Speaker

Dr. Bruno Strigini

Presentation title

Research Based Pharma Companies in Austerity Times

Presentation outline

The success of our healthcare systems is highly dependent on medical excellence and pharmaceutical innovation. Thanks to public and private investments in science, public health and industrial progress, the research-based pharmaceutical companies have produced during the last decades a regular flow of new medicines and vaccines. Patients have been the first to benefit from such achievement. But as we progress, life expectancy and societal health-related demands so increase. New research frontiers and medical challenges emerge. These successes and challenges fully justify the need to constantly promote innovation in healthcare. However, as we are now facing austerity measures and stringent fiscal policy, the question arises of whether cost-containment policies may impact the level of investment in Research and Development and thus putting at risk the flow of innovative medicines and vaccines. Bruno Strigini will present the current challenges and potential solutions to continue to support pharmaceutical innovation for the benefit of patients.

Job title

Doctor Bruno Strigini, President of Europe/Canada for Merck & Co., Inc. / MSD

Biography

Dr. Bruno Strigini is President of Europe/Canada for Merck & Co., Inc., known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well.

Strigini has dedicated his entire career to healthcare and is an experienced business leader with a strong international perspective on the global pharmaceutical industry. His career has led to increasingly senior executive positions in a number of companies, with responsibilities for a diverse range of markets around the world.

At Schering-Plough, prior to its merger with Merck in 2009, Strigini was President of the region which included EU mid-markets, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He came to Merck/Schering-Plough from UCB-Celltech, where he served as President for International Operations based in Belgium, having previously run UCB Japan/Asia-Pacific out of Tokyo, and prior to that head of global marketing, business development and strategy. In his earlier career, he held positions such as Vice-President International Marketing at SmithKline Beecham's UK headquarters and Managing Director of its New Zealand subsidiary, as well as senior roles for the Fournier Group, including General Manager in the UK and Spain.

Strigini is a member of the Executive Committee for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations (EFPIA). He holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne (Switzerland), a doctorate degree in pharmacy from the University of Montpellier (France), and a master’s degree in microbiology from Heriot-Watt University (UK).

Born in France and having lived in eight different countries, Strigini now resides between New York and London.