Pharma’s next era with Josie Downey at Merck Healthcare ANZ

‘Not intended for US or Canadian viewers’.

Future pharma host, Romain Bonjean, CEO of RoseRx, sits down with Josie Downey, Managing Director of Merck Healthcare Australia and New Zealand, who brings 25 years of pharmaceutical experience, having successfully established businesses across APAC and launching life changing iconic brands. She is driven to improve the lives of patients through a relentless pursuit of solving access challenges to ensure that no patient is left behind.

They explore the difference between precision and personalised medicine, and confront the uncomfortable reality that Australians only have reimbursed access to 27% of new innovative medicines worldwide, with over 10,000 patients paying out of pocket for cancer treatments. 

Josie discusses why the PBS is not fit for purpose in the era of precision medicine, the ethical dilemma of running clinical trials without guaranteed post-trial access, and Merck's partnership with Omico that's tripling their oncology trial programme through genomic profiling.

They also dive into Merck's sophisticated AI adoption, ranked #2 globally among biopharma companies, analysing 700 billion rows of data, the ongoing debate about whether patients or HCPs are the true customer, and why digital bioethics matters more than ever.