About

Carlos Lanardonne is general counsel and compliance officer for the Latin America region at Sandoz, the generics division of global pharmaceutical company Novartis. Before joining Sandoz in May 2014 he was Novartis’ country compliance and legal head for Argentina. ‘It is a big step to go from overseeing a single country to managing the whole region’, says Lanardonne, ‘but an even bigger change is moving from the pharma division – which is the biggest division in the company and the one which has a reputation for innovative, fast-paced work – to the generics division which has the largest global reach and is the clear leader in the biosimilars sector. The legal risks, specifically related to intellectual property (IP), are completely different when it comes to generics’. The transition, he says, required a radical shift from a mentality of protecting patents to one of attacking the validity of weak patents – something few lawyers in the industry get to experience, but an experience he says Novartis is uniquely positioned to offer its staff. ‘This is without a doubt the best company for a lawyer looking to develop an understanding of the industry because it gives you an exposure to both the research-intensive pharmaceuticals perspective and the generics perspective. We only attack those patents we genuinely think are weak for legal reasons’. Upon joining Sandoz, Lanardonne’s first challenge was to build a high-performance legal team within the generics division. Of the current team of 22 – split between legal and compliance – 17 have been recruited since his arrival three years ago. Building the team from the ground up meant it had no collective history to bind it together, but Lanardonne turned this to his advantage: ‘When you start from step one you can set the rules and define the culture and everyone is happy to abide. Then it’s a case of coaching and developing the team so it becomes a true team. Building a team split around different countries is of course much more difficult than building it in one country, and it is especially difficult in Latin America because the issues we face differ so much from market to market’. To overcome the obstacles presented by physical distance, there is, he says, no substitute for face-to-face contact. Lanardonne holds monthly videoconferences to review regional topics, share best practices, and explore commercial opportunities in the region. He also holds a yearly regional meeting which brings the team together for several days to define a collective strategy. But, he says, it is not just about work. Getting each member to interact on a personal basis is just as important. ‘For me it is so interesting to see a team dynamic develop; when one person gains the trust of another person a team starts to form. It has reached the stage now where I don’t find out if the legal head in Brazil reaches out to the legal head in Argentina. They no longer need to contact me first to make the connection because they have mutual trust and have become friends’. Another major recent achievement of the legal function has been facilitating an ‘enormous quantity of business development deals’ over the past three years. Lanardonne explains: ‘Multinationals’ internal development centres focus on the European and US markets. As a result, multinational generics manufacturers in Latin America tend to have a narrow portfolio in comparison to local companies. We have responded to this challenge by shifting our focus to exploring business opportunities. For example, we made changes to the way we negotiate deals by leaving out things that didn’t make sense to the Latin American market. As a result, we went from a typical eight month negotiation process to a two to three month process, with templates already agreed. We have signed many deals as a result and proven to be a strong partner to business. The Sandoz legal and compliance teams are now working hand-in-hand with the company and generating revenue while safeguarding the enterprises’ reputation’.