International Reference Pricing (IRP) Strategies for the Pharma Sector Going into 2024

Milena Izmirlieva heads GlobalData’s Health Economics and Market Access research and analysis team which comprises senior analysts, analysts and health economists covering developed and emerging markets worldwide.

Since joining one of GlobalData’s predecessor companies in 2003 as a pharma research analyst for Western European and Central and Eastern European markets, she has developed extensive knowledge of the healthcare systems and pharmaceutical markets of numerous countries in Europe, North America and various emerging markets. Prior to that, Milena worked in healthcare marketing communications for the EURO RSCG group in New York, US, and Sofia, Bulgaria, where she specialized in pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Her main areas of research interest are pricing and reimbursement and market access for originator drugs, the market dynamics for biosimilars and generics, health system efficiency indicators and health system capacity, and forecasting of healthcare spending and pharmaceutical sales.

Milena holds an MSc degree in Health Economics, Policy and Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), an MSc degree in Communication with a focus on Science Writing from Iowa State University, and a joint BA degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and International Relations from the American University in Bulgaria.

Milena is a regular speaker at pharmaceutical conferences and is often interviewed about pharmaceutical-related issues in the media. She regularly presents peer-reviewed research at ISPOR and has a strong interest in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement developments and cost-containment strategies (including international reference pricing).

Milena is a Fulbright scholarship recipient and member of the following honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Alfa Delta Sigma, and Kappa Tau Alfa.

Janet has 20+ years of experience covering the biotech and pharma R&D sector – specializing in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Russia, and the former CIS countries in Asia.

Prior to joining GlobalData and its predecessor companies, Janet worked as Biotech Editor and Research Support Manager at Pharmaprojects (Informa Citeline), and Thomson Derwent.

Janet holds a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen, and an MSc (by research) in Biochemistry and Applied Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). She has a reading knowledge of French, German, Hungarian and Romanian.

Choukri is a senior consultant within the Pricing & Market Access team concentrating on data and policy analysis in primary and secondary research studies as well as bespoke engagements.

His projects have related to tendering intelligence, pricing evolution, and international referencing pricing, as well as companion diagnostics among other topics. Choukri has also conducted numerous research interviews with healthcare professionals, institutional stakeholders, and medicine and device manufacturers. He has extensive experience in quantitative analysis and database management, handling data manipulation and dashboard creation for a variety of projects and products.

Choukri is based in Paris and holds an MSc in international business and a diploma of higher education from the Open University, UK. He is a native French speaker and is also conversant in Spanish.