Healthcare giant MSD, known as Merck, sees a strong growth potential of the UAE pharmaceutical market and plans to expand in the Gulf region over the next five years, according to a top official of the company.
Currently worth $1.5 billion annually, the UAE pharmaceutical market is growing at 14 per cent annually according to IMS Health data, leading Andrew Miles, MSD's managing director in the Gulf region, to admit that the company "expects to continue growing in the future."
MSD is the second-largest healthcare company in the world and a global leader in consumer products and animal care. MSD Gulf operates in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. The company ranks among the leading pharmaceutical companies in the region.
"We're always looking at business models to ensure we have the right organisation to offer the best quality of healthcare for the customers we have. That may involve significant expansion in the future," Miles told Khaleej Times in an interview.
The comments come as the world -- and the UAE specifically -- faces up to a burgeoning diabetes epidemic, a disease which MSD is leading the field in terms of treatments with millions of patients around the world using its drug Januvia.
Indeed, the figures for diabetes in this region are astonishing: one in every five people has Type II diabetes in the UAE, the second highest rate of diabetes in the world. If the disease -- which has been described as an "epidemic" -- is not tackled, by 2030, one in every three people in the country will have to live with it. Currently, 12 per cent of all deaths worldwide are related to diabetes. "This clearly is a major mandate for any major healthcare organisation, diabetes is a global issue. This is forcing every government to take steps to ensure people are taking it seriously," Miles said.
Shockingly, the region spends $5.5 billion annually on diabetes, which accounts for 14 per cent of its total healthcare expenditure. Worldwide, the cost was $376 billion in 2010, and this is expected to skyrocket to $490 billion by 2030 if the disease continues to increase at its current rate. To help combat the disease, MSD is working on several initiatives with the UAE authorities.
"We identify what the most pressing healthcare issues and needs, and work on them in conjunction with partners such as the UAE government through various programmes," added Miles, explaining that MSD's commitment to improving the lives of people with diabetes through pioneering drug development was only one part of the company's efforts.
MSD is spearheading a wider programme of initiative to tackle every facet of diabetes -- from raising awareness of what people can do to reduce their risk of developing the disease, to helping make sure that people with diabetes get diagnosed properly, ensuring they get the right treatment and then are able to maintain that treatment ongoing.
"Recently we launched a cookbook with the government of Abu Dhabi, with healthy and tasty recipes to help improve people's diets. We distribute it to schools and other entities. Education is obviously key. We also collaborate with scientific leaders in training healthcare specialists as we need to make sure the maximum amount of people are prepared to tackle the disease. For instance, we have been training approximately 80 nurses across the Gulf region, so they can serve and counsel diabetes patients better," Miles explained.
"We make sure we are tailoring our plans to the local community. At MSD, we believe it's important to think global but act local," added Miles, who praised the UAE government's action in combating the disease. "Awareness is very high in the UAE. The government has ambitious goals to ensure the disease is tackled, as the cost to society is high, both in financial and social terms."
Type II diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is when the amount of insulin produced by the body is insufficient or inadequate leading to high glucose levels in the blood, which can damage blood vessels and nerves, and in some cases can cause blindness.
Fasting during Ramadan can have dangerous consequences on the health of Type II diabetes sufferers. This is why as, part of its plan to offer tailored healthcare to patients in the region, MSD also presented, during the World Diabetes Congress in Dubai last week, a study on how Januvia has helped many Muslims living with the disease maintain their glucose levels while during Ramadan.
"We're at last offering an option to patients," notes Miles.
MSD will also share its latest research on the link between cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes during the congress. And the company has chosen the UAE as one of the first countries in the world where it will launch a new drug which helps to treat both diabetes and cholesterol. This means a single pill will be enough to treat both diseases at the same time, helping patients who find it hard to take too many pills simultaneously.
Source: Khaleej Times