Sanofi’s managing director of UK & Ireland Steve Oldfield is to co-chair a government/industry group on medicines access.
Oldfield, who has served in his position at Sanofi since 2009, will work alongside the Department of Health’s Giles Denham to lead the medicines access group (MAG) – a sub-group of the ministerial industry strategy group, which brings together the biopharma industry and government in the UK.
The MAG meets four times a year to discuss high-level medicines access issues, and includes stakeholders from NICE, the National Commissioning Board and patients groups in addition to industry and government members.
Oldfield, who replaces UCB’s Matthew Speers in the role, has previous experience in UK medicines access at a national level, helping to develop the National Metrics Report, which evaluated NICE-approved medicines and their usage and uptake within the NHS.
Commenting on his appointment, Oldifeld praised the work of his successor, but said there was still more to be done.
He said: “Looking ahead to the coming year, I want to push the group forward further still and ensure that we make clear at the highest levels of government that new, life changing medicines are all too often not reaching patients in the UK.
“I am particularly interested in ensuring that the findings and recommendations from the National Metrics Report, and subsequent commentaries on it, result in robust action plans to address the barriers to medicines.”
The CEO of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Stephen Whitehead welcomed the appointment, stating Oldfield will do an “outstanding job at representing our industry”.