Over the years, the pharmaceutical industry has corroborated the importance of knowing how to adapt to a changing and versatile context. Social, economic and welfare needs have evolved and transformed in recent decades, forcing the industry to incorporate flexibility into how it interacts with the new and renewed needs of society, where speed, efficiency and democratization prevail.
Today, we live in a globalized system, where health policies and the approaches different political systems employ for the basis of their welfare are extremely volatile and unstable. This has made it more difficult to establish a cross-cutting narrative on something essential and fundamental – the health of people around the world. In this scenario, the pharmaceutical industry faces several different challenges, including highlighting the added value of its work beyond its much-questioned reputation, driven by critical voices. It must also foster dialogue among industry agents and institutions to work together with the end goal of building a better world for everyone.
In Spain, for example, the health system is considered one of the essential cornerstones of the nation’s welfare; however, on many occasions, investment policies, innovation and health policies as a whole have not responded to the scenarios in which we find ourselves.
The Spanish pharmaceutical industry has not only had to wrestle with economic difficulties and changing policies in the country over the recent decades, but has also had to face the global “infodemic” – an abundance of information, often not very thorough. This has led to key challenges such as medical misinformation, which is highly present in the discourse among citizens, inevitably forcing the various agents within the health and pharmaceutical systems to change their respective actions and decisions.
In a new paradigm, one where patients are greatly empowered and able to make informed decisions at the political, economic and social levels thanks to greater access to relevant information, it is essential for the industry to identify its immediate challenges and find ways to address them actively to foster real trust among citizens.
Accordingly, this article addresses some of these challenges and outlines insights to help companies handle these varying scenarios.
