A meeting with Thibault Desmarest (BBA 1997), President of GSK France

Thibault Desmarest graduated from the EDHEC International BBA programme after first studying biology, and for 2 years has been President of the French division of GSK, the British biopharmaceutical firm which ranks among the world’s leading players in prescription drugs and vaccines. Treat, care and protect: three essential words in his career so far, punctuated with long spells at Astra Zeneca and Sanofi, bringing him from Paris to the US and later to Tokyo. Here he describes the specificities of the French pharmaceutical market within a global economic ecosystem driven by innovation and the personalisation of healthcare approaches. 

How would you summarise your current position and responsibilities?

I’m President of GSK France, with responsibility for the subsidiary’s pharmaceutical business and therefore also head of the Country Executive Board, which brings together the leaders of all our businesses in France: 3 production sites, ViiV Healthcare lab (100% dedicated to HIV) and some key support roles within the organization.

We are the only European subsidiary (outside the UK) with 3 production sites in our national territory: 1 in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Nord), our technological crown jewel which manufactures many of the vaccines in our portfolio; 1 in Évreux specialising in the treatment of respiratory diseases; and 1 in Mayenne which manufactures antibiotics for more than 100 countries and supplies around 30% of the French market. The head office in Rueil-Malmaison is where all the other commercial, medical and support roles are based. I’m responsible for ensuring that the subsidiary’s annual revenue and growth objectives are met, representing GSK in dealing with healthcare and public authorities and also embodying the GSK France culture and ensuring it is dynamic across our 3400-strong staff.

I also have a seat on the board of directors of leem, a professional body for drug companies whose directors regularly meet to support and develop the pharmaceutical industry in France, representing a significant share of GDP (nearly 100,000 jobs in 271 industrial sites). Our wish is for French patients to be able to access innovative products as easily as other Europeans. 

What makes access to medication different in France?

Healthcare systems differ from one country to another. France has one of the best systems of coverage and reimbursement in the world. We are currently seeing a wave of new personalised therapies, which marks real progress for patients, but they cost more and more to develop and often take more than 10 years to be launched. Within the pharmaceutical industry, the R&D budget is much higher than in other industries, generally 10% of revenue, and it is 20% at GSK. It is then up to the government to decide the price of medication launched on the market. An international business such as GSK does everything it can to make sure that countries like France can access the latest therapeutic innovations. But for a foreign firm to invest in France, such therapeutic innovations and the timeframe to access the market must be competitive and made attractive by the authorities. 

In France, we have the lowest prices in Europe. And the timeframe to launch new drugs on the market is longer than in other European countries (5 times longer than in Germany, for example). At leem we are currently working on these issues together with the public authorities to improve the situation. 

Furthermore, there is a disconnect between the public budget for medication – more or less unchanged from one year to the next – and the needs of the French population, leaving very little room for new therapeutic innovations to be covered.  

France must also remain attractive in terms of clinical research so that many patients can be given first access to innovation and to enable doctors to use products in clinical trials. We should welcome the new systems recently put in place to allow certain products to be launched on the market before they have been officially approved or reimbursed. These aim to address previously unsatisfied medical needs and provide treatments to patients who need them as quickly as possible.

Is innovation also about anticipating pathologies that don’t yet exist?

Innovation is about constantly researching in our area of expertise, where we have the best skill sets: respiratory illness, vaccines and both specialized and general medical treatments. If we spread ourselves too thinly, we reduce our chances of succeeding. In an increasingly global environment, we are constantly looking for better-performing treatments or ones that target new diseases. To accelerate our research, we can’t pin all of our hopes just on our own R&D, which is why we regularly acquire smaller firms developing specific molecules. One of the priority therapeutic areas for GSK is infectious diseases, because vaccination remains one of the best means to prevent many diseases and at the same time significantly reduce the carbon footprint of countries, by reducing the number of hospitalisations, journeys and drug manufacturing. 

Has the environment become a priority concern in the pharmaceutical industry?

In a position like mine, and in an industry like healthcare, overlooking CSR would be an error because I’m convinced that human health is intrinsically linked to the health of our planet. As soon as I arrived, I set out to make GSK France the primary contributor to the reduction of the Group’s global carbon footprint. Ventolin (used to treat the symptoms of asthma and COBP – chronic obstructive broncho-pneumopathy) currently represents 50% of the firm’s overall carbon footprint because it contains a greenhouse gas. Clinical trials are ongoing at our site in Évreux to develop a new formula with a low-carbon-impact gas. This new gas requires us to change the whole manufacturing process and build a new factory. This means investment of up to €350 million. The new low-carbon formula, which will be produced in France for the French and global markets, has the potential to reduce the firm’s global carbon footprint by 40%, thanks to this product alone. This truly is a home-grown source of pride!

Going forward, how can GSK stand out?

It is by combining science (innovation), technologies and talented people that we will be able to get ahead of today’s illnesses and those of the future. This is our ambition – to remain one of the leading laboratories worldwide. 

At GSK our staff have cutting-edge expertise in respiratory illness, immunology, oncology, haematology and HIV, and we are developing highly targeted and unique therapies in endometrial cancer for example. 

We invest hugely in new technologies and are currently recruiting in machine learning and artificial intelligence. We are also working with a network of expert firms in this area, because it is important to point out that nowadays one-third of the available data worldwide is linked to healthcare. Information processing makes it possible to speed up product development. Previously a molecule had to be developed in a laboratory, tested on animals and then humans. Nowadays, treatments can be modelled and, above all, personalised. In endometrial cancer, for example, there had been no therapeutic innovation for 30 years. We managed to develop the first immunotherapy for this type of tumour. This is a major step forward in terms of personalised medicine because, by targeting the characteristics of the patient’s cells, the product helps restore antitumor activity in the immune system. Combined with chemotherapy, this therapeutic solution offers new hope to patients by prolonging their lifetime significantly and even reducing the risk of death in almost 70% of cases.

I don’t think humans will one day be replaced by artificial intelligence. However, it is a combination of humans and artificial intelligence that will replace humans quite simply.

Another important element in the competitiveness of firms, something I learned through my experiences abroad, is underpinned by the quality and diversity of staff teams. With diverse teams, enriched by different experiences and cultures, if you also favour inclusive leadership, then you can draw on different opinions and find the best solution for the firm. 

Is innovation accessible to all?

Naturally, our model brings these innovations to those who can afford them, but at the same time we give many countries all of our patents for drugs against HIV for local production at zero cost. Free of charge, we also provide NGOs with our vaccine against malaria, which is partly manufactured in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, to protect those who unfortunately cannot afford to buy it. There would be nothing worse than a 2-tier world where only rich countries could secure the proper care. 

What would improve access to medication?

First of all it is important to have a Europe-wide approach. For example, notices could be simplified with the use of a QR code, with generic packaging indicating only the name of the product or associated molecule so that products could be moved more easily from one country to another, without any divergence between legislation or languages. Brussels is currently working on such an approach.

We could strengthen our flexibility by consolidating a European industrial tool, one that would be then supported by a certain level of contribution at national level. The advantage of having GSK factories in France should not be to the detriment of other countries, especially whenever there are tensions in the supply chain. It would be a huge error to engage in national sovereignty without European sovereignty. It is above all European sovereignty that will enable us to manage potential product tensions from one country to another or even within each individual country.