Living the Dream

What is the history of Roche’s presence in the Middle East, and the significance of Dubai in terms of operations in the region?

We have been active in the Middle East for many years. Via our partners and distributors, we take care of distribution, customer support, and logistics across the region. The organization that supports these distributors across the world is located in Mannheim, and the marketing support, service support, trainers, and applications are directed from Mannheim. The extremely good experience we have had with the development of our business in the Middle East region led us in 2011 to change the setup of how we distribute our products here, and how we can become a company that is closer to its distribution partners and customers in the region. We have therefore decided to open an office and management center in Dubai. This center will take over marketing responsibilities, service, support, training, logistics, and quality management, as well as all other necessary activities to be closer to our customers in the region. This allows us to develop solutions for our clients in a much more customized way than is possible when far away, especially when things in this region are dependent on very specific conditions such as the weather, like the logistics process.

Why did you decide that now is the right time to open up in Dubai?

We decided it at this time because after a long period, during which we were very fortunate to experience double-digit growth year after year, we felt that in order to be able to continue at the same pace we needed to be closer to our clients. Customers want to see that you are easily reachable. In 2011 we decided that it was the right time, and we began to build up our management center for the whole Middle East region. Now, we’re ready to go.

How large will your new base in Jebel Ali be?

By 2013 we will have approximately 50 people working in different areas: marketing, marketing support, quality management, safety, training, technical services, IT, and finance. We believe that this is just the beginning because the potential here is great, and customers expect their suppliers to offer them the latest products. There is no compromise here on quality. There are no differences between what we offer in the Middle East and what we offer in the US, Japan, and Western Europe. Customers want to build their own solutions now. The customer indicates his improvement needs and we discuss together the specifications of the new clinical laboratory, and we build it, first as a concept, then in reality. We call it “Dreamlab.” In Abu Dhabi we are currently building one of the largest highly automated laboratories in the whole region. It is a laboratory that can be showcased globally, and will be top of the line.

What is your product development plan?

Our first goal is to get our presence known and strengthen our commitment to investing in the region. Our second goal is to promote our new products. Dreamlab covers all the needs of a central laboratory of a hospital, or a reference laboratory. We are also launching new products that are important in the area of oncology. We offer these products to oncology centers across the region. For the first time we also offer fully automatic histopathology through our primary pathology system called “Symphony,” which allows a user, in a fully-automated way, to handle a large portion of the workload in a pathology lab. This is a very important part in the diagnosis process for cancer patients. Another area is molecular diagnostics and applied science in the area of sequencing, which is a very important area today. Furthermore, in this area there are projects for genomics, genomic sequencing, and life science research ongoing in Saudi Arabia and throughout the whole region.

What have been the trends and demands for products in the UAE?

The strongest demand is for fully automatic central clinical laboratories. What many are looking for are platforms that cover the broadest possible parameter spectrum, in order to consolidate the workload of many different instruments into one central laboratory. We are very pleased with the outcome. We also see that the medical and healthcare systems in hospitals are becoming increasingly interested in adopting point-of-care solutions to be closer to their patients. This should be connected with the central laboratory information system in order to handle the urgent diagnostic needs of wards.

Is personalized health care (PHC) a key strategy for you?

PHC is a key differentiator for Roche, as a pioneer over the last 10 years in developing this important new field of patient diagnosis and treatment. In 2011 we were extremely successful in launching a new personalized drug therapy called Zelboraf to treat patients with metastatic malignant melanoma. Zelboraf was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an accelerated process because of the clear benefits for patients. Clinical studies showed that Zelboraf was unique in slowing down the growth of cancer and even helping patients carrying a BRAF-V600-Mutation live longer. At the same time we also launched the companion diagnostics called cobas® 4800 BRAF V600 Mutation Test, which helps the oncologist to select the patients that will benefit from the therapy. This is important for the doctors, as they want to know how to best treat patients through access to state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures, as well as for the patient who expects the right treatment. As the drug is difficult to develop and produce, we all want it to be provided to patients who will really benefit, so the healthcare system is also more effective with the limited resources it has.

© The Business Year – March 2012