With operations in over 100 countries worldwide, and employing over 51,000 staff, AstraZeneca is a global force in the pharmaceutical market. The Australian arm of the company has been in operation for more than 50 years, and invests $250 million annually in research and development.
The CEO Magazine had a conversation with Mark Fladrich, Managing Director of AstraZeneca Australia, about the changes in the company over the past couple of years, the emerging markets in China, and how it is using Australian expertise to help develop new cancer treatments.
The CEO Magazine: What changes has AstraZeneca Australia seen as a company over the past three years?
Mark: The biggest change has actually happened due to the appointment of a new CEO for AstraZeneca. His name is Pascal Soriot, and he joined AstraZeneca two years ago. The company was facing significant challenges with our patent cliff. This basically means the expiry of the intellectual property rights for any of our big products, which means generics come into the market, the price drops, and a lot of the sales of those products disappear.