Vivian Frittelli Takes Over The Position Of IGBA Chair

IGBA, the International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA), representing global manufacturers of generic and biosimilar medicines, announced today that Vivian Frittelli, Chief Executive of Generic and Biosimilar Medicines of Southern Africa (GBM), is taking over the position of IGBA Chair for 2022 from Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA).

“Tremendous engagement and commitment by our member associations and their member companies continued, throughout the year, to face up to the challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, and to ensure that patients worldwide get the treatments they need”, commented the outgoing IGBA Chair, Sudarshan Jain. “Despite these disruptive times, tangible progress was made under the WHO-IGBA Memorandum of Understanding, which allowed the IGBA submission for the WHO Non-State Actor status, which aims to increase worldwide access to affordable quality treatment. IGBA continued to support, currently with 35 experts, the more important than ever scientific harmonization process within the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) and launched a very successful second version of the Global Biosimilars Week social media campaign”, Jain added. “An important transformative step was also taken this year with the establishment of an IGBA CEO Advisory Committee, composed of 13 Leaders of the major global generic and biosimilar medicines companies”, Jain emphasised.

“2021 was also the year of two far reaching IGBA publications, namely A Vision for the Global Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Industry and a Biosimilars Access Policy Blueprint covering Effective Strategies to Advance Access to Biologic Therapies for Non-Communicable Diseases”, Suzette Kox, IGBA Secretary General, added.

The incoming IGBA Chair Vivian Frittelli has been involved in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years. He brings with him decades of strong leadership and drug policy experience. “I am very pleased to take over the Chair of IGBA for the second time and look forward to building upon the strong leadership of Sudarshan Jain. Strengthened by the newly established CEO Advisory Committee, IGBA will be in a stronger position to expand its outreach relevant to its mission, priorities and operations”, commented Vivian Frittelli. “The global generic and biosimilar medicines industry has indeed a prominent role to play in delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030 and in supporting pandemic mitigation initiatives for both patient care and healthcare sustainability”, Frittelli concluded. The new IGBA Vice-Chair role has been allocated to Jonathan Kimball, Vice President of Trade and International Affairs at the U.S. Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) and Vice Chair of the IGBA International Trade and Intellectual Property Committee.

About The International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association​ IGBA:
The International Generic and Biosimilar medicines Association (IGBA) strengthens cooperation between associations representing manufacturers of generic and biosimilar medicines from around the world. Adopting a patient centric approach, IGBA works to improve patients’ access to quality-assured, safe and cost-effective medicines by promoting competition and enabling innovation in the pharmaceutical sector and sustainable economic contributions for all stakeholders. For more information, visit www.igbamedicines.org