• David A. Ricks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eli Lilly and Company, takes over as President of IFPMA from Ian C. Read, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer.
• New President to highlight the need for forward-looking policies that encourage innovation, as well as strengthened health systems in order to sustain the last-half century’s hard-won global health gains.
• The outgoing President leaves a legacy of biopharmaceutical collaborative firsts: Access Accelerated, Pat-INFORMED and AMR Industry Alliance.

Geneva, 4 December 2018 – David A. Ricks, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eli Lilly and Company, was elected new President of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) for a two-year term. He succeeds Ian C. Read, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer.

The IFPMA President provides leadership to the international body representing R&D-based biopharmaceutical companies and associations, which advocates for biopharmaceutical innovation and health progress around the world. IFPMA holds official relations with the United Nations and partners with the global health community to find sustainable solutions that improve health.

Reflecting on his term as IFPMA President, Ian C. Read said: “In addition to its contribution to innovation, the biopharmaceutical industry is pioneering unique collaborative initiatives that address current and future global health challenges. In the last two years, we have launched several collaborations that hold great promise. We helped create Access Accelerated – in which more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies are partnering with governments, civil society, the World Bank and UICC to tackle the growing burden of non-communicable diseases in low and middle-income countries. We created the AMR Industry Alliance comprising 100 companies – the largest private-sector coalition to provide sustainable solutions to curb AMR. We also recently launched Pat-INFORMED, another groundbreaking partnership between the biopharmaceutical industry and WIPO, designed to make data on the patent status of the most commonly used medicines easily accessible so that procurement agencies can more easily find the patent status of medicines anywhere in the world. It is only by leveraging our collective experience, skills, resources and networks that we will be able to achieve lasting change”.

David A. Ricks will hold the IFPMA presidency in 2019 and 2020, a period where the focus of the global health community will be on tackling the pressures on national and regional health care budgets that come from a growing ageing population and ongoing economic challenges, combined with the desire to expand health care system offerings. High on the IFPMA agenda for the next two years will be Universal Health Coverage, incentivizing innovation, meeting the chronic health needs of an ageing world population and stepping up the power of private-public partnerships.

Myriad medical advances over the last 50 years have extended human lifespans. The biopharmaceutical industry has played a unique and important role in delivering better health for millions of people across the world, transforming the outlook for patients living with serious, debilitating and sometimes fatal diseases like HIV, cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and hepatitis C. David A. Ricks said: “We need to redouble efforts to avoid undermining the last-half century’s hard-won gains in health. Our industry is committed to develop medicines and vaccines that help people live longer, healthier, more productive lives. We are also committed to work in partnership with the public and private sectors to develop evidence-based and forward-looking solutions that improve health and encourage innovation”.

David A. Ricks will continue to be supported by the two IFPMA Vice Presidents, Dr Severin Schwan, Chief Executive Officer, Roche Group, and Dr Isao Teshirogi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Shionogi & Co. Ltd.

About IFPMA

IFPMA represents the innovative pharmaceutical industry at the international level, engaging in official relations with the United Nations and multilateral organizations. Our vision is to ensure that scientific progress translates into the next generation of medicines and vaccines that deliver a healthier future for people everywhere.

To achieve this, we act as a trusted partner, bringing our members' expertise to champion pharmaceutical innovation, drive policy that supports the research, development, and delivery of health technologies, and create sustainable solutions that advance global health.

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Media Contact

Elliot Dunster e.dunster@ifpma.org