Podcast
The corona crisis has greatly changed the structure of the pharmaceutical industry: Small players like Biontech have developed more successful vaccines than the pharmaceutical giants. Novartis Germany boss Thomas Lang speaks in the podcast about the upheaval in the market.
A year and a half after the start of the corona pandemic, the pharmaceutical landscape looks very different than before: In the race for a vaccine, small players like Biontech were able to assert themselves – while large pharmaceutical giants sometimes backed the wrong horse. Novartis, the third largest pharmaceutical company in the world in 2020, had teamed up with the Tübingen-based biotech company Curevac to produce the vaccine. However, this has since been abandoned due to its inadequate effectiveness.
Nevertheless, Novartis’ Germany boss Thomas Lang rates the changes in the pharmaceutical industry as positive. “The current situation has opened up a whole range of new opportunities and partnerships”, he says . An example of this: The first forecasts predicted that the first Covid vaccine would be available in the summer of 2021. “We have all seen that through a historic effort and the collaboration of many partners in the health system, the whole thing happened much faster”, so long.
“Strong alliances” asked
The pharmaceutical industry’s fight against Covid-19 is not just limited to vaccination: it is too “directly antiviral substances, and substances against the so-called acute phase of the disease, where the aim is to get the excessive inflammation, reactions and immune reactions under control”, explains Lang. There is also intensive cooperation in this field: “There are 260 vaccination programs and over 500 therapeutic projects worldwide”says the head of Novartis Germany.
These collaborations and efforts could also be used against other diseases in the future, such as cancer. And next to the “historical task” the corona pandemic still exists “hidden pandemics”, such as cardiovascular diseases, says Lang. “Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in Europe, ahead of cancer.” In Germany, almost every third death can be attributed to it. And since Covid-19 also affects the cardiovascular system, these diseases would become even more important in the next few years. The pharmaceutical companies will also oppose this “form strong alliances” have to, says Lang.
Listen in
- What the next big breakouts could be
- How the way Novartis employees work has changed in the pandemic
- Whether Lang is allowed to work from Mallorca
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Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
