KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 – Novartis is privileged to serve as a valuable health care provider and partner in Malaysia since the 1970s, with over 40 years of presence.
It strives to become the trusted and transformative medicine leader for Malaysians, delivering innovative therapies and services that enable everyone to live longer and happier lives by focusing on three key priorities.
The first priority is to support underserved communities in Malaysia by strengthening health care accessibility through collaborations with government and key partners.
The second focuses on providing affordable medicines by leveraging shared contribution models and patient assistance programmes.
Lastly, it hopes to become the trusted partner of choice for health care providers, delivering the best outcomes for their patients.
Fostering Strategic Partnerships
Through embarking on public-private partnerships and developing physical facilities to improve patients’ access to health care services, Novartis has been pivotal in spearheading health care collaborations in Malaysia.
This includes collaborating with the Ministry of Health (MOH) on multiple initiatives. Since 2002, Novartis and MOH have helped over 2,000 CML and GIST patients in Malaysia by providing them with imatinib treatment through the global Glivec International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP).
In 2008, this programme was transformed into the Malaysian Patient Assistance Programme (MYPAP), run by a unique co-shared contribution model that is partially covered by MOH and partially contributed by Novartis, with the goal to help eligible patients with their annual treatment cost.
Together with MOH and National Heart Association Malaysia, Novartis has also launched the Xcel-HF programme to improve outcomes for heart-failure patients by supporting the implementation of discharge protocols across 20 clinics nationwide. It has also initiated the first National Heart Failure Registry to measure outcomes for heart failure.
Novartis’ commitment to improving heart failure treatment in Malaysia is also evident in its collaboration with non-profit organisation MYCare, a project that aims to improve outcomes for more than 2,000 patients across 200 retail pharmacies by doubling their medication adherence.
Beyond external partnerships, Novartis was also able to providing support to over 23 markets and over 500 associates from Kuala Lumpur, where Novartis Global Shared Service Centre (NGSC) and Novartis Capability Centre (NGSC KL) are strategically located given Kuala Lumpur’s prominence as the next digital hub.
NGSC KL is part of the Customer and Technology Solutions (CTS) organisation, which delivers a variety of solutions to Novartis’ divisions and organisations worldwide through leading technologies and digital expertise.
Developing Research Capabilities
Novartis invested US$1.22 million into improving its research and development capabilities across multiple therapeutic areas, namely oncology, opthamology, neuroscience, immunology, dermatology, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism.
To date, the team has successfully invested and completed 38 local clinical trials and reached 194 patients, with more than 16 ongoing real-world evidence studies with partners in oncology, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, ischemic heart disease and neuroscience.
Going Big On Data And Digital
Novartis is also committed to digital adoption, empowering associates to embrace data science, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies to deliver transformative innovations and create better patient outcomes.
It aims to become a leading, focused medicines company powered by advanced therapy platforms.
Recently, Novartis won the Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards in Healthcare and Life Sciences 2021 for The Platform — Novartis’ big data and analytics cloud platform that ingests and unifies data across its product life cycle.
The company has also leveraged technology as a critical tool in helping associates cope with changes in working culture during the pandemic.
With the advent of remote working, Novartis launched two key technology-based platforms ‘Choice with Responsibility’ and ‘Energised for Life’ to help associates navigate the radical shift in ways of working and boost their mental well-being.
Driving Financial And Social Impact
Novartis contributed a total of US$238.3 million GDP in 2020, of which 11 per cent stems from research development.
In terms of social impact, it has contributed a total of US$221.3 million, of which US$210.5 million was through its products.
It has also helped to achieve 9767 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for one million patients across 65 brands, shaping a healthier
Malaysian population.
To support frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Novartis contributed over RM3 million to Mercy Malaysia for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for government hospitals, and donated 10,000 units of hand sanitisers to Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
Continuing from these achievements, Novartis aims to be the a leading multinational corporation in Malaysia by 2023, and the trusted partner for health care workers, patients and the government.
It is also committed to championing new ways of working moving forward, envisioning a hybrid future of work with the launch of its new office in Imazium.
