Read the Conversation
Meeting highlights:
- Positioning Germany for Future Innovation: AstraZeneca focuses on the future, to contribute to shaping a strong and innovative healthcare system that leads to better health outcomes. Pharma has also been recognized as a strategic industry, opening up the opportunity to improve policies that attract and value healthcare innovation and improve competitiveness.
- Germany’s Strategic Value: Beyond being the fourth-largest global market, Germany offers a top-tier research environment, a talented workforce, and a strong history of early access to innovative therapies. Sounds good, but we could do more and be a catalyst market for European innovation.
- AstraZeneca's Footprint: The company has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies in the world and a leader in research and clinical trials in Germany.
- Expansive and Targeted Portfolio Growth: AstraZeneca is strategically focused on leading scientific innovation to truly impact patient outcomes, including early interventions and potentially curative approaches, and aims to launch 20 new molecular entities across the portfolio by 2030. The portfolio includes: BioPharma, mainly chronic diseases, including Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolic, Respiratory & Immunology, and Vaccines & Immune therapies; Oncology & Hematology; and Rare Diseases.
- Data for Transformation: Alex highlighted the need, or better, the opportunity for structural reforms to accelerate clinical trials by removing bureaucracy, and the importance of digitalizing patient data to improve healthcare delivery and efficiency, and most importantly, population health outcomes.
- Purpose-Driven Culture and Bold Leadership: AstraZeneca’s success stems from its mission-driven and science-led innovation approach and a willingness to be bold. We are incredibly engaged, collaborative, and committed to making a positive impact.
EF: What can we expect from AstraZeneca in Germany in 2025?
AB: This year, the focus is on the future. Overall, we expect to launch eight new medicines or new indications, this year, which will bring significant benefits to patients in Germany. Everything we're working on aims to improve patient outcomes, and further scientific knowledge and innovation, thereby contributing to a stronger healthcare system.
As for AstraZeneca, we are one of the fastest-growing pharma companies, and we're solidly in the top 5 Pharma in Germany.
That's why innovation and the future matter so much to us. Innovation is happening at a speed. The priority is to ensure that German patients have access to the best new treatments and that Germany continues to be an attractive country for innovation, from clinical research to market. The new government has a great opportunity to ensure Germany is at the forefront.
EF: What do you hope to see from the new government's perspective on pharma?
AB: What I'm hoping to see, and what we're already starting to see in the new coalition, is a strong confirmation that pharma is recognized as a strategic industry for healthcare and a positive contributor to Germany's future competitiveness. The coalition agreement is encouraging. It is good to see the clear acknowledgement that current frameworks need to be reviewed to ensure continued access to innovative medicines for patients in the future. The recognition of the industry as contributing to the economy and growth was also good to see.
What needs to be improved, though, is how the sustainable financing of healthcare will be addressed. We need a clear plan to ensure sustainable healthcare financing, which also ties into the frameworks: what we reward, protect, and how we fund innovation for the future. Tackling bureaucracy and complexity more seriously, which costs a significant amount of time and resources, and boosting digitalization will help.
EF: Could you tell us about the value that Germany brings beyond its market size, your research footprint, and your plans to expand your research footprint in Germany?
AB: Germany is the fourth-largest market in the world, and the leading European market, so it’s incredibly important. What Germany brings to the table is significant: a highly skilled workforce, as well as some of the top healthcare institutions, academic hospitals, and researchers, offering a very high level of expertise.
We are currently one of the leading companies in clinical research in Germany. We want to do even more. There is a clear opportunity to not just attract investments in this area but to ensure Germany stays at the forefront of innovation and research. Two things hindering progress: One is the bureaucracy that delays clinical trials in Germany vs other European markets, which has recently improved, but still has more to do. Two is the prospective outlook: the German Pharmaceutical Market Reorganization Act (AMNOG), which was put into place in 2011, has not kept pace with advancements in science and needs to be modernized to ensure innovation reaches German patients.
The foundations are good. However, the pace of innovation demands new thinking and a willingness to adapt. We are hopeful and working with all stakeholders to enable this.
EF: How is your portfolio balanced in Germany, and what kind of upcoming treatments and areas are you excited about in the future?
AB: This industry hasn't had a more exciting time, especially at AstraZeneca. While we have a broad portfolio, we also have a clear strategic focus. At the highest level, we concentrate on three main areas: Biopharma, Oncology, and Rare Diseases. Within these divisions, we've narrowed in on specific therapeutic areas where we aim to lead and have built real depth, allowing us to deliver products both now and in the future. Our ambition is to launch 20 new molecular entities by 2030. That's just the new molecular entities (NMEs). Each could have multiple indications beyond the initial approval. We are currently standing at nine NMEs that have been launched globally.
Regarding focus areas, there are so many exciting developments that it's hard to pick just a few. In oncology, for instance, we're aiming not only to become number one but to eliminate cancer as a cause of death. We're active across key areas from Hematology, lung, breast, gastric, and women's cancers, applying multiple treatment modalities to improve patient outcomes, whether alone or in combination. One common theme in oncology and chronic diseases is that the earlier we intervene, the better the outcomes for patients. We're approaching these challenges from every angle.
We also strongly focus on improving patient outcomes in cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic. In particular, we are advancing therapies for heart failure and have renewed attention on hypertension, which has been somewhat overlooked in recent years. We're also focusing on dyslipidemia, a renal product portfolio, and we are moving into the weight management space. On the respiratory side, we continue focusing on improving outcomes in Asthma and COPD, with multiple new molecules in development, and we are expanding into Immunology.
Our newer focus area is vaccines and immune therapies, with a focus on serious bacterial infectious diseases and immunocompromised patients, with several molecules in development. Our work spans a range of targets, including RSV, HPV, and influenza.
AstraZeneca has a large and dynamic portfolio. It is an exciting time.
EF: The timing of the treatment is crucial. Can you expand on how AstraZeneca is focusing on that?
AB: In the case of chronic diseases, many are preventable or can be significantly delayed with early diagnosis and effective intervention/treatment. Conditions such as chronic kidney disease, heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, which are future portfolio focus areas for us, can all benefit from earlier management. Catching and treating illnesses early can help prevent other health issues and improve patient outcomes.
Early diagnosis and treatment in cancer care can even open the door to a potential cure. And even when a cure isn't possible, getting ahead of the disease can still improve quality of life and help people live longer. We see this pattern across many types of cancer, like breast and lung cancer.
We cannot achieve this alone, however; it requires strong partnerships with healthcare systems and a shared recognition of the importance of early screening, diagnosis, and preventative care. The healthier we can keep individuals, the more they can contribute to society by working, paying taxes, and supporting their families. It's important to remember that when one person falls seriously ill, the impact often extends to family members who carry a heavy emotional and practical burden. At AstraZeneca, we work with partners such as clinicians and institutions, societies, and also insurers, on real-world data to demonstrate the gaps and opportunities, and then with the same to recommend any improvements.
EF: What is AstraZeneca’s perspective on the opportunity that data and digitalization represent in Germany?
AB: Data and digitalization are one of the untapped opportunities in Germany that could significantly help reduce costs and drive insights into better care or even inefficient care.
Currently, less than 10% of patient data is structured in a way that makes it truly usable. This presents an enormous opportunity to digitize data, better understand what is working and what is not, create efficiencies, improve quality of care and outcomes, and ultimately free up funding for the healthcare system, forming a positive cycle. An analysis by McKinsey shows that more digital solutions in the healthcare system could reduce costs by 42 billion euros.
Moreover, digitization could also help in clinical trial recruitment, encouraging more innovation in Germany.
EF: What have been some of the strategies that you have employed to attract and retain top talent in such a competitive market?
AB: Attracting and retaining talent for us is fundamentally driven by purpose. It starts with why people want to work at AZ: they are excited about science, the impact we are trying to have on healthcare, and what science can achieve for patients and society. This strong sense of purpose is one of the key reasons we attract talent, along with the breadth and depth of our portfolio, which many find inspiring. It is also about the way we work. We are a bold and courageous company with ambitious goals. Our AstraZeneca Germany "Made for More" campaign is a concept born from deep internal reflection a few years ago. It highlights our belief that we deliver a positive, meaningful impact. This ethos runs through everything we do, including our sustainability efforts.
EF: Looking back on your time as a manager, what have been some of your proudest moments and lessons learned during this position?
AB: What I am most proud of, and I know it may sound like a cliché, is our people. I am incredibly proud of the organization and the scientific breakthroughs involving global-local teams. It’s also due to the passion and purpose of our people. One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we receive from new joiners is about the strong purpose and values, which drive the commitment and pace, and how incredibly collaborative the environment is. It takes a connected ‘village’, ie, Organisation, to make a difference.
I am also proud of our commitment to representative leadership and internal development. Today, 50% of our leadership positions are held by women. We also continue to focus on fostering internal growth, and most of our recent leadership appointments have been through internal promotion.
Last but not least, I am proud of our commitment and meaningful steps towards sustainability and becoming carbon-negative by 2030. From being one of the first companies in Germany to switch to a 100% e-fleet, we are working rapidly on reducing our carbon footprint in our products and supply chain.
Last words…
While opinions vary, I believe scientific advancements, ie, innovative Pharma, are a force for good, and it’s encouraging to see that the perception of pharma has begun to shift to being viewed as part of the solution for a healthier future, and a positive contributor to the economy and growth.
Looking ahead, my hope is that we continue to evolve into an even stronger location for innovation.
