12 Questions with Irina Spirieva

Irina Spirieva started her career in fast-moving consumer goods working in brand management for AB-InBev and Heineken. Following the completion of her MBA, she joined Johnson & Johnson before moving on to MSD and supporting the spin-off of MSD’s women’s health business Organon. Spirieva’s experience in women’s health has led her to her new role as general manager of Besins Healthcare UK, leading the company’s growing role in hormonal therapies.

What are the main responsibilities of your current role? Primarily, I’m here to lead Besins into its next chapter as a leading provider of hormone therapies for women and men in the UK and build on the fantastic growth of the company over the last few years.

I’ve joined Besins at a particularly exciting period in the company’s evolution and I want to ensure that we are recognised as a leader in the hormone treatment space, and that we support our patients and develop our employees as part of that journey to build a strong corporate brand.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment to date? Professional accomplishment can mean different things to different people. For me, I have always been a very driven individual. To be successful and to progress in your career, I believe you must keep learning, and this has been a big driver for me in my professional life.

At the same time, I have never wanted to compromise on my life and values outside of work. Family is very important to me, so I’m really proud of the fact that I can be present at home with my husband and two young daughters, whilst also being a good leader and role model in the workplace. I'm passionate about gender parity and supporting women in achieving their definition of success. I'm hoping that, through my work, I will leave the world a better place for my daughters.

What motivates you about working in pharma? The fact that you are making a difference to the lives of people is hugely motivating for me and knowing that the work we are doing is supporting patients, the public, and their treating healthcare professionals.

It's very much about having that ability to positively influence the lives of others and I think what we do in the pharmaceutical space is about working towards leaving the world a better place.

What is your personal mission statement? What values keep you centred in your work? My values are very much centered around fairness, openness, and respect for others and these values are very much shared by Besins. I think, fundamentally, it’s about working together and having a positive culture in the workplace.

What are your biggest long-term goals for five years or 10 years from now? There has been an amazing commitment from the Department of Health and Social Care around supporting female health through the Women’s Health Strategy, so I’m hopeful that, in five to 10 years, we'll really see the benefits of this, and we as the pharmaceutical industry have supported them in this commitment.

The NHS’ Long Term Plan also aligns with our goal to improve access and reduce inequalities when it comes to menopause support for women. This is something that we have been committing to and continue to work towards at Besins Healthcare.

What are the most important professional skills in your work and how do you hone them? I've invested a lot of time in understanding myself as a leader and as an individual, and finding out what I'm good at and what my development areas are. Being comfortable seeking out and receiving feedback is vital, as it’s the only way that you can truly understand how others perceive you.

The other piece is being coachable. As a leader, I’ve found this to be essential, which is why I'm so keen to support a culture of development that invests in those softer skills, too.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the industry right now? The pharma industry is going through a difficult time, with updates to the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG) and some uncertainties regarding proposed changes to the statutory scheme. For hormone treatment manufacturers, responding to the extraordinary leap in demand for hormone treatments over the past few years has been an unprecedented challenge. At Besins Healthcare, we have invested to rapidly scale-up our manufacturing capacity to ensure the resilience of our product supply.

Yet, the current changes to VPAG and the statutory scheme, and the way this has manifested, could be punitive for companies like ours with the portfolio of products that we have, and ultimately this could impact patients’ treatment options. From a wider perspective, the proposed levies could force progress in women’s and men’s hormone health to stagnate, undermining the efforts of related health strategies.

If you could change one thing about the pharma industry, what would it be? I’d like to change the way the pharma industry is perceived and for it to be seen as part of the solution to the problems we have. We have worked hard to solve supply shortages around HRT, allowing us to now focus on closing the gaps in menopause care and access to treatment, particularly for women from ethnic minorities or lower socio-economic backgrounds. Ultimately, I would love for pharma to be seen as a partner, rather than a manufacturer.

What advice would you give to a young person starting out in your field? I think one of the key things I would always advise is to consider how you want to be perceived, and work towards building that image. This starts by identifying your audience and considering who you will need to support you on your journey to achieving your goals and communicating your strengths and accomplishments.

Finally, have a plan and a timeframe of where you want to get to and how you’ll get there. That's the advice I would have given myself.

What are your hobbies? What do you do in your free time? I fill my spare time with family activities and being a glorified taxi driver to playdates and birthday parties for my four-year-old, as I'm sure most people are with their children!

I love travelling with my family, too, and we enjoy taking holidays abroad, although it can be pretty difficult with two children under five years of age! But we have that zest for discovering different places, so we make the most of our vacation time.

What’s your best celebrity meeting story? About ten years ago, when on a run around Hyde Park with my husband, a carriage passed us both when near the Royal Albert Hall. As we looked inside the carriage, we could see someone waving and smiling. There were lots of guards around and we realised it was His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, who of course is now King Charles! That was quite a celebrity spot. I still have the photo on my phone.

How do you manage health, fitness, and wellness in your life? Physical energy is very important to me, so I like to keep fit. I love doing Pilates and going for runs with my husband in Hyde Park. I find it helps me to balance my thinking time with some physical time.

Connect with Irina Spirieva on LinkedIn.

MAT-BHUK-NP-0057  July 2024