Emerging countries: current challenges

Stefan Prebil, director of business development for emergent countries of pharmexx International

The great experience in the medicine sector has been acquired throughout the last 20 years, after working for seven years as a sales rep in a small company in Switzerland. Stefan Prebil has worked in different positions within the pharmaceutical industry: he worked as a product and commercial manager for Caucasian countries and Central Asia; after that he returned to Switzerland where he worked as an Oncology and Anesthetics line manager. He also worked as a general manager in Switzerland for Sandoz.

While Stefan Prebil was the president at Sandoz he set challenging targets of distribution and strength of the brand both in Russia and Switzerland.

At the moment he works for Pharmexx International, as the Business Development Director for emerging countries. "I believe this is the future of the pharmaceutical industry".

- How does the growth of the major drug manufacturers in the emerging markets work?
I believe that such growth is cyclical for some markets may present fast growth within a year and in the two following years get less satisfying results and then grow again. Countries like Brazil, for instance, where consumers need to pay for drugs without having the government support, the situation of the pharmaceutical industries mirrors the economic development of the country. In Europe the situation is a little different. The economic development almost comes to zero and the pharmaceutical market does not grow significantly. The feedback is too little for the industry.

- Have the emerging countries been excessively optimistic due to the positive value-at-risk from investors and bank regulators? Is Brazil overoptimistic?
I don't think we have many options for global investors. At the moment there is China, but, despite being big it is a hard place for small pharmaceutical industries. There are over four thousand pharmaceutical companies in China. The system is quite complicated. In Russia insecurity lies in the country's instability. In India the biggest problem has to do with local industry competition, which is really relevant.

Brazil is an excellent place as it is economically stable, especially for investors. Development is good and the country has no debt problems. Its law system is clear, differently from other countries. This is not only a matter of being optimistic. Among the emerging countries that present huge development rates Brazil is the best place to invest in.

- What is the opportunity development among emerging countries usually like?
The so-called emerging countries must be considered as rich countries. Volvo, for instance, is a Chinese company. Countries will increasingly invest in the current emerging countries which will provide outstanding growth rates. The emerging countries will start to invest in the so-called rich countries. A good example is the debts in Europe. The game will once again change in the near future. I believe within the next five years. The development of the emerging countries is really very good.

- For almost two years the world has passed through a sequence of economic crises which affected several sectors. Is there still a concern from the market towards global recession?
Markets are closely linked. One year ago we watched a serious global bank crisis. Countries were supposed to help financial institutions. For instance, England almost lost a major national bank. One week ago Europe needed 730 billion Euros in order to help settle debts. It is a bigger crisis than the one in 2009. The impact will be huge. Brazil must limit the flow of investments to benefit from this situation.

- How can that pharmaceutical industry get competitive advantages by making use of a CSO company?
The pharmaceutical industry needs more flexibility. Ten years ago the investor was able to forecast the company's growth and its power in the market. Nowadays the situation has changed and the companies face difficulties to program the future even for the next six months. For that, support from specialist who might help calculate the company impact on the market it acts is needed. It is a strategically developed work. A big company has difficulty in understanding that and recruiting collaborators as well as creating new departments, what is a must. In order to cover the market a great number of sales reps is needed. Pharmexx may help big companies to develop market coverage with low investment by acquiring only its services. The impact might be big on the market and calculated with more flexibility, aiming at the goals of the company for the coming months.