PATIENT ASSOCIATIONS HAVE A KEY ROLE TO PLAY IN ADVOCATING ON BEHALF OF PATIENTS TO CONVINCE THE AUTHORITIES THAT THESE DIAGNOSTICS AND TREATMENTS SHOULD BE INTRODUCED.
In 2012, Octapharma established the “Red Lapi Network”, which comprises 14 physicians each representing a different country. The network meets twice a year in different cities of Latin America (LATAM), to discuss challenges and best practices, and develop strategies to improve the situation for haemophilia patients.
LATAM is a diverse landscape when it comes to healthcare. Countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay have very sophisticated healthcare systems. They have very effective haemophilia treatment programmes with robust diagnostic infrastructure. In other LATAM countries, there is a lot of work to do in diagnosis and treatment programmes. Looking at the recent 2015 World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) Global Survey report, there is a need for improvement in education and best practice. Several countries reported a very low consumption of factor VIII (FVIII) product, below 1 IU per capita. Furthermore, we can see very poor diagnostic programmes in the other countries.
Patient associations also have a key role to play in advocating on behalf of patients to convince the authorities that these diagnostics and treatments should be introduced. They will continue to raise awareness of new concepts of treatment and best practice based on WFH’s recommendations.
The LATAM division of Octapharma represents all countries of Latin America, including Central America and Caribbean countries, excluding Brazil and Mexico. Octapharma has been operating in LATAM for many years, initially managing activities from Europe. In July 2014, Octapharma established its representative office in Panama, which has allowed us to develop stronger ties with our distributors and key stakeholders in the region. We have developed many workshops and “Octa Academy” meetings in the most relevant therapeutic areas, with many healthcare practitioners taking part in these scientific training courses.
Octapharma has been strengthening its business in the LATAM region, and in the last three years has achieved sales growth of over 20% per year. With a strong market share position in the coagulation products octanate® and octanine®F, we also have significant reinforcement in products such as albunorm®, octagam® 5% and 10%, and the prothrombin complex concentrate octaplex®.
During 2016, Octapharma launched its human cell line recombinant FVIII Nuwiq® in several countries: Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile and Guatemala, with upcoming launches planned in Argentina and Peru. We expect to launch Nuwiq® in the remaining LATAM countries during 2017. Now we are working towards obtaining registration of Octapharma’s new intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) product panzyga®, and hope to launch this during 2018 in the most important markets in the region.
For me, working in a completely different pharmaceutical and sociocultural environment has been an enormous and exciting personal and professional challenge. The LATAM team is based in Panama but is supported by many people around the world. To sustain our leadership and continue to grow in this niche biopharmaceutical market, we must enhance support and collaboration with our local partners to implement and develop scientific meetings/workshops with key stakeholders in the region. There are many areas for future development and investment, including the introduction of new products and better product access contributing to an improvement of patients’ quality of life.