Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

I believe that the success in my role stems from the various responsibilities I hold within the company, part of which had been externalised before I joined Novartis.

On top of my role as business partner for the different business areas of the company, I am the litigation lead, the IP lead, and also handle corporate and M&A matters. In addition, I am a member of Novartis’ supervisory board.

As the litigation lead, I am responsible for managing the company’s legal disputes, protecting its reputation and financial interests.

In my role as the IP lead, I manage locally the company’s intellectual property portfolio. This is of extremely relevance to the company, as it enables the company to maximise its assets, ensuring market exclusivity. As a concrete example, I would highlight the positive impact of implementing a strategy that also covered a public procurement challenge that allowed the company to maintain the exclusivity.

In handling corporate M&A and corporate matters, I provide legal advice to the company on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, from a local law perspective. Very recently I supported the spin-off of one of the largest companies of the group.

As a member of the supervisory board, which is composed of two externals and one internal member, I act as a link between the company and the external members of the board, providing valuable insights into the company’s operations, helping to promote transparency and accountability, and provide continuity and stability to the board. In this capacity I work closely with the board of directors to oversee the company’s operations and ensure compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. I also help identify potential legal risks and opportunities for the company.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?

It is expected that a legal team will have a strong legal background and knowledge of the law. However, in my opinion, this should be a given. A strong legal team should, then, possess other essential qualities and skills that go beyond just legal expertise.

The company expects a legal team to have business acumen: to understand its operations, industry trends, and strategic goals. It is crucial that the advice provided is not only legally compliant but also practical and aligned with the company’s objectives.

In this regard, strategic thinking is also essential to add value to the company. It is essential that the legal team is aligned with the company’s overall strategy and objectives. Identifying opportunities to streamline legal processes, develop innovative legal solutions, and identify legal risks or opportunities that may impact the company’s strategy is a critical aspect of this role.

The legal team should also be capable of enabling the company to take smart risks. This means assessing and managing legal risks effectively, taking calculated risks that don’t hold back the company’s growth and development.

Furthermore, the legal team should be able to communicate in a way that is easy to understand for non-lawyers. This requires excellent communication skills, including the ability to adapt your language to suit the audience.

What is the biggest risk to your organisation and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

One of the biggest risks to the pharmaceuticals industry, to an innovative medicines company like Novartis, is the loss of exclusivity, as it results in a loss of revenue and market share.

Therefore, the legal department must define a clear and straight forward strategy to mitigate this risk.

As part of our successful strategy, we implemented a plan to monitor the market closely, which is crucial to anticipate potential entrance at risk of generics.

In this respect, it is worth mentioning a specific strategy for a very relevant product that allied the litigation against generic companies (that were infringing the company’s IP rights) with a public procurement challenge to ensure that the company’s market exclusivity was respected. This was very challenging but rewarding work, as we were able to protect the company’s exclusivity rights, and consequently its market share and revenue.