcomes. While challenges exist, each stakeholder works together to maximize results. Another challenge is the disparity between some health systems and the level of health systems regional management, access to different pharmaceutical drugs, and other services in the regions. Over the last years, a third challenge has emerged: a healthcare workforce issue. We don’t have enough doctors or healthcare professionals in the healthcare system, which is a challenge we must face.
On the other hand, we also have many opportunities; the level of innovation in Italy is great, as is the level of university research. PNRR funding has increased resources and financial efforts, and there are many investments in digital health. Interest in public-private partnerships is growing. Finally, with the new AIFA board and governance, I am confident our regulatory body, AIFA, will implement new initiatives to speed up the approval process for new treatments. Usually, we bring new products out one year or more after EMA approval, while other European countries (as Germany, for example) have the chance to launch a new treatment quickly and immediately, so with a more active and forward-thinking entity regarding medication approval for innovative solutions, we could accelerate the process so that Italian citizens have faster access to innovative therapies.
EF: What is Italy's strategic importance for Otsuka, and how do you attract resources to the country? Why is a euro better invested in Italy than elsewhere?
AL: With a large population of approximately sixty million and a well-developed health system, including hospitals, assistance, therapies, and the regulatory environment, we see Italy as a key player in our global strategy. We rank eighth in the GDP world ranking, and while there is always room for improvement, the stable environment for products, prices, and reimbursement is a significant advantage. Moreover, the space for innovation and research, thanks to Italian research and universities, makes the R&D capability excellent for production. As the second country in Europe in the production of pharmaceutical drugs, Italy's potential is undeniable, making it a very attractive market.
EF: How is Otsuka’s portfolio evolving in Italy? Considering you cover CNS (central nervous system), nephrology, on-hematology, and other therapeutic areas, could you elaborate on your R&D pipeline and what is coming up?
AL: Beyond our work in these core areas, we are also deeply investing in research and development, as well as in strategic partnerships. Our longstanding pipeline in the CNS field, especially in treatments for psychiatry, psychosis, and schizophrenia, reflects our 50-year commitment to innovation and leadership. Additionally, we are advancing new treatments for rare diseases through collaborations with other companies and our own internal research efforts. Our pipeline is the result not only of a very active R&D plan but also of a series of acquisitions and collaborations: for example, the HAE product we are preparing for commercialization comes from research by another company. Moreover, we have products for IgA Nephropathy, Phenylketonuria, and so on in our pipeline. All the above is being produced for Europe, and we are excited about the future of healthcare.
This demonstrates Otsuka Pharmaceutical's commitment to addressing unmet medical needs and its dedication to improving the lives of patients affected by these diseases.
EF: How do you assess the potential of digital therapeutics, and how does it differ from integrating digital therapeutics into the market compared to physical therapeutics?
AL: We are still in a previous phase as a national regulatory framework is still lacking. Germany and France already have a regulatory framework for digital therapeutics, but we don’t. The government and different stakeholders are working towards it, and there have been discussions, but the decisions are not yet final. I am confident we will soon have the framework, and once we have it, we will know how to create and define the HTA pathway for this kind of product and only then think about delivering it to the market. It would be a great innovation for patients, but strong collaboration is needed to achieve the right framework; there are already some proposals for creating a national platform to allow patients the opportunity to download it, but it is all still under discussion.
EF: Otsuka actively attends industry events and works in the field. Could you elaborate on your work beyond commercial activities with different stakeholders to raise awareness of the diseases you treat and improve medical education?
AL: We collaborate with all the relevant stakeholders and patient associations to raise disease awareness. In rare diseases, the first symptom's appearance can take five years to be diagnosed. Because they are rare, it is not easy to interpret the symptoms, so we try to collaborate with patient associations to further education. We also collaborate and put a relevant part of our budget into research investment and independent studies to increase knowledge and provide information and data on the different pathologies in which we participate. We are also supporting an innovative VBHC (Value-Based Health Care) approach, which is pretty innovative in Italy. It considers the entire sector, the industry, the hospitals, patients, and actors around the same table to increase patient outcomes through different stakeholders’ collaboration, which will produce cost savings. Finally, we have patient support programs, where we stand by them and support them as much as possible.
EF: How do you attract and retain Italy's best talent in a competitive market?
AL: We know people don’t necessarily move on for salary and career, so the company must pay much attention to its people's well-being. We have developed several well-being programs; we are one of the few companies enlarging the smart-working. We allow our people to work where they want and at times they want if it is compatible with their colleagues, which has been very appreciated by our employees. Trust is a key issue here; we trust them to do their best, and the results have been excellent. Because we consider sleep crucial to having productive employees, we started a Dreamland project, measuring the amount quality and quantity of sleep of all our employees who agreed to participate. We have a baseline program for sleep quality with materials and training, and those who have improved their sleep time and quality will be rewarded with a day off. We are the only company I know that pays our employees to sleep! We also have a well-being pack with gyms and other usual elements and work on the environment. The number of our Italian employees is not huge, and we try to give them visibility and a chance to grow. All these important pillars work to attract talent to us.
EF: What would be your area of choice if you had to create your startup in the healthcare industry?
AL: I believe it would be something connected to super innovation, along the lines of gene therapies, TC therapies, or targeted precision and personalized therapies, which are all things we need. The evolution of CAR T cell therapy is another very interesting space. Personalized healthcare is an important feature of today's and tomorrow's medicine. We can move our horizons. When I was a student at the university about 25 years ago, monoclonal antibodies did not exist. The concept was that they belonged to the far future, and now it is with us. We are talking about gene therapy, mRNA combined therapies, CAR T cells, etc., and we constantly change our horizons, always thinking about the next thing to come. We should all consider utopia as one of the main values for those who work in our industry; we shouldn’t forget the strength of Utopia to push the limit and the horizon ever further forward to allow us to go further than we could have imagined.
EF: Otsuka is celebrating fifty years in Europe. In your celebration speech to your employees, what key points would come to mind about why you are so proud of Otsuka?
AL: We must be proud of what we have achieved. We are proud of our work, what we are doing, and how we are doing it. Otsuka is an extremely ethical company, driven by its real company philosophy, not just something on paper and in which it is important to do things correctly. It is the company's DNA; we should all be proud of our work culture.
EF: Is there any final message you would like to share?
AL: Italy is receptive to innovation in healthcare, and I always focus on innovation and innovative treatments because they are the most important element we can offer society.
