Women Achievers- KANCHANA TK

13 December 2017 | Features

UNDERSTANDING STAKEHOLDERS’ EXPECTATION AND THE EVOLVING POLICY ECOSYSTEM, KANCHANA TK LEADS OPPI’S ENGAGEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ON A THREE- PART AGENDA CRITICAL TO AN INDUSTRY.

Director General, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI)

Director General, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI)

Being one among the very few women who make it to senior roles in industry, Kanchana TK, Director General, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) has not hesitated to make bold career moves. Her professional experience of over two decades at the leading edge of a spectrum of businesses related to healthcare consulting and delivery, healthcare access and pharmaceuticals stands her in good stead with her many interlocutors.

Her experience spans public affairs, policy, and business verticals in India, Africa and Middle East. She has worked across geographies, managing public affairs across borders in Middle East and Africa.

Some of the campaigns designed under her leadership have had impactful outcomes. “I started with hotels and moved to Insurance and more specifically to health Insurance. I introduced corporate health and wellness when all clients wanted was a lower employee benefit payout. I then moved to Pharma in Policy and Public Affairs at a time when the pharma policy ecosystem was rapidly changing. I think taking risks and moving industries was bold and foolish at the same time but I don’t believe in linear career growth. To the contrary I think my multiple roles have helped my growth”, shared Kanchana.

Having worked in two highly regulated sectors – insurance and pharmaceuticals, she understands stakeholder expectations and the evolving policy ecosystem in the country. Her experience of consulting on new product offerings for healthcare insurance, a deep understanding of the patent and pricing issues in pharma, designing patient assistance programs and access initiatives enable her to better understand the healthcare needs in India.

An admirer of Thai cuisine, Kanchana spearheads OPPI’s engagement on emerging issues like anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and policy advocacy on government action on non-communicable diseases, four of which – cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancer, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), that account for more than half the mortality rates in India.

She leads OPPI’s engagement with the government of India on a three-part agenda critical to an industry that produces medicines and therapies that are essential to the health of the Indian people: (a) intellectual property rights or IPR, that governs the system of protecting patents owned by member company; (b) access to healthcare, that allows member companies to bring the latest medicines for life-threatening diseases, and (c) ethics in pharmaceutical marketing, a code which protects.

Her work has been recognized with a number of awards: Women Worth Watching 2017; the ‘Top 50 impactful women in Healthcare’ (global listing) by World Health & Wellness Congress, ‘Bloomberg-UTV Women in Leadership Award’, ‘Women at Work Leadership Award’ by Bloomberg-UTV, ‘WILL Choice Awards’ by WILL Forum, to name a few.

“The one thing that I want as an achievement at OPPI is to be able to make a positive impact through policies for the Indian patient. The future of healthcare and innovative medicine offers new hope for millions of patients every day”, mentioned Kanchana.

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