Bertrand Verwee – International Health Policy Leader

Roche, Basel (Switzerland)

Bertrand Verwee is an Economist specialised in Industrial, Public and Health Economics, passionate about bringing new treatments to people with rare diseases. In his current role he is focussed on supporting advocacy efforts for rare disease communities with a view to enabling rapid, broad and sustainable access to innovative treatments in a patient-centric holistic care environment. To achieve this, he leans on his wide and diverse professional experience in the life sciences industry. He started as Market Researcher analysing patient needs and therapeutic opportunities in different disease areas, generating insights on how to bring optimal treatment solutions to unmet patient needs. He then moved on to national, European and Global Marketing roles, creating successful marketing strategies with a sharp focus on bringing fully integrated solutions to patient needs, for several life sciences companies (UCB, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Movetis, Shire, InterMune). He brought several products to market leadership or improved the company’s leadership position. He developed his passion for public affairs while working on international health policy development during a global public health urgency in infectious disease. He considers himself lucky to be active in health policy development, a key strategic function focussing on healthcare system improvements that will enable patients to benefit from innovative healthcare as fast as possible. As he states it: “It is incredibly inspiring to work on the implementation of access solutions that will bring real meaningful change for society, the company and patients alike.” A recent policy development project in rare disease he collaborated on received international acclaim and awards.