MSD has been active in Serbia since 1996. From day one it has worked to establish a partnership with the state to provide the most up to date and innovative therapies for patients in Serbia
Serbia has come a long way in access to innovative medicines in the last few years, with increased investment that has resulted in much better outcomes for patients. Where we are today is revealed by Ms Sandra Marinković.
In the U.S, where your company originates, innovative cutting- edge therapies are rapidly becoming available to patients. How can Serbia reduce the lag behind developed countries in this regard?
— All healthcare systems around the world aim to provide mechanisms for long-term sustainability of healthcare costs, while at the same time enabling new healthcare technologies and better outcomes. In parallel with investing in the development of new medicines, MSD is dedicated to making them widely available to all patients who need them.
Through joint efforts of the state and private sector, Serbia has shown progress in the availability of innovative medicines, which has brought us closer to European and world treatment standards. If we are to see a positive effect on disease outcomes as soon as possible, especially mortality from malignant diseases in which Serbia unfortunately still trails countries of the European Union, we need continuity of investment both in new therapeutic options and in the prevention and early detection of diseases.
A major breakthrough in the prevention of cervical cancer took place last year, when children were immunised at the expense of the RFZO against infections caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the main cause of this disease. Over 30,000 Serbian children have received this vaccine so far, which gives us hope that cervical cancer, which takes more than 600 lives of women every year in our country, will soon become a rare disease.
How do you at MSD struggle to achieve a balance between private and business life?
— The pace of today’s life and high stress levels pose great risks to all of us, regardless of age or gender. That’s why MSD makes extra efforts to listen to the needs of its employees and to respond to them with new solutions that allow a greater degree of flexibility. In future we will need even more such practices so that each of us can achieve our ambitions with a better balance between our professional and private lives.
In just over a year, more than 30,000 Serbian children have received the HPV vaccine
The first step is to accept diversity among employees, and create a dynamic, creative environment that stimulates productivity and individual development. I believe that MSD, with its many initiatives through employee groups such as the Women’s Network, Rainbow Alliance and Next Generation Network, is well on its way to achieving these changes.
You find it important to leave a strong and clear mark and make people’s lives better?
— Our corporate culture is characterized by innovation, employee support, and a positive impact on the communities in which we operate. It is very important for us to actively contribute to the development of our health system and that is why we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Serbian Government to support the development of the BIO4 campus, which has the ambition to be one of the leading incubators of biotechnology projects in this part of Europe. This type of public-private partnership enables financial and professional support to strengthen the capacity of our research institutes, while it will enable MSD to gain better insight into both the outcomes of health interventions and the specific unmet needs of patient groups or populations.
We have special progress and expectations in a project with the Institute for Artificial Intelligence which, among other things, has the potential to put Serbia on the map of countries leading the way in making evidence-based decisions.