New general manager for Roche UK
pharmafile | October 23, 2015 | Appointment | Medical Communications |
Richard Erwin has joined Roche as the new UK General Manager.
Richard’s passion for driving sustainable change and championing patient needs will be vital in navigating the challenging access environment in the UK.
“The UK is characterised by world leading physicians and centres,” says Erwin. “We have an NHS to be proud of but there are challenges in terms of patients with life threatening and rare diseases getting access to medicines. At Roche, we feel confident that we can help find solutions to deliver even better healthcare. We need to look at the clinical value our medicines bring to patients and not just focus on cost effectiveness.
“We want to build on our world-leading research to demonstrate the value of our industry, looking at real world outcomes and the societal impact of our medicines to inform decision making. In the last five years, Roche has made five new cancer medicines available and we have more than 30 new drugs in our pipeline. But all this means nothing if patients can’t benefit from them.”
Erwin joins Roche in the UK from his role as general manager in Belgium / Luxembourg, where over the last two years, he worked with clinicians and the health service to successfully overcome some of the key challenges involved in making sure patients have the medicines they need.
Richard joined Roche 27 years ago, working initially in UK sales, marketing and Clinical Operations roles before moving into European and global leadership roles. In 2001, he moved to Roche’s head office in Basel, Switzerland, and served as head of commercial development and later commercial director for the Western Europe region. He also served as general manager for Finland.
He adds: “I am excited to be returning to Roche in the UK at a time when the Government has announced its vision to make the UK the global leader in life sciences. Roche is the number one investor in healthcare research and development in the world, investing £6.2 billion globally every year. We want to work closely with the UK government and the NHS to continue developing targeted medicines that meet the biggest areas of unmet need.”
Erwin will be based at Roche’s Welwyn Garden City site in Hertfordshire, UK.
