Page 10 - Retail Pharmacy November/Decemeber 2020

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW “MSD believes that the retail pharmacist is integral to providing biosimilar education and patient engagement.” 8 NEWS IN FOCUS RETAIL PHARMACY • NOV/DEC 2020 Michael Azrak MANAGING DIRECTOR, MSD AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Speaking from experience on four continents with MSD, Michael Azrak tells Retail Pharmacy of the company’s excitement over its biosimilars portfolio, although driving uptake in Australia is a work in progress. Michael, please tell us a little about yourself and your experience in the pharmaceutical sector. I’ve worked at MSD for more than 15 years across four continents. I started out at MSD Australia working through roles in sales, marketing and business development. From 2011 to 2014 I was managing director for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, and then moved to Shanghai to lead MSD’s diversified brands portfolio in China, Japan, India and Asia Pacific, establishing an Asia Pacific hub in Shanghai. Following this, I was based in Switzerland where I was appointed regional head for the Eastern Europe, Middle East and North African sub- region, where I led a team covering more than 45 diverse countries. Before I returned to Australia, I was chief of operations for the Europe, Russia, Africa and Middle East region. I was appointed Vice President and Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand, MSD, in June 2018. How has the business coped with Covid-19 and what changes did you have to make? We remain focused on protecting the health and safety of all employees: maintaining the supply of our medicines and vaccines and supporting patients enrolled in our clinical trials. I’m extremely proud of the many ways that our employees in Australia are helping to support local and global responses to Covid-19. Recognising the need for additional healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and medical laboratory technicians to assist in regions where SARS-CoV-2 is prevalent, our global organisation announced a program to enable our medically trained employees to volunteer their time to aid their communities, including in Australia, while maintaining their base pay. I’ve been heartened to see the effectiveness of the efforts and restrictions that the industry and broader community, including all MSD employees, have been working with to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Our employees have shown resilience, hard work and dedication in continuing to meet our mission and protect the safety of our colleagues and customers. What are the exciting areas of therapy innovation that MSD is exploring? We’re very excited about our biosimilars portfolio. Our team is passionate about creating a sustainable market for these medicines. Biosimilars are an important part of the pharmaceutical industry’s product offering. They provide prescribers and pharmacists with choice, and help to generate savings that can be reinvested in new, innovative medicines, which is particularly critical now given budget pressures on the government. MSD believes that the retail pharmacist is integral to providing biosimilar education and patient engagement. Our biosimilars team continue to work closely with retail pharmacists to ensure they have the tools they need, and I encourage any \[pharmacist\] to reach out if \[they\] would like MSD support. There’s more work to do to drive uptake of biosimilars and maximise savings through their use. While some savings have been generated through individual biosimilars entering the market and triggering a statutory price cut, there’s not been enough uptake to create a sustainable market that attracts new entrants and in turn drives savings through price disclosure. We believe that a mix of different drivers is required to maximise uptake. Experience in Europe shows that a layering effect is needed in order to educate pharmacists, clinicians and patients. This layering effect is absent in Australia, with only a very few uptake drivers having been implemented. While streamlined authority has assisted in uptake of biosimilars, there are still no effective uptake drivers that preference treatment-naïve patients. There’s more work to do here and we continue to collaborate with government and health decision-makers to ensure the potential for biosimilars is fully realised, especially in retail pharmacy. What are your key priorities as MD of MSD Australia? Every day, I’m proud of all our employees and our commitment to our patients. Patients continue to be the centre of everything we do at MSD. We’re striving to ensure that we move with speed and agility in serving our patients, while remaining a truly inclusive and diverse company where each individual feels safe to bring their ‘whole’ self to work every day.