3 questions to our new board member: Lauren McNamer, General Manager of Lilly Switzerland
Patients in Switzerland often wait longer for new therapies than in neighbouring countries — what needs to change?
Despite being a highly innovative country, with a proud history of pharmaceutical industry-driven economic strength, and high purchasing power, Switzerland has neglected the opportunity to keep its healthcare system prepared for the wave of breakthrough therapies which have become available in recent years – and the many more which are coming soon.
The data is clear that an access slowdown is in progress, and as meanwhile the world of international drug pricing is shifting under our feet, the KVV revision proposals currently on the table would move Switzerland even further in the wrong direction.
Switzerland has a choice to make, and I’m working hard with my team and our Interpharma colleagues to present compelling alternatives that would reward innovation, speed access to patients, and deliver on a healthier future built upon realized health outcomes from our medicines.
What does it take for Switzerland to remain Europe’s leading pharma hub — beyond research alone?
Switzerland’s attractiveness as a pharma location depends as much on policy coherence as on scientific excellence. The most urgent pressure point is Switzerland’s role as an MFN reference country, which is already creating a chilling effect on launch decisions — if companies begin deprioritizing Switzerland for early launches, the reputational and economic consequences will compound, affecting not just the industry but tax revenues, research investment, and jobs across cantons. Second, the per-capita premium model structurally limits the country’s willingness to invest in innovative medicines, and new financing mechanisms — including tax-based funding and cantonal lighthouse projects — need serious consideration.
Third, Switzerland has taken an important step forward with the creation of a national Life Science Strategy Working Group, but the work is far from done — the real test will be whether Swiss leaders translate its recommendations into concrete policy action, rather than allowing it to become a document that signals ambition without delivering change.
In this context, what do you bring to the Interpharma board from your journey across countries, roles, and therapeutic areas?
My 14 years at Lilly have taken me from pricing and reimbursement strategy in the U.S. — including leading the company’s first value-based payer arrangements — to corporate business development spanning oncology, neuroscience, immunology, and genetic medicine, and most recently to leading a commercial affiliate in Geneva at a moment of significant growth and geopolitical complexity.
That breadth means I approach Switzerland’s market access challenges not just as a local affiliate concern, but with a view across the full value chain: from how innovation is discovered and financed, to how it is priced, reimbursed, and ultimately reaches patients. And having worked across the U.S., Canada, and now Switzerland, I bring an international frame of reference that I believe is directly relevant to Interpharma’s agenda — particularly on the questions of MFN pricing, IRP reform, and what it will take to keep Switzerland a preferred launch market.