Quotable: Words Of Wisdom From Our Recent APAC Coverage

During the course of conducting interviews, attending conferences and providing other coverage of the region, Scrip's team in APAC often hears comments and views that are worth highlighting by themselves, valuable for the insights and perspectives they provide from those on the front lines on key topics of interest to the biopharma industry.

Below, we have selected the most notable recent quotes from CEOs, other senior executives and regulatory officials that you may have missed in our coverage over the past few months, along with a link to the wider story in which they originally appeared. 

“I got a glimpse of what it meant to be different, and what it meant to have biases. That was a big life lesson for me and it taught me something important, which is empathy.” – Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato on life learnings that shaped his wider outlook towards understanding the power of diversity. Find out more: J&J CEO On Stereotypes, Innovation Secret Sauce and Kenvue

“Do we need to spend as much as a society on weight loss drugs, when there is another solution, which is much cheaper?” - Biogen, Inc. president and CEO Christopher Viehbacher questioning if such spending is necessary given that preventative changes to behaviour, diet and exercise might instead free up funds for other currently untreatable diseases. Find out more: Biogen CEO Poses Million Question - Do We Need To Spend on Weight Loss Drugs?

“I had high hopes for this one. The one thing in this business that you learn quickly is you got to stay humble and there's nothing probably more humbling than data readouts in Alzheimer's disease. So, I ran into it being ready for anything and this readout met my most positive hopes for what could be achieved in this disease.” – Eli Lilly and Company’s chief scientific and medical officer Daniel Skovronsky on data for investigational Alzheimer’s therapy donanemab. Find out more: Big Pharma R&D Chiefs On IRA's Unintended Casualty, Product Life Cycle Compression 

“We hope the elderly naturally come into this dementia management ecosystem and see this as a disease that can be managed and taken care of like diabetes. We are seeking to create such an ecosystem.” - Emocog CEO Yoo Hun Noh on the Korean venture's hopes for its digital therapeutics for dementia. Find out more: Emocog Setting The Standard For Cognitive Decline DTx in Korea

“The nationwide Basic Medical Insurance Fund spent 7.1 times more on such drugs covered by the NRDL [National Reimbursement Drug List] in 2022 versus 2019.” – The head of China’s National Healthcare Security Administration’s Jinglin Hu on support for R&D into home-grown novel drugs, apparently responding to pharma industry concerns over its dominant role in the pricing of reimbursable innovative medicines. Find out more: Chinese Public Payer Data Show More New Drugs Get Faster Coverage

“We can push them [to develop vaccines] by supporting their R&D. But we all know that’s not sustainable. Having our government buying the new drug is the most immature pull incentive.” – Junichi Koga, head of vaccine/modality projects at Japan’s Strategic Center of Biomedical Advanced Vaccine Research and Development for Preparedness and Response (SCARDA), on building a more self-reliant flow of new vaccines and biopharma products. Find out more: SCARDA: Japan's Big Hope To Change Its Vaccine R&D Ecosystem.

“We don’t know how long this financial hardship will last, but there are good biotechs in the country. I hope that these firms can overcome the 'barley hump.'” - Byoung Chul Lee, CEO of Kanaph Therapeutics Inc., on still depressed investment sentiment among venture capital firms in the Korean biotech sector. Find out more: Kanaph CEO On Surviving The Biotech Funding ‘Barley Hump’

“For us, we do not see a difference in data quality coming out of India; data timeliness is just as good coming out of the sites in India.” - Novartis AG's head, global clinical operations, Badhri Srinivasan, on the improved clinical trials situation in India and related emerging opportunities. Find out more: India Trials Scenario: Leaders From Novartis, IQVIA, PwC Signal Winds Of Change 

"In the past, we just had to wait with hook and bait, which is an R&D grant, then biotechs or academia would take this bait. We will then grow and sell them [the assets] in the broad 'fish market.' But over the past 12 years, we have largely caught the big fish and now only small ones are available. So we need to go into the water with spear guns and catch the big fish hiding somewhere.” - Korea Drug Development Fund CEO H. Samuel Muk on how the KDDF has evolved to support the domestic industry’s R&D. Find out more: The Hunt For Big Fish: How KDDF Is Helping Create Korean Deals

“The coronavirus pandemic plunged the world into confusion, and what we want to do and what we need to do is becoming clearer.” – Shionogi & Co. Ltd. CEO Isao Teshirogi on renewing the Japanese firm's 10-year strategic plan after COVID-19, with a greater focus on infectious diseases and swift decision-making. Find out more:Shionogi Renews 10-Year Goal After Infectious Disease Success. 

“What I want from the government is one thing. We want to make profits abroad and we want the government to lay out the groundwork, a certain sandbox that pharmas and biotechs can play in. I think this is the government’s role.” – Dong-A ST president Jae Hong Park on the role of the Korean government in supporting the biopharma sector. Find out more: Dong-A ST Faces New Wave Of Change As It Challenges Norms

“I think it's time that we fix a few things and not just fix but let the whole world know that we fixed them." - Sadhna Joglekar, Novartis AG India head for global drug development, on ideas to improve the environment for original R&D in India. Find out more: Whiteboarding Ideas From Novartis, Novo To Address India's Elephant In The Room, On Streets.