Pharmacy & Healthcare Digital Summit: A Bridge to the Digital Future of the Healthcare Sector

On March 29, 2022, the Pharmacy & Healthcare Digital Summit was held at the “Interpred-World Trade Center” in Sofia.

The forum was organized by Enterprise magazine in partnership with DHI Cluster Bulgaria.

Leading experts from the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors discussed digitalization, innovation, and the partnership between the state and businesses in transforming the healthcare industries and building a bridge to the new digital era. They presented trends in pharmacy and public healthcare, along with practical ideas for developing sustainable business models in the healthcare sector.

Luka Chichov, General Manager for Bulgaria at IQVIA, opened the forum with an overview of 2021, regional and global dynamics, and the factors influencing pharmaceutical markets.

The past year was relatively successful for global pharmaceutical markets, especially compared to 2020, as there was a steady recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, he noted. However, the economic situation is becoming more complicated, which impacts healthcare spending, including the crisis in Ukraine, which brings additional uncertainty, particularly for the Central and Eastern Europe region.

Luka Chichov presented regional sales data. The therapeutic area distribution continues the trends of previous years, with the highest turnover in oncology, immunology, anti-diabetic therapies, anti-thrombotic treatments, and others, including pain medications, antibiotics, and treatments for high blood pressure.

In Bulgaria, last year’s turnover exceeded 2.6 billion euros, achieving a 15% growth. The prescription drug market grew by 12%, reaching almost 1.9 billion euros. The hospital market continues its strong performance trend, Chichov added.

Due to the war in Ukraine, some slowdown in the pharmaceutical market is expected, but not a decline, he added. Public institutions will be more cautious in monitoring healthcare expenditures, which will accelerate the introduction of generic and biosimilar products, he noted.

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the limits and capabilities of the healthcare system, Chichov commented. It generated extremely high healthcare costs that were not foreseen. Vaccination costs should also not be overlooked, although they are not comparable to the direct and indirect costs of the pandemic. From now until 2026, governments should allocate over 25 billion dollars for vaccination, he emphasized.

Adrien van den Hoven, Director-General of Medicines for Europe, spoke about generic and biosimilar drugs. For the first time, generic and biosimilar products are at the center of pharmaceutical policy in the EU’s single market, he noted. This is due to their lower costs, which improve access to medicines and allow for treatment of more people, he added.

There are significant differences in the use of generic and biosimilar drugs across European countries, he highlighted. Central and Eastern European countries have great opportunities to expand this market to reduce healthcare costs without compromising treatment quality.

He also pointed out the issue of rising inflation, which may compromise treatment due to the unsustainable growth of healthcare costs and pharmaceutical policies. Costs and prices can be effectively controlled by applying generic and biosimilar treatments, according to him.

Regarding Bulgaria, he mentioned that regulatory pressure to artificially lower prices and high taxes are hindering the market, leading to the withdrawal of market participants. He also highlighted the high costs of hospital care, noting that instead of healthcare system reform, the focus is again on prices. This reduces competition among potential drug suppliers for hospitals.

Nikolai Hadjidonchev, Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (BGFARMA), presented trends in the development of the generic pharmaceutical industry in Bulgaria. There is a strong link between innovative pharmaceutical companies and generics. Without a sustainable generic business, it is difficult to free up resources for investment in innovative therapies, he commented. Generic companies generate almost 4% of Bulgaria’s GDP, he emphasized.

One of the main trends in the pharmaceutical industry is digitalization, which received a strong boost due to the pandemic, he added.

Frank Kumli, from the Basel area, commented on building an innovative ecosystem and how corporations can help create it. The creation of an innovative ecosystem depends on the maturity of the industry, he said. A sustainable network of companies is necessary, along with events, project work, access to international markets, and space for innovation development. Innovative companies act as a bridge between academic medicine, pharmaceuticals, and administration, he pointed out. Building such an ecosystem is valuable for developing innovations, growth, and improving efficiency, he concluded.

Xavier Mundet, Innovation Manager at InnoLAB, Basel Headquarters, Switzerland, spoke about the environment for collaboration with startup companies in innovative partnerships. He presented the collaboration between the pharmaceutical company Roche and innovative companies over the years. The company InnoLAB also works with the pharmaceutical giant.

To develop and maintain such cooperation, an appropriate organizational structure must be created, he emphasized.

Todor Milkov, Market Access Head at Novartis Bulgaria, spoke about the patient experience as a platform for local partnerships and healthcare. Prevention and follow-up care costs in Bulgaria are critically low, according to the structure of healthcare expenditures in the country, as analyzed by the European Commission, he noted. The largest portion of the budget is spent on hospital care and medications. This is a good platform for investment and collaboration, he added. Pharmaceutical companies can work to improve public health as another aspect of cooperation, he further commented.

Chun Yong, CEO of Diasyst, presented remote patient monitoring as a modern method for controlling chronic diseases. He noted that there is a systematic problem with monitoring chronically ill people, as there is too little engagement in the critical period within three months after diagnosis, or data provided is too uninformative. Modern technologies allow patients to use devices that collect key data on their condition, which is transmitted to the medical team for analysis.

There are connected devices for monitoring blood sugar, blood pressure, and other key indicators. This brings proactivity in the monitoring of chronic diseases, he commented.

In the discussion at the end of the second panel, focused on the digital transformation of the healthcare sector, Dr. Rosen Dimitrov, DHI Cluster Bulgaria, Todor Milkov, Market Access Head at Novartis Bulgaria, and Alexander Alexiev, SAT Health, shared the view that Bulgaria lacks public-private partnerships, and most things that happen are generated by the state without business participation. In fact, business generates the added value, and a model must be found where the pharmaceutical industry can partner with innovative companies to develop solutions to problems and models for the state.

The third discussion panel, moderated by Mira Ganova, Executive Director of DHI Cluster Bulgaria, was dedicated to the digital transformation of the healthcare sector.

Deputy Minister Lyubomir Bakalivanov commented that e-healthcare is part of the vision for healthcare in Bulgaria. He noted that the Ministry of Health team is working hard to implement e-health systems. Although digitalization of the sector lags behind, it does not mean that the time cannot be caught up, he added.

For the healthcare system, it is important to shift focus towards quality and outcomes, rather than accountability, as it is currently organized, participants noted.

Successful digitalization requires a detailed understanding of the entire process of disease detection and monitoring, along with a clear vision for the development of healthcare, the experts in the discussion – Deputy Minister of Health Associate Professor Lyubomir Bakalivanov, Dejan Denev, Director of ARPharM, Radoy Pavlov, UHZ, Dr. Alexander Simidchiev, Vice-Chairman of the Health Committee in the National Assembly, Dr. Ivan Madzharov, Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Medical Association, and Dr. Natalia Temelkova, Endocrinologist at UMBAL “Alexandrovska”, agreed.

During the fourth panel of the forum, two workshops were held. The first workshop, led by Dr. Rosen Dimitrov, NRETIA Health, focused on how to develop new sustainable business models in the healthcare sector. He presented models for critical thinking and the stages of preparing a development strategy and problem-solving.

Dobromir Zhivkov, Managing Director of Market Links, and Radoslav Raikov, CEO of Holler, spoke during the second workshop about opportunities for transforming dissatisfied customers into loyal ones through constant and automated feedback. They presented the advantages and possibilities of surveys as a feedback tool from clients, offering another way to engage users. This approach not only provides data but also channels online traffic, they emphasized.

Source: Pharmacy & Healthcare Digital Summit – Enterprise.bg