Driving Innovation in Life Sciences: An Interview with Johanna Bexar-Hannula, CEO of Merck Finland

Significant changes are taking place in the pharmaceutical industry and its collaboration with healthcare. The pharmaceutical field and healthcare are evolving and changing. Key topics include preventive healthcare and the utilization of health data, Individualised drug treatment, innovation policy, and new technologies.

Johanna Bexar-Hannula, CEO of Merck Finland, sees individualised drug treatment as a central theme and a topic of discussion in the industry.

“I hope to see significant advances in individualised drug treatment in the coming years. Better utilization of genomic data, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence will, at best, help identify individualised drug treatment options even better in the future. The development of remote treatment options and monitoring, as well as advancements in clinical data collection technologies, will provide even better opportunities for monitoring and implementing personalized medicine.”

Although the development and implementation of new technologies are costly, Johanna Bexar-Hannula believes this development will lead to effective treatment solutions with fewer side effects.

How can the creation of innovations be enhanced?

It is important to create new innovations more efficiently. According to Bexar-Hannula, this requires cooperation between different actors in the field.

“Active interaction between researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and other industry players is the core of all innovation activities. Additionally, clarifying the regulatory environment and easing regulations, both at the EU and national levels, will encourage companies to invest in new development projects.”

Johanna Bexar-Hannula believes that the utilization of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in medical research, will accelerate the creation of innovations in the future. Certain therapeutic areas will inevitably grow due to the aging population and the increase in chronic diseases.

“Immunotherapies are expected to continue growing in cancer treatment in the near future. Similarly, new breakthroughs in the treatment of neurological diseases may very well be areas of growth and development in the future. The development of treatments for rare diseases and better identification of patients are also clearly areas of interest,” says Johanna Bexar-Hannula.

Collaboration with doctors will be facilitated by new technologies

Technologies and investments in different therapeutic areas are changing, but doctors will still need continuous education about new treatments and pharmaceutical innovations. Bexar-Hannula believes that the development of technology and its more efficient utilization will help doctors stay up-to-date with the latest treatment methods more easily.

“Especially the development of efficient information dissemination platforms and networks will help doctors in the future. The use of technological solutions, such as medical databases, artificial intelligence, and other technological solutions, will likely help doctors find and evaluate new treatment methods even better.”

Changes in the utilization of health data and various technologies, for example, will change the need for different experts and the structure of organizations in both the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare.

“The growing need for data analysis in healthcare will likely lead to increased demand for experts in data analytics and artificial intelligence. As personalized healthcare evolves, there may be a growing need for experts in genetics and molecular biology, particularly in the development of personalized treatments. With personalized healthcare, patient-centeredness will be emphasized even more. The growing amount of health data also requires experts in data security and ethical issues to ensure patient privacy and the implementation of ethical principles,” says Bexar-Hannula.

How does the pharmaceutical industry in Finland fare compared to other countries?

According to Bexar-Hannula, Finland has a strong research environment that supports pharmaceutical innovations and development. Finland's comprehensive health data and patient information systems enable large-scale studies and analyses, which, at best, support the development of new drugs and the evaluation of existing treatments.

“We have a strong tradition of collaboration between healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, which, in turn, promotes the adoption of new treatment methods and the utilization of innovations. In the future, Finland could set an even better example by investing even more strongly in research, development, and innovation activities, actively marketing them, drafting smart regulations, and actively promoting an innovation-friendly message, for example, in the EU.”

We thank CEO Johanna Bexar-Hannula for the interview and for sharing her expertise for us. Written by Riitta Rautakoura, Executive Consultant, Birn+Partners Finland.