Profile of a Drug Maker King (Constant Gardner)

[Guest guest]

EXCELLENT movie by the way and hardly 'fiction' as he says.

Sheri

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1764391,00.html

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Big Pharma's constant Garnier

Jean-Pierre Garnier refutes media images of a ruthless industry and enjoys

'changing the world'. He talks to Wachman

Sunday April 30, 2006

The Observer

Hollywood blockbuster The Constant Gardener portrayed drugs companies as

cruel, secretive organisations that test their medicines on the impoverished

masses of the Developing World.

Jean-Pierre Garnier, head of GlaxoKline, Europe's biggest

pharmaceutical company, hasn't seen the film, but he has read the book.

'It's complete fiction, presented as reality and the public don't fall for

it,' he claims. 'I am sure the movie is entertaining, but it has nothing to

do with the real world, not even 10 per cent of it.'

Garnier, who is universally known as JP, gets a buzz from working in the

pharmaceutical industry, which he describes as 'intellectually stimulating

and a force for good'. A thick-skinned and gregarious individual, he is

unfazed by the periodic uproar over the high price of some drugs, especially

in developing countries, where the Aids epidemic is out of control. 'We are

supplying drugs for no profit whatsoever to countries in Africa and have

licensed people to make low-cost, generic alternatives,' says Garnier.

'But that means the price of medicines in the developed world must be

higher. Our costs are rising: the average bill for developing a new drug -

from its inception in our laboratories until it reaches the market - is

$1bn. We must act commercially, otherwise we would have to cut research and

development, and then the business would wither and die.'

But Garnier admits pharmaceutical companies such as GSK face a public

relations and moral dilemma in that they must serve the interests of

shareholders on the one hand and would-be patients on the other.

More than 80 per cent of medicines made by the international pharmaceutical

giants are consumed by the world's richest countries, which make up just 20

per cent of the planet's population.

The development of a bird flu vaccine is instructive. GSK has been working

on one with support from governments in North America and Europe and expects

to begin mass production by the end of the year. Garnier says it is the rich

governments of the world that are placing advance orders, fearing a backlash

from their electorates if they are seen to be complacent. There has been

less interest from developing countries - many of which have neither the

will nor the cash to invest.

Garnier - who was born in Normandy, France, but lives mostly in the US when

he isn't travelling, which 'takes up 70 per cent of my life' - rebuts

suggestions that drugs companies are the baddies of the corporate world.

He says that the situation in Africa is more complex than 'the media

sometimes suggests'. Vital infrastructure and support - transport, clinics

and staff - are not up and running in many places - so treating killer

diseases such as Aids is often impossible. And then there is the problem of

ignorance. 'When I was in Africa recently, someone put round a story that

you can cure yourself of Aids if you sleep with a virgin. So a baby was

raped and died later from internal injuries. It's shocking stuff.'

Since taking over as chief executive of GSK after the merger of Kline

and Glaxo in 2000, Garnier has often courted controversy. Most memorable was

the row over his 'fat-cat pay package' which was thrown out by irate

investors - the first time that the boss of a FTSE-100 company had suffered

such ignominy.

He also had to contend with remarks from former head of Glaxo, Sir

Sykes who cast doubt on the benefits of the merger between Kline and

Glaxo. Garnier responds: 'That was two years ago, and since then, our share

price has risen by 40 per cent. He [sykes] was misrepresented in that all he

was saying was that it would take time for the merger to work.'

Although GlaxoKline's shares have motored - the stock price jumped last

week after a good set of figures - there are those in the City who are

sceptical whether new medicines will make up for nearly £2.5bn of lost

revenue from the loss of patents on some of the group's best-selling drugs.

But Garnier says that the pipeline is bulging.

GSK, along with its peers, faces an increasingly difficult regulatory

environment following fears that the authorities may have been too lax in

approving new drugs which were later found to have unacceptable side

effects.

But Garnier believes that the pendulum has swung too far: 'the US Food and

Drugs Administration has been 'spooked' by Congressman on Capitol Hill

demanding better safeguards, but with their eye on winning votes. Sometimes

drugs have been withdrawn because there is a small percentage risk of

something going wrong, but many patients disagree. They say: " I don't care

because that medicine made me feel so much better. Now I can't get it. Bring

it back, now! " '

Being the head of a huge pharma company such as GSK is not for the

faint-hearted. Garnier faces pressure on several fronts: the City, where

shareholders fret about replacing drugs that lose patent protection after as

little as nine years; politicians and regulators, who maintain a watchful

eye over safety and efficacy; and public opinion, which occasionally views

the world of pharma with suspicion and distaste.

But Garnier loves his job. 'I wouldn't be satisfied in an industry that was

about selling cars or cans of drink. Healthcare is intellectually satisfying

and important to the wellbeing of so many people. You are changing the

world.'

Garnier, who is 58, retires in autumn of 2007 when he reaches the age of 60.

He has no idea what he will do after he leaves: 'but when I go, I think I

would want to do something entirely different. Being a non-exec on three or

four boards wouldn't work for me.'

Although he is immensely wealthy, Garnier doesn't live it up when he isn't

working. 'I don't go for Clinton weekends, I spend my vacations in a tiny

village in the Alps. I don't drive fast cars.'

Nor does Garnier have mentors or idols. 'Top people put on their pants the

same way I do. If I admire anyone, it's the blue-collar worker who works

hard to put his kids through college, retires and dies two years later.'

The CV

Name Jean-Pierre Garnier

Postion CEO of GlaxoKline

Born October 1947

Education MBA, Stanford University, California. PhD, Pharmacology,

Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg

Career 1983, director of US pharmaceutical division of Schering-Plough;

1995, chief executive of Kline Beecham; 2000, chief executive of

Kline; 2001, chief executive of GlaxoKline

Family Married with three daughters

Hobbies Tennis, squash and reading

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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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