MSD intends to bring new products on the Romanian pharmaceutical market

Reporter: First of all, what are your plans after taking over the management of the company?

Steve Warner: For starters, I want to focus on the development of people and on social-corporate responsibility, on educating patients and healthcare employees.

Reporter: Are you bringing products that are new to the pharmaceutical market with you?

Steve Warner: We can"t bring new products to the Romanian market, because the list of compensated drugs hasn"t been updated since 2008. Since the same year we haven"t brought any new treatment to the country, with the exception of a drug for treating HIV. There are currently several challenges in this sector. It is a good time to be talking to the Government, and that is precisely what we are doing, in order to bring in new products, that people will have access to.

Reporter: What was it more specifically that you have discussed with the members of the Government?

Steve Warner: We are working closely with the members of the government on redoing the list of subsidized drugs, as well as on creating a system for the management of payment terms and for regulating the parallel drug trade. In my opinion things are moving, and these approaches will eventually succeed.

Reporter: But on a global level, what products have you launched lately?

Steve Warner: On a global level, we have introduced the cure for Hepatitis C, but it hasn"t been brought to Romania, not even to Europe. On the other hand, in Romania we have offered this treatment free of charge to a number of 50 people diagnosed with Hepatitis C whose disease did not react to the traditional cure. The new product has recently been approved by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), in the United States.

Reporter: Do you intend to expand to Romania in the future?

Steve Warner: Our expansion into the market depends a lot on the changes made to the list of subsidized drugs. We have three products that will enter the Romanian market after the approval of the new list. We are talking about cures in the fields of immunology, oncology and diabetes, which we are waiting to launch in your country as well.

Reporter: What are your trump cards that will help the growth of the company and of the Romanian pharmaceutical sector?

Steve Warner: One of my advantages is that I have ties to the US and Pacific Asia, because I would like to make possible the existence of an exchange of expertise between Romania and the other countries.

Reporter: How many Romanian distributors are you cooperating with?

Steve Warner: We have been in Romania since 1993, and we currently have seven distributors and 70 brands, in most of the therapeutic areas. We have a very good performance when it comes to immunology, infectious diseases, the respiratory segment and the treatment of pain, but we also have products for hepatitis, oncology, the cardiovascular system and diabetes. On the Romanian market we have about 200 employees.

Reporter: What was your turnover last year?

Steve Warner: I can"t give you figures for the local market, but what I can tell you is that, on a global level, the total sales of the Merck group, which also includes MSD, last year reached 45.98 billion American dollars. Out of that amount, 8-9 billion were invested in R&D. On a global level, Merck & Co has a very powerful department of research and development (Merck Research Laboratories). We are present in 140 countries, being world"s second largest company in the field, in terms of size, and we work with 90,000 employees.

Reporter: What are your investment plans on a group level?

Steve Warner: Even though it is increasingly harder and expensive to invest in research and development, we will continue this process.

Reporter: How would you characterize the domestic pharmaceutical sector?

Steve Warner: If we look at how things were 15 years ago, the sector has improved, people are living longer and better. There are innovations appearing every day. There is increased demand on the healthcare segment. We did obtain some small victories, which have contributed to the improvement of the healthcare system, but we can"t do everything by ourselves, only in cooperation with the authorities, with the drugstores, with the medical professional associations and the patients" associations.

Reporter: In closing, could you please tell me how you ended up leading a pharmaceutical company, after so many years spent in a military career?

Steve Warner: Indeed, I joined the Military School, when I was 17 and worked as a rescuer, I was saving human lives. In the army I was trained in the medical sector. In 1994, I joined the reserve. After I gave up on the military career, I worked as a scientist. Later, considering the fact that I had training in engineering, I worked in biotechnology, and that is how I transitioned towards medicine. Afterwards, I worked in the financial sector, which allowed me to cross over to the business side. Ten years ago I got hired at MSD, as marketing director. I also held a regional position, working in the Asian Pacific region. After working for three years in Thailand and for two years in South Korea, here I am now in Romania.

Reporter: Thank you!