Pharm Remi Adeseun is the new country manager (West-Africa) of QuintilesIMS, a multinational healthcare information management and clinical research organisation. In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, Pharm Adeseun speaks on his new appointment and the plans of QuintilesIMS for the Nigerian health industry.
Tell us about QuintilesIMS, what does it mean?
QuintilesIMS is a merger of two global companies; Quintiles and IMS health. Quintiles started as far back as in the 1960s in the UK while IMS health on the other hand started in the 1950s in the United States. Quintiles specialise in the area of clinical research, starting from phase 1 to phase 2 & 3 clinical trials; so it can be regarded as a clinical research organisation while IMS is a health information, technology and data management company.
QuintilesIMS exist in over 100 countries and has staff of over 50,000 with an information resource database calculated in hundreds of terabytes, it is so huge as it covers many countries. The company is just coming into Nigeria although they have attempted before now with a team coming in from Ghana and doing occasional primary market research but now we coming in fully. Many multinational from my initial talks with them are very glad that IMS is coming to Nigeria because they know the value of industry data in doing a marketing plan.
Could you describe your new role at QuintilesIMS?
My new role is that of a Country Manager for West-Africa region. I joined the company, Quintiles IMS on the first of March 2017. Using my pedigree as an industry player and more importantly as one who recognizes the importance data plays in effective planning. Having garnered over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical and health industry, and as a person who is very conversant with the needs and challenges in the industry as well as being a healthcare sector leader in general; exco member of the healthcare federation of Nigeria and more recently as someone who has worked with public health as a member of several national committees.
As country manager for West Africa, what is the range of your operations?
My position as country manager will focus on Nigeria and Ghana the major market of the English speaking parts of West Africa before moving to the other smaller English speaking parts of West Africa which include Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Gambia. The French speaking parts of West Africa on the other hand is being covered by my colleague who is the country manager for North-African region and he is resident in the Ivory-Coast.
In the next five years, what is your vision for QuintilesIMS in Nigeria?
We intend to become the service provider of choice for those who are keen in understanding the dynamics of the health sector for different purposes (investment purposes), providing go to market strategy for pharma products, and other areas of healthcare such as treatment, information management etc.Our philosophy is to help our clients with data management and whatever information needs they have.
Has QuintilesIMS got a strategic plan in relating with the Nigerian government?
Our strategy is to understand the nature of our customer. The government as a customer has limited resources and in exhaustible needs. So we walk with development partners to finance products that we co-conceive with the government – for instance, we plan to provide them advisory on local manufacturing capacity. We have done this for other countries such as India and this week March 16, we plan to share this with development partners group that Nigeria is about doing this, but where is the resource to pay for it? But you who have shown interest in Nigeria’s health system have the resources, so we link them with the government with the framework for engagement.
An example of such programme is the Global Health Support in Ghana which has been of tremendous benefit to the Ghanaian health insurance industry. We will also encourage the ‘Nigerian’ government to contribute or make a financial commitment to such programmes because sometimes people don’t appreciate fully free things in which someone else is paying for it. In the national budget there is a provision for the national health insurance policy trust that says about 1% minimum of the budge on health care should be devoted towards research on healthcare which can carter for such development programmes.
Will our government be interested in such developmental programmes?
From my early discussion with the health minister and the director of health research and statistics, they are very keen and optimistic about this development and he has indicated his willingness to meet with my general manager, (GM of QuintilesIMS for Africa, Middle East and Asia).
