Eric designs, builds, and leads multistakeholder alliances and public-private partnerships focused on health and life sciences.
Eric Obscherning is a global health policy strategist and entrepreneur working at the intersection of access and innovation in medicines. As a Director at Access Partnership, he designs and leads multistakeholder alliances and public-private partnerships that strengthen health systems, improve policy and financing, and expand access to life-changing therapies while enabling and sustaining biomedical innovation. He is guided by the conviction that making innovative medicines more accessible is not a zero-sum game: those who discover, develop, manufacture, regulate, pay for, provide, and use medicines depend on one another and can flourish together.
For more than a decade, Eric has advised senior leaders across government, industry, academia, and civil society—from Prime Ministers to Fortune 500 CEOs—on how to create shared value and deliver better outcomes for patients. His work has taken him to 24 countries across the United States, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Gulf region, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe, where he has collaborated with:
- Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology companies and associations
- Health ministries, regulators, HTA bodies, and public payors
- Multilaterals such as WHO, UN, G20/B20, APEC, ASEAN, and the African Union
- Patient advocacy groups, research institutions, and NGOs
Eric also serves as Secretariat of the Global Rare Disease Policy Network, a member of the B20 Task Force on Industrial Transformation & Innovation, and advisor to the Panel of Experts of the WHO Global Network for Rare Disease. He previously served as an advisor to the APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum and helped establish initiatives addressing rare diseases, blood and plasma supply chains, cervical cancer, and antimicrobial resistance.
Grounded in pharmaceutical policy and economics, Eric’s expertise extends across public policy, health diplomacy, corporate affairs, market access, regulatory, government relations, and patient advocacy, and spans therapeutic areas including oncology, haematology, immunology, infectious disease, neuroscience, and metabolic conditions. He has significant experience in rare diseases, genomics, cell and gene therapies, and neuropsychiatry. He has partnered with manufacturers and stakeholders to help launch or expand access to breakthrough products including Soliris, Beqvez, Zolgensma, Gardasil-9, and Beyfortus.
In addition to his work on medical products, Eric has significant experience in health workforce policy, planning, and regulation. He has supported national regulators and professional commissions in benchmarking, reforming, and harmonising processes for licensing, specialty certification, and continuing professional development for health professionals across countries.
Prior to joining Access Partnership, Eric was Associate Director at C&M International (now Crowell Global Advisors). He holds a MSc in Health Economics, Policy, and Management from the London School of Economics; a BS in Biology and English and a Certificate in Global Health from the University of Wisconsin–Madison; a Certificate in Pharmaceutical Policy from Utrecht University; and a Certificate in WTO & US Trade Law and Policy from American University Washington College of Law. He also studied precision medicine, CRISPR-based therapeutics, and RNA interference at the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences at the US National Institutes of Health.