“ The Industry of Generic is not Copy ”
It has all been excessively and intensively advertised, so there’s no need to keep on doing that. What Top Team intends to show is a new perspective, by unvealing strategies for such partnership, which only exists due to Daniel Feliciano’s efforts – the international director of EMS – Sigma Pharma.
The executive said, exclusively, how he got ready to make the deal: he analysed the Brazilian pharmaceutical marketing and highlited: “the generic industry does not copy the others but constantly researches and develops new activities.”
Follow below the main parts of the interview, which was given at EMS industry center, in Hortolândia, countryside of São Paulo.
Top Team: Which strategic reasons led EMS – Sigma Pharma to sign up an agreement with Monte Research Company?
Daniel Feliciano: The generic American market is totally different from the Brazilian one. There, the regulatory agency estimulates the coming of that kind of product by offering six months of exclusivity to the companies that research new formulas without breaking the current intellectual property law. That’s what we search for counting on Monte Research support. They own a team of 23 scientists and they are specialized in drug delivery system development, which allows the development of new formulas so that a drug can be released in the organism more slowly or fast according to the patient’s needs.
Top Team: Which is EMS - Sigma Pharma Group position in relation to patent-breaking?
Feliciano: The group is in favor of the patient’s right, which lasts twenty years. But, unfortunately, there is today a new world position in relation to the medicine research companies aiming at extending the patents rights already conceived. This kind of situation started to exist in Brazil with two molecules. One of them is sibutramine. Such patents extensions are harmful to the national economy and to research and development activities for two reasons: one because the drugs are extremely expensive and if they could be acquired for a more competitive price it would help improve the Brazilian economy; other because the companies got unmotivated to invest in research. The competition ends with the comfort of the companies as they are estimulated to research new molecules in order to present new solutions to consumers.
Top Team: Within this context, can we conclude that the generic activity is one that mostly invest in research?
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Feliciano: Absolutely, the generic industry is not a copy but a research and development activity. On the other hand, the other companies are stuck because of their patents and consequently the pharmaceutical market gets stuck. There hasn’t been any growth in terms of values neither amounts. The market has been constantly remade. There is indeed a great space for the national companies and EMS will invest clinically by researching products developed inside the country so that they can be launched in the market as an original Brazilian product. Nowadays this kind of thing does not exist, as in order to record a product in Brazil we are supposed to prove that it has already been recorded in other country. We would like to change this situation.
Top Team: Within the generic market, which is EMS Group differential and what position does it occupy in the pharmaceutical segment?
Feliciano: The main differential is the courage of the group to invest in development research and in professionals in order to find solutions for the market. We have the statement “Growing or growing” as a mission. Besides, our group is guided to constantly produce more with better quality in order to sell and employ more people. Concerning the amount of sales and values, the EMS – Sigma Pharma Group is the second group in the market with an invoicing of U$ 600 million dollars. The main goal of the group is to be among the three major companies of Brazil, as it is impossible to foresee the takeovers.
Top Team: Concerning your career, what was the first challenge you had by leading the group?
Feliciano: The first challenge was to get the products license, most of them patented for the Brazilian market. When I started to work abroad, I contacted some research companies to bring medicine to Brazil. After such stage, my business development deparment took over the international division and we had the challenge of launching products all over Europe. We set an international directorate and exported to Latin America, Canada, Portugal and other countries in Europe.
Top Team: How did you get ready to reach professional success and stand out by conducting the partnership between EMS – Sigma Pharma and Monte Research?
Feliciano: I started working at Rent Power e Rossetti MKT as a sales rep and then I took on the commercial department, becoming a commercial manager. In this company, I learned the importance of innovation. Who works for the pharmaceutical industry needs to think creatively, searching for insights. Rent Power e Rossetti Mkt was like a great school. There, I learned several things that contributed to my decision takings.
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The packaging controversy
According to an article in a well-known magazine, it was discussed if the packages of the generics offered by EMS – Sigma Pharma Group are merely copies of the original medicine packages. The Group informed Top Team that they adopt some strategies to guide consumers who need to buy medicine without prescription. “With packages similar to the OTC´s we lead the consumer to realize the existence of the generic in such category. This way, he becomes able to choose better and aware of what he is buying between the brand name medicament and the generic”, commented Telma Salles, director of Foreign Relations. |
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