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What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

Initiated an administrative lawsuit for the grouping decision of SSI for one of our key products. The body grouped and reduced one of our products into 4 mg’s price although it is 5mg and has different indication. Under the pricing regulation, if the product approved with different indication shall has its own price regardless of active ingredient. Based on this we initiated cancellation lawsuit and the body- during the litigation- cancelled the grouping decision by himself. This has been good example of pursuing your legal rights and contributed a lot ot business.

In addition, we completed two important business development deals with a co-marketing agreements on COPD and asthma and pain reliever and fever reducer therapeutic areas. Under successfully completing these agreements, both products have become blockbuster products in Turkey in the respective therapeutic areas in last year. We are also proactively supporting compliance initiatives of Sandoz under these together with compliance department we have successfully roll out new P3 program of Sandoz Turkey. In addition under the new guidance we updated all vendor agreements compliance language either executing new agreements or signing new protocol with the vendors.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

We are proactively working with the business units, engaging with them with the different occasions like formal meetings or informal meetings and launches, listening to them carefully and depending on their needs directing them with the most appropriate legal advice. Participating their strategic meetings has been also helpful a lot to understand their key priorities. In addition, organising regular face to face meetings with the business unit heads beneficial as well to share common objectives and needs.

What “legal tech” products do you currently utilise, and do you foresee implementing more of these in the near future?

We are using Contract Lifecycle Management System (CLM) for the approval and archiving of contacts. This is a SAP based contract approval tool where as legal we are defining relevant business units as approvers depending on their limits and sending the contract templates that are prepared by legal via SAP to collect consent of business units. This is a user friendly contract management tool and brings efficiency and fast forward mechanism to business as well as legal department.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

1- New Turkish Personal Data Protection Law effects our company and our legal department significantly for the last two years. We have harmonised our contract templates, forms and consent letters in accordance with the new law requirements. We also conducted face to face trainings to white and blue colour employees. In addition, we are very closely working with HR, IT, Sales & Marketing departments to guide them as per the new data privacy regulation requirements. We are following up the secondary regulation publishingand Data Privacy Office decisions.

2. Localisation: Turkish Ministry of Health has been implementing localisation for pharma sector in Turkey. The main aim of the localisation policy is to increase the local production of drugs and medical devices, enhance the industry in terms of the investments, employment and researches capacity, and reduce the foreign dependency. Within this frame, Ministry of Health has formed a course of action and determined a set of steps to follow in order to achieve the aim. Some of these actions are directly concern the Ministry of Health and certain actions necessitate collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the pharmaceutical companies. Under this scope, as Sandoz, we have been localising some of our important products in Turkey with executing toll manufacturing agreements with local manufacturers and has been collaborating with Ministry of Health and industry association for this important requirement.

What do you feel are the most effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

This depends on your scope of matter. If your matter is complex then you need to speak with your external counsel face to face but we are using video conferences a lot as well to use the time effectively. If our subject is regular and moderate then we are just using tele conferences or sending out emails directly. So effective techniques are depend on your matter of nature but the most important thing for the in-house counsel is to speak with right counsel with right time with the right way. Your external counsel should respond all in a due course and get back to you with right advice.

FOCUS ON: Being a business driver

Being in-house counsel means that you are one of the drivers of your company. It requires high level of understanding of business, legal tailoring in accordance with the needs and working proactively with the business units. It is also very important that you should know -depending on the matter -which external counsel to talk with or know how to reach out the right subject matter legal external counsel. This has been very contributing our legal work. In-house role is also very critical for heavily regulated sectors. In-house counsel can quickly reach out achievable and enforceable legal advice with his/her business notion, experience and understanding of business.

NOMINATOR QUOTE

“It is a great pleasure to be working with him and his team. What makes him one of the best in-house counsel in Turkey is his spectacular and excellent leadership and practitioner skills in the pharmaceutical sector. His great experience provides him to professionally handle very complicated and urgent legal issues even though being under time pressure. The experience of him is also supported with outstandingly extensive knowledge of local and regional regulations on pharmaceuticals and supplementary and dietary foods. He and his team are the reason to be confident during the national or international operational activities of Sandoz Turkey and it is also must be noted that he adopts a reassuring manner for the business partners of his company.”