Not just suppliers, but partners: How pharma can add value to communities

As a pharmaceutical company, Viatris's mission is to empower people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life. But our value to the communities we serve doesn’t have to stop there. There are many ways we can partner with other people and organisations in our orbit to increase awareness of the issues that matter most and improve care for patients.

When Viatris was born in 2020, we worked rapidly to ensure that all patients get access to high quality treatments to live healthier – certainly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also throughout their health journey. The world has changed a lot in the last two years, and with it we have an opportunity to evolve with an ever-changing healthcare environment to deliver the greatest value for our customers and patients.

We’ve undergone much transition at Viatris, as well. In Switzerland, we’ve worked with our teams to ensure we have the greatest impact on health outcomes in our country. But to do so, we’ve had to take a step back and refocus on defining and addressing the most important needs of our providers, patients, and healthcare system.

Understand unmet needs, then narrow focus to where you can have the greatest impact

I often reference the famous quote from Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” He understood that perhaps they didn’t need faster horses in the days before cars, they just wanted to move more quickly between their destinations. By understanding the root causes of people’s problems, he was able to develop an innovation that served his customers better than they originally expected, the Ford Model T.

In the pharmaceutical industry, it’s important to get clear providers’ and patients’ unmet needs by engaging with them directly. Following Ford’s wisdom, it’s not enough to understand that they want a better service – what about their current service or treatment isn’t working for them? What is it about another service that’s better than what they have today? It’s also necessary to understand the local healthcare community, local patient groups, and how to address their specific needs before launching into solutions. This process takes time, but it’s worth it if we want to be a true problem-solving partner for the people we serve.

With these needs defined, it’s then important to identify which problems your team is best suited to address. At Viatris, we’ve spent time looking at where we can make the greatest difference. Sure, we could busy ourselves with work in a wide range of areas, but in focusing our team’s attention and resources on the areas where we could do the most good, we can add the most value as a partner for providers and patients.

Putting theory into practice: How Viatris is driving value for patients in thrombosis

Thrombosis, which occurs when blood clots block veins or arteries, is an example of an area where small steps can have tremendous impact for patients. The condition can be devastating: every year, one in four people around the world dies of thrombosis-related complications. In addition, 60% of thrombosis episodes happen when people are in the hospital or shortly after discharge. This means many patients aren’t receiving optimal care.

Improving and standardising prophylactic care is key to preventing thromboembolisms. Luckily, this is simple and inexpensive, and it’s something we’re working on at Viatris. We’re working to highlight the opportunity for better prophylactic care against thrombosis to payers, policymakers, and other decision-makers in Switzerland. Our plan is to optimise guidelines for clinical care to make sure people are receiving preventative care – which is as easy as giving them three injections during their hospital stay to prevent blood clots.

One way we can influence care for patients is by partnering with patient groups themselves. If we’re going to affect change, we need our stakeholders to understand the need for change. By elevating patients’ voices and experiences with thrombosis, we can communicate the need for changes to clinical guidelines and have the greatest possible impact.

Leading teams to maximise patient benefit ?

I believe in the importance of empowering my teams to be as successful as they can be. This may mean advocating for them when necessary, providing guidance when they ask for it, and offering leadership while letting my colleagues shine. One big part of this is being transparent with my teams about where we’re going, what our goals are, and why we’re doing the work we’re doing.

As we’ve navigated a period of transition for Viatris in Switzerland, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a wonderful team dedicated to becoming partners for the healthcare leaders in our community. By staying focused on our goals of providing solutions, not just services, for our customers and identifying new ways to improve care for patients, we’ve been able to adjust where necessary and better leverage our team’s strengths. Thanks to their work, we’re now investing in the right places to make sure we can grow and add as much value to our customers and patients as possible.

A vision for improved patient care in Switzerland

Serving patients requires partnership across the healthcare system. But partnership isn’t just about what you do, it’s how you engage with others in servicing a broader goal: driving patient impact. By building our understanding of where we can add the most value, then deploying the people, skills, and resources we have in an effective way, we can come together to improve patients’ outcomes.

In the years to come, Viatris will focus on improving preventative care and testing for thrombosis, osteoporosis, and with Creon, a treatment for pancreatic deficiencies. We also recently announced plans to expand our impact in ophthalmology, welcoming new capabilities to our organisation as we address unmet needs in patients with eye diseases and the providers who treat them. ?We’ve learned that, for all of these conditions, proper testing and treatment can make a huge difference to patients’ lives and the healthcare system. I look forward to the opportunities we have to establish Viatris as a partner to all of those in the Swiss healthcare community.?

#viaViatris #ViatrisSwitzerland #StrongerTogether