Romania, through the eyes of one of the most powerful people of global pharmaceutical industry

In an interview with ZF, William M. Burns, 63, a board member of Roche Swiss pharmaceutical giant, at his first visit in Romania, spoke about how he sees Romania and about the world drug market tendencies.

In 2005-2009, he was CEO at the pharmaceuticals unit of Swiss Roche group, one of the world's biggest drug producers, and has been working in the drug industry for 42 years.
"I know a little about Romania's history, about how it developed as a country and overcame the dark period of the Soviet Union, about Nadia Comăneci and Ilie Năstase. You cannot live in my generation and know nothing about the two of them," stated William M. Burns, who arrived in Romania on the occasion of a charitable event. He says he saw Romania through the eyes of a person close to him who left the country in the '70s and subsequently worked with Roche.
Besides the management team of Romania, he says he does not know other Romanian businesspeople.
Asked about the most difficult tasks of an industry manager, he referred to the decision of withdrawing a product from the market or not, of boosting production.