3 Questions to our New Board Member: Michele Ravara, General Manager AbbVie Switzerland
Ensuring that patients have access to treatments as quickly as possible is crucial for improving their quality of life. How do you personally contribute to this as General Manager of AbbVie Switzerland?
At AbbVie, our vision is to ensure that all patients have equitable access to innovative therapies, and to develop new treatment options for those living with illness. That is the main reason why I come to work every day.
Our teams are committed to translating scientific breakthroughs into effective therapies and ensuring they reach the people who need them without unnecessary delay.
At the same time, I observe with concern how public debate is increasingly gravitating towards cost, rather than the broader value these therapies create for patients and the healthcare system as a whole. A treatment that prevents unnecessary hospitalizations or significantly improves quality of life is worth far more. Shifting that conversation is close to my heart.
The Swiss pharmaceutical market is considered to be extremely complex. What do you see as the greatest challenge for a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland?
The complexity is real. But I see this as an opportunity. Switzerland’s decentralized system, with its independent regulatory and approval authorities in Swissmedic and the Federal Office of Public Health, and its high quality standards make it a genuinely compelling market with serious strategic weight and great expertise.
Our greatest challenge lies in the one-sided cost containment pressure focused exclusively on medical innovation.
Other countries have lost access to new, innovative therapies by adopting an overly narrow definition of innovation. Innovation and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Preserving that balance requires collaboration: between industry, regulators, health experts, and policymakers.
As a member of Interpharma’s Board, what priorities would you like to set to address systemic challenges in the Swiss market?
I want to reframe the conversation around the value of medicines, by using language that genuinely resonates with decision-makers, payers and the public. A healthcare system that has not undergone significant reform for 30 years needs forward-looking solutions and a regulatory framework robust enough to withstand potential international pressure.
Equally significant to me is strengthening clinical research. Switzerland has extraordinary potential in this area, thanks to its universities, institutes, and talent. We need to build on that foundation and create an ecosystem that fosters innovation while remaining financially sustainable for the population.