Adam Plich
CEO & Founder, Avanzanite Bioscience
By building tailored partnerships with innovators and drawing on deep local expertise, a new European model is unlocking the potential of rare disease medicines and reaching patients across all 32 countries.
Across Europe, patients with rare diseases are being let down,” admits Adam Plich, and it isn’t due to a lack of pharma innovation. The reason rare disease drugs don’t always reach the people who need them is because of structural flaws in access and commercialisation models.
“Traditionally, pharma companies can either set up their own infrastructure, but that’s costly because Europe is a daunting maze of countries with different jurisdictions, currencies, languages and regulatory requirements,” he explains. “Or they licence their drugs to bigger players, which means giving up control of their own product. No wonder some think: ‘Maybe we’ll focus on launching in places where it’s simpler, more predictable and more welcoming.’”
As the CEO & Co-Founder of Avanzanite Bioscience, a commercial-stage pharma company, Plich has built a continent-wide infrastructure and the team with deep local market expertise, which is the basis of Avanzanite’s capabilities in distributing and commercialising rare disease products across all countries in Europe
So, if we bridge the gap between the product and the patient, we can ensure that no one is left behind.
High-level knowledge of each country’s healthcare system
A former competitive chess player, he approached this challenge like a chess match. “If Europe is a chess board, it’s about understanding every single square,” he says. “You always have to think four steps ahead and know how a move in one direction will impact something else.” To play the game successfully – and make sure innovative medicines actually reach patients – it’s vital to have knowledge of each country’s healthcare system and the skills to negotiate funding pathways with every government.
“Plus, it’s about asking pharma companies from the outset: ‘What requirements do you have that would enable you to bring your product to Europe?’” says Plich. “Understanding that allows flexibility.” Ultimately, he insists the focus must never waver from the people at the centre of this process: those living with rare diseases. “It’s just not acceptable for pharma companies to avoid certain countries because they’re ‘too difficult’ to operate in or to enter,” insists Plich. “So, if we bridge the gap between the product and the patient, we can ensure that no one is left behind.”
