Jan Van Ruymbeke, Head of EU Speciality Business Unit

Actioning Our 5-year Business Plan to Deliver Outstanding Customer Experience

January 28, 2022

Our People & Culture

Jan Van Ruymbeke, CEO of Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH and Head of EU Specialty Business Unit talks about how Europe contributes to our new, global 5-year business plan. One key element is how we transform our “Specialty Medicines,” which includes cardiovascular drugs, to excel at customer experience and support exceptional patient care.

Key visual of Daiichi Sankyo Europe's "We Care For Every Heartbeat" campaign
Click here to We Care for Every Heartbeat Image Video

We care for every heartbeat

At Daiichi Sankyo in Europe, we care for every heartbeat. Therefore, our goal in Specialty Medicines is to protect people from cardiovascular disease and help those who suffer from them to enjoy every precious moment that life has to offer.

With that ambition in mind, we are supporting one of our global strategic pillars, which focuses on a patient-centric mindset and the importance of creating innovative solutions that go beyond our products for those who need them.

We are living in an increasingly digitized world, operating within the fast-changing healthcare sector, and the pandemic has been yet another accelerator of these trends. There is a lot of momentum currently with the development of new technologies, means of communication, healthcare practices and ways of working that have enriched and improved lives, but the same developments have also changed the healthcare community’s expectations of the pharma industry.

Digital transformation plays a key role

For Daiichi Sankyo globally, digital transformation is a key element of our new 5-year Business Plan (mid-term plan) and an important enabler to respond to those shifting expectations. In Specialty Medicines, we seize the opportunity to respond with agility and purpose by rigorously focusing on our customers’ needs and supporting them in making the best decisions for patients. This means we are not only using available digital tools but also applying them in a way that truly delivers value to our stakeholders. In other words: digital tools do not only allow us to improve what we have always done but also enable us to be best in class and become a better partner to the medical community.
By truly understanding—and meeting—our customers’ needs and offering exceptional support, we ultimately enable them to take better care of patients. The use of digital tools and advanced analytics capabilities will help us achieve this in the most effective ways.

Europe’s contribution to our “One Daiichi Sankyo” culture

I am very glad that we are currently further developing a One Daiichi Sankyo culture on a global scale. Our three, new “core behaviors” will make sure that we, the employees and management of Daiichi Sankyo, all operate on common ground. “Be inclusive & embrace diversity” as one of these behaviors is very much in line with my conviction that we must be representative as a company of the societies in which we live. Our customers and patients are diverse, and so should we be as a company. It is all about treating our people well, including different perspectives, and making sure everyone has the opportunity to advance their career. The One Daiichi Sankyo culture reflects and promotes this mindset.

Core Behaviors

Be inclusive & Embrace Diversity

Collaborate & Trust

Develop & Grow

Supporting the sustainable development of society

One of the aspects I really appreciate about our new mid-term plan, but also especially about our 2030 vision, is that it is not just about business goals but also about the goals we have for society, including environmental sustainability and access to medicines.

In Europe, for example, at our plant in Pfaffenhofen, Germany, we have already implemented a number of initiatives that support our company goal to become carbon neutral. Examples being solar energy generation and parking spaces with charging capabilities for electric vehicles, which are also accessible to people outside of our company. And a lot more is yet to come!

Our 2030 vision is an ambitious one, but I am convinced that we will be able to fulfil it together as “One Daiichi Sankyo.”

Daiichi Sankyo 5-year Business Plan

We Care for Every Heartbeat (Daiichi Sankyo Europe)

Jan Van Ruymbeke
Head of EU Specialty Business Unit

Jan joined Daiichi Sankyo in 2012 as Managing director, CEO at Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH.
A medical doctor by education, Jan joined the pharmaceutical industry at Cilag Benelux (a Johnson & Johnson Company) in 1989. After a short period in medical affairs, he moved to marketing and sales.
From 1996 he was Janssen-Cilag Hungary’s General Manager.
At Novartis, from 2000, Jan was county president in South Africa.
In 2005 he joined Grunenthal where he worked as General manager Spain and Iberia and as Head of Latin America till joining Daiichi Sankyo in 2012.
Throughout his career Jan’s focus has been on driving profitable growth by restlessly focusing on customer needs and creating customer centric organizations.

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