Joaquin Rodrigo, general director of Sandoz Spain and Portugal, introduces the company’s highly diversified generics and biosimilars portfolio in the region, gives his thoughts on Spain’s generics market, and outlines the rationale behind the creation of a national biosimilars association, BioSim.   Can you please start by introducing Sandoz and its presence in Spain? Sandoz is a highly diversified company in Spain, with a strong mixture of generics and biosimilars in our portfolio. Our portfolio is extremely comprehensive, and we are one of the key players in the biosimilars market. I manage both the Spanish and the Portuguese affiliates, which employ over 200 people. In Spain, we also have Sandoz Industrial, focusing on producing APIs for anti-infectives, which are distributed all around the world, including Spain.   What is your assessment of the Spanish generics market? In Spain, there is a huge opportunity ahead of us in terms of penetration of both generics and biosimilars. It is clear that the generics market is a mature market, so the growth opportunity lies with biosimilars. We expect that the new government will revitalize current policies and that they will be very receptive to further promoting generics in Spain. Our country currently ranks below the European Union average for utilization of generic medicines.

"In Spain, there is a huge opportunity ahead of us in terms of penetration of both generics and biosimilars"