ITW Flashcards
1
Q
introduction (industry)
A
- I’m a pharmacist with a master’s degree in pharmaceutical management
- Passionnate about sciences and business
- I worked during my studies in Sales for a company developing a first in class treatment in oncology, for a medtech designing a total artificial heart, and later in a business development team making acquisition of biotechs
- Today, it’s been almost 2 years that I am part of Sanofi, and where I’m coordinating the pricing and market access strategy for vaccines at Sanofi in 14 countries of Eastern, Central & Southern Europe
- I love to travel, I studied and worked in France, Brussels, Shanghai, now Prague where I have a position with an international exposure, in all Europe
- And today, I am looking for a position in market access where I can work on innovative treatments, and with an international exposure, And that’s why I am applying today, because this position is exactly what I am looking for
2
Q
Your academic background, tell me about your pharma studies
A
- I am passionate about medical and scientific innovation for a long time now, and that’s what pushed me to integrate pharma studies.
- During Pharmacy studies in France, you have to specialize between city pharmacy, hospital or industry. I specialized in industry, where I followed more specific teachings, clinical and preclinical trials, regulatory affairs, or Health Economics or law
- Then, because I was also interested in business, I completed my studies with a business degree at ESCP business school, where I followed the teachings of Management, Market Access, Marketing, Finance, with teachers from the school as well as professionnals of the sector and projects with companies, pharmaceutical companies, VCs funds or strategy consulting firms
3
Q
Thesis subject
A
Thesis: Personalized medicine in pediatric oncology and indication by molecular anomaly: the example of TRK selective inhibitors
- My thesis is about a new class of targeted therapies : TRK selective inhibitors
- First class of TTT approved in Europe as tumor agnostic, meaning that these TTT are not made for only 1 type of histologic cancer, but usable for any cancer, carrying a specific genetic abnomaly, no matter the location
- We already use targeted therapies, targeting a specific abnomaly, but 99% of the time, they are not usable to every cancers carrying this abnomaly, so we have to perform histologic tests to define the right TTT to use anyway.
- These treatments, the TRK selective inhibitor are the first TTT in Europe where we proved that if a patient is carrier of a specific genetic abnomaly, the treatment will work, no matter the location or the type of cancer.
- This is a big evolution, because today, most of the time, Dr are obliged to determine the right treatment to use for the patient according to guidelines based on info regarding the tissue and the cells touched. This is not always accurate.
- Looking at the genetic abnomaly directly and knowing we have TTT for this abnomaly specifically will allow us to do less mistakes choosing the right TTT for a patient, but also to have less side effect. Having less side effect means a better quality of life, but also that these TTT can be used by fragile patients, especially young children and baby.
4
Q
ESCP studies
A
- I am passionate about medical and scientific innovation for a long time now, and that’s what pushed me to integrate pharma studies.
- During Pharmacy studies I specialized in industry, where I followed more specific teachings, clinical and preclinical trials, regulatory affairs, or Health Economics or law
- Then, because I was also interested in business, I completed my studies with a business degree at ESCP business school, where I followed the teachings of Management, Market Access, Marketing, Finance, with teachers from the school as well as professionnals of the sector and projects with companies, pharmaceutical companies, VCs funds or strategy consulting firms
5
Q
ESCP Thesis
A
- Thesis: The strategic role of R&D outsourcing in pharmaceutical innovation
- This thesis was linked to one of my internships, at Servier. I joined a team in charge of the scouting for all the startups and biotechs linked to neurological and inflammatory diseases, with the aim to make acquisitions, licencing, a co-development, partnerships with public and private research institutes as well.
- I found this approach very interesting, and that’s why I decided to join this team
- It’s been a few years that more than 50% of the R&D budget of pharma companies Is used for acquisitions and licencing or co-development, instead of ” internal development”
- HA ask more and more proofs of the safety and efficiency of the drug-candidates. This makes the drugs more and more complex, and more and more expensive to develop.
- There is also more and more competition in the pharma. To generalize, we can also say that we switched to an industry trusted by a few big companies only developing tens of drugs at the same time, to an ecosystem with a lot of competition. We have a lot of mid-size companies, hundreds, thousands of mid-sizes companies, biotechs and small startups, developing 1 to 5 drugs.
- To avoid these problems, externalizing its research can be a new growth engine:
o If your company needs medium-term income: acquisition / licensing
o If you want to lower the risk: acquisition / licensing
o If you want to split the risk / investment: co development
o Startup incubation to follow closely interesting startups
6
Q
My position at Sanofi (BU/PME/Region/Swixx)
A
- In 2021, Sanofi decided to close its offices in 14 “small countries” in Europe and to create a BU in Prague in charge of these 14 countries (Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Balkans, Bulgaria, Baltics) representing a total of 70 million people.
- Sanofi is no longer physically present in these countries, and we therefore we work with a partner, Swixx, responsible for representing us in these countries.
- My role is to coordinate and support these local teams for the pricing and Market Access part aspects. We define the pricing and ma strategy at Sanofi, and our partner represent us to local health authorities
7
Q
Missions at Sanofi (general)
A
- Coordinating and supporting local teams in 14 countries of Eastern, Central & Southern Europe
- Supporting the pricing strategy for launch of new vaccines to optimize commercial success
- Perform analysis and providing strategic recommendations to optimize pricing for registered vaccines
- Tracking new EU and national pricing regulations to anticipate and mitigate any impact
8
Q
Missions at Sanofi (examples)
A
- Legislation change in LV
o In the end of 2024, Latvia announced a change in its pricing legislation, driving down prices
o Latvia is a key country for us, with high prices, supporting prices for a lot of our countries
o I had to assess quick which countries were at risk to be impacted, and to find solutions to avoid decrease on multiple countries, which could cause a snowball effect in all the region, this is what we wanted to avoid absolutely
o So, to remain brief I had to assess the risk in all countries which use Latvia as a reference country, and with local teams we’ve worked hard to find a way for every country, every product to avoid a decrease
o We finally found solution for every product of every country impacted
o I am very proud of that because this was my first mission being responsible of the pricing - Launch of a vaccine in AT, which was about to drop prices in Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, and to create a snowball effect in the region
- Switch QIV to TIV
o Until today, flu vaccines were tetravalents, he was made to protect against 4 difference strains of flu
o One of these strains, the Yamagata strain, has totally disappeared, and the WHO stated that there is no need anymore to include a Yamagata strain in the flu vaccines
o Thus, in 2024, it was decided by the WHO to move “back” from a tetravalent vaccines to trivalent
o Following WHO recommendations, countries have started for most of them order trivalent vaccines instead of tetravalent. But we have a problem: the trivalent vaccine is legally a new vaccine, and we have thus to submit new dossiers and receive Marketing approvals and P&R dossiers before being able to sell new flu vaccines to countries.
o So we are actually submitting P&R dossiers in almost all the 14 countries I am in charge at the same time and in emergency, to be able to play the tenders in countries requiring trivalent vaccines in 2025 - Increase in the price of verorab in Bulgaria (had to convince the Czech Republic and Romania to do something about it)
9
Q
Why Market Access / Pricing ?
A
- I discovered 1st market access during my studies, in pharmacy studies and in my BS.
- Later, during my internship, I also I worked on pricing missions when I was intern, and it was way more complex and interesting that I thought? So when I saw an opportunity to do “pure” pricing, I took the opportunity
10
Q
BD Intern at Servier
A
Contributed to the expansion of the R&D portfolio:
- Took part in acquisitions, licensing in, licensing out, partnerships projects
- Sourced / identified biotechs in our therapeutic and geographical areas of interest
- Supported the R&D and Business Development teams in definition of scientific and financial inclusion and exclusion criteria for future research
- Identified clinical experts in our areas of interest to participate in the evaluation of opportunities
- Shuttle between Science and Pharma
- Mapping
11
Q
Marketing & Sales Intern at Bayer
A
- Took part in the development of a digital platform for Belgian oncology specialists
- Developed marketing materials and took part in organization of launch events
12
Q
Marketing intern at Carmat
A
Carmat represents for me the quintessence of healthcare innovation. This company is one of the reason why I chose to go to healthcare innovation after highschool.
Carmat is a French medtech developing the first intelligent and bioprosthetic total artificial heart.
- Participated in the training of cardiologists and operating room nurses
- Created training documents on the use of the prosthesis for health professionals
- Involved in the development of videos on the implantation and functioning of the prosthesis
13
Q
Clinical internship at Shanghai
A
- 5 months
- Inpatient / outpatient pharmacy, PIVAS, in charge of the preparation of chemotherapies
14
Q
Mexico
A
- During my Pharma studies, I was selected to do a gap year in Mexico, in Mexico City
- Selected to do a master’s degree in pharmaceutical engineering, in apprenticeship at Sanofi in Mexico city
- Cancelled in the last minute due to covid Pandemic
- But I wanted to do this gap year anyway. So I joined Bayer Pharma, in Marketing at Brussels
15
Q
2022 FNIM communication award
A
- Student contest, I attended the contest for fun with friends
- We contacted and big French non profit, “vaincre la mucoviscidose”, “To beat cystic fibrosis” and they accepted to attend the constest with us, thinking they could maybe find idea for their future communication
- Approaching the French presidential elections, we imagined a communication campaign using the audience generated by the presidential elections to make the demands of all people with invisible disabilities heard.
- by using social networks and by creating posters similar to the election candidates’ ones in public spaces, such as the Paris metro.
- We won 6K€ for the association.
16
Q
Running
A
- I do running since High School, for now I focus on 1 distance, 10km races
- So every year I list 2-3 races that I prepare for 2-3 months, I target a chrono and I prepare my training until the d-day to perform. that’s what makes me love running: define ambitious targets and surpass yourself
17
Q
Fencing
A
I also did fencing for 8 years
18
Q
My passion for art
A
- I am passionate about art history for a long time, especially modern and contemporary art
- I almost decided to do art history studies in high school
- Klimt: leading figure in the Vienna Secession movement. His highly decorative style, influenced by Byzantine mosaics and Japanese art, broke away from traditional academic painting.
- Francis Bacon: known for his raw, intense depictions of the human condition. His works often feature grotesque, distorted figures that explore themes of suffering, mortality, blending abstraction with figuration. It’s terrible
- I almost chose to study Art History at uni
o I’m passionate for modern and contemporary art for a long time, and I hesitated between Art and Science.
o I finally chose science, but in another universe I would maybe currently working in a Gallery or at Christies
o What made me choose science ?
o A company got me excited about medical innovations when I was at highschool
o A French start-up called Carmat, which developed intelligent artificial hearts
o It was this company that pushed me to health studies, to be at the center of medical innovation
o when I had to look for my first work placement in industry, I sent a CV to Carmat, explaining to them what I had just told you.
o And that’s how I got my first experience in the healthcare industry at Carmat.
19
Q
Normandie
A
- I come from a medium-sized town, Le Havre, on the sea
- The city faces the English Channel
- Beautiful region if you like the sea, the rain, and the wind
- Historical region
o The region where the British and American landings took place during the WWII. It’s very moving to visit the beaches and cemeteries
o The region of the painter Claude Monet, and impressionism in general. A lot of impressionism painters painted there, Monet of course, but also Sysley, Pissarro, etc
20
Q
Prague
A
- I compared to Paris, Prague is calm, colorful, compared to Prague Paris is so stressful, dirty, sad. Here it is just a pleasure to walk in the city. Every building is beautiful. I appreciate that very much
- The city is beautiful during Spring and Summer, when everybody is living its life outside, but it’s also beautiful when it’s snowy
21
Q
3 qualities
A
- I am able to adapt and, and to understand complex problematics
o I’ve lived and worked in different countries outside of France
o I’ve worked on project related to Marketing, BD, Pricing and Market Access.
o During my last job, in Market Access, I had to work, with 14 different local teams, on different projects related to market access, in different countries, each countries having it’s own market access and pricing legislations, and all this at the same time and alone. - Persistent
o I never give up (running), tenacious in the face of difficulty,
o If I have to work more on a project at night I’ll do what I have to do, rather than sleep and make a mean work. - I am a team player
o Since the beginning of my pharmacy studies, and in all my professional experiences, I have worked in a team: when I worked in a pharmacy, but also when I was a volunteer at the Red Cross, in large or small teams. I think I have developed a great team spirit, but also a great ease of integration.
22
Q
3 weakneasses
A retravailler
A
I don’t have the analyzing skills of a consultant yet, but I want to have it
23
Q
What would your friends say about you?
A
- I am a loyal and trustworthy, I am the one to call when you need help
- My sense of humor
24
Q
- What would your Manager say about you?
A
- Hardworker, trustworthy person, team player, you can always ask me to help
- It wasn’t easy to learn how to manage 14 countries’ problems at the same time. My manager might say I was a bit disorganised at the beginning, but not any more.
25
Where did you apply ?
A retravailler, en fonction de l'ITW
- I want to join a position that would allow to be in touch with a lot of subjects, teams, problematics, but also if possible
- I
26
14. Why not continue at Sanofi?
à retravailler
I could, I appreciate working at Sanofi and I do believe it's the same for my colleagues and managers
my role is quite operational. I’d love to continue with Sanofi, but more upstream thinking and strategy development, less focus on operational aspects I’d love to
- To be responsible of the pricing and market access strategy of a product in a big region
- To think about the launch strategy of a product not market yet
- So, in the headquarter why not but it implies to go back to France and at the moment I don’t want to, I'd prefer to go to another country
27
Why are you interested in this position ?
- This question, I think, implies, 3 sub questions:
* Why this domain
* Why the company
* Why in the city
28
Why to work in this city / country ?
a preparer pour chaque interview
29
Why the company ?
a preparer pour chaque interview
30
Do you recognize yourself in company's values ?
a preparer pour chaque interview
31
Why a graduate ?
If graduate itw
32
what would you like to do during your graduate ?
if graduate itw
- I want to use this graduate to discover as many aspects of market access as possible and to broaden my horizons in this domain, to discover where I can blossom the most, but also to gain competencies in pricing, where I have a small experience, for example in another region
- At the moment I appreciate a lot working in Pricing. My actual position in pricing is more an operational position, and I want to discover what it is to work on Global strategic pricing projects ,to work on more upstream. Thus, being interested I Pricing and Strategy, I will ask you for sure to have an experience in Global Pricing.
- I am attracted by the new drugs, the new technologies, and I would also try to work closer to early development treatment, for example joining a Payer Evidence Generation Team in charge of treatments in early development
- Next to this, I have been touched in my work by legislation changes, and I could also be interested in working in health policy or Public Affairs because this is something that interests me a lot
- Location: in he US, the place of medical innovation. I now you have an office in the New Jersey, between NY and Philadelphia
- I also have a big interest in Asia, and I know that Novo has a big HQ in Singapore, responsible of a big part of Asia and Oceania, it could be interested in discovering this place
33
Career plan ? (Industry)
a. It’s always hard to say
b. According to my today’s criteria, maybe a position where I can help people to access innovation, in Market Access, why not in Public Affairs
c. With international responsibilities
d. I am open to any country, any continent, as long as I'm enthusiastic about the project
34
Why should we hire you ?
35
What do you value in a team?
Trust, good atmosphere, goodwill
36
What do you expect from your manager?
Trust, goodwill
37
Have you ever worked in a team?
I all my current and past experience I was part of a team.
- I all my current and past experience I was part of a team.
- Right now, of course, I am part of a small team of 7-8 people, but I am also always in touch with our local partners for local pricing of market access project. So I never work alone
- In big part of my past experiences, I was also part of a team, when I worked as technician in hospital pharmacies, in my Uni / Business School project
- I can even tell you that in my business school, I was included in a working group of 6 people set up by the director of the master's programme, who wanted to combine academic and professional careers, and this group was imposed on us throughout the year. What I can tell you is that we got on and worked so well together that we even decided to take part in a communications competition together, just for fun.
38
Have you ever led a project ?
Price legislation change in LV
39
Have you ever failed? What did you learn ?
- Failure in my work: When I was part of the Business Dev. Team at Servier, my team was in charge of making deals. A big deal failed while I was only intern in the team. I was of course not managing the project, but I really was involved in it for months. And I took it as a failure
- Personnal failure: Exchange Mexico City
40
Have you ever learnt something ?
At ESCP, when working in a group, goodwill and trust will make a group project go well or not.
41
What is your approach to successfully completing a project in the field of management and organization?
- Since the beginning of my pharmacy studies, and in all my professional experiences, I have worked in a team: when I worked in a hospital, but also when I was a volunteer in the Red Cross, in large and small teams. I think I have developed both a great team spirit, but also a great ease of integration.
- I always do what I have to do to finish my projects in time.
- I never hesitate to ask when I have a question or need help
- Besides the fact that I prefer to work in a team than alone, I think that you learn much faster and you have a better improvement when you work in a team.
42
Market Access in the region where you apply
43
Questions ?
44
Any last words ?
45
Clinical internship in China
o During pharma studies in France you have to do clinical interships, and I wanted to try and take advantage of this period to work abroad for the first time
o My university didn't have many partnerships abroad, so I had to find a internship myself
o I contacted a lot of university hospitals in Asia, one by one, and the main university hospital in Shanghai
o So I made my own luck
46
Au pair in England
I made my own luck
47
The future of healthcare?
(consulting)
- More and more AI and Machine learning in R&D
- Drug Discovery and Design
- Clinical trials, in patient recruitment
- Predictive modelling of pharmacotoxicity, allowing maybe to save time, cost or animal lives
- Maybe it will help pharma to develop drugs in less time and for smaller investment. It would:
o Help small companies to develops their drug candidates for less money, more companies will have the fundings to develop a drug
o Small R&D cost could also mean a possibility to sell new drugs in emerging market, at a lower price
- Still a lot of investments in R&D for oncology. Every year more and more on targeted therapies, more on tumor agnostic therapies “histology independent therapies”, DNA/ RNA vaccines against cancer, CART cells
- Advances in genomics and biomarkers will drive personalized medicine, offering precise treatments with fewer side effects, especially in oncology with more and more tumor agnostic therapies “histology independent therapies”, the subject of my
- Remote patient monitoring and wearable technology will expand, supporting chronic disease management and enabling hospital-at-home care
- AI and Machine learning in R&D
- More and more External development and more R&D outsourcing
- Digital tools will simplify navigation, scheduling, and access to care, enhancing customer satisfaction
48
The future of Market Access?
(consulting)
Regarder les publication de SKP
- In Europe
o In Europe, the implementation of the EU Health Technology Assessment (HTA) regulation in 2025 will standardize evidence requirements and impact pricing strategies for oncology and advanced therapies
o Early access pathways and performance-based managed entry agreements (MEAs) are gaining traction to expedite access while balancing financial risks for payers and manufacturers
o There is also the question of the high cost treatments: TTT in oncology are more and more expensive, and maybe the health authorities will think about changing their policy about expensive TTT. I say this for cancer TTT, but also for diabetes and weight loss TTT. The growing demand for GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss is a major driver of rising healthcare costs. These drugs are expensive but may reduce long-term costs by preventing complications from obesity-related diseases
o Enter emerging markets (China, Africa)
- In the US: with the new president, this is quite unpredictable
o He is reducing Medicaid fundings
He revoked the executive orders aimed at lowering drug costs
He revoked initiatives like $2 Medicare copays for generic drugs
Implementation of pending Biden-era regulations, including expanded Medicare coverage for anti-obesity medications
49
The impact of AI on market access?
(consulting)
- AI processes will maybe be used as a tool to identify trends, predict market dynamics, and optimize pricing and reimbursement strategies.
- AI will maybe be used to perform health economic modeling
- AI will maybe be used to perform predictive Analytics, for example market scenarios to inform strategic decisions.
50
The impact of Trump politics on the healthcare ?
(consulting)
In the US: with the new president, this is quite unpredictable
o He is reducing Medicaid fundings
He revoked the executive orders aimed at lowering drug costs
He revoked initiatives like $2 Medicare copays for generic drugs
Implementation of pending Biden-era regulations, including expanded Medicare coverage for anti-obesity medications
51
When was the last time you went against the trend?
52
Quelles sont vos valeurs ?
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