Ringing in a new era: A chance to do so much more

It’s not every day that you get to ring in the future with a giant Swiss cowbell!

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of doing just that at the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich, where I joined colleagues from Sandoz to celebrate our listing as an independent company.

In case you’re wondering, this was no ordinary bell. Several years ago, the SIX commissioned a young Swiss artist to modernize a traditional cowbell, which is now rung on stage to commemorate the moment when a company goes public for the first time.

This was obviously an historic day for Sandoz, a “new” company with a brand heritage dating back to 1886, which is now the standalone global leader in generic and biosimilar medicines. I jokingly refer to it as “the moo heard around the world!”

Seriously, though, while this was a big moment for us, the reason it matters to anyone outside the company is because of the crucial -- and still largely unappreciated -- importance of the industry we lead.

Generics ARE medicine as we know it…

Generics and biosimilars account for an astonishing 80% of prescription medicines worldwide, at about 25% of the total cost.

In other words, for much of the world’s population, they effectively ARE medicine as we know it: the pills, capsules, injections and vials that people need on a daily basis to treat everything from cancer to the common cold.

Indeed, many of the ‘system-critical’ medicines without which modern healthcare systems could simply not function, from antibiotics to ICU therapies, are almost entirely generics.

So my first goal for Sandoz as an independent company is to ensure that we continue playing a leading role in getting the medicines people need to those who need them most, when and where they need them. We’re only one cog in a huge machine, but we have to play our part consistently and reliably.

Then, looking ahead, I want us to use our new-found ‘freedom’ – operational, strategic and financial – to drive new and different ways of delivering on our Purpose: pioneering access for patients.

“I need more cowbell”

Pioneering for me doesn’t just mean medical or scientific breakthroughs, though I hope and believe we will continue to build on our ‘heritage of firsts’, which includes the first-ever oral antibiotic and the world’s first biosimilar medicine.

It also means finding novel ways to get more products to market earlier, at less cost and even more consistently. That can mean everything from working with regulators to harmonize packaging rules, through state-of-the-art production techniques, to new litigation strategies to challenge invalid patents.

Because, for all the good that generic and biosimilar medicines already do for the world, the unmet need remains great – and that means there is much more we can all do. Universal healthcare is still a dream, but we can all play our part in getting us one step closer to that dream.

Indeed, as I stood on stage today, I couldn’t help thinking of an old Saturday Night Live sketch where Christopher Walken plays a rock band manager convinced that the cowbell is the secret to musical success.

His stock phrase, ‘I need more cowbell’, quickly became a cultural meme, standing for anything that a person is longing for or feels is lacking.

For me, the word ‘cowbell’ stands for affordable quality medicines: because there’s so much need for so many more of them.

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