Marie-Claude Hudon: Ethics and Compliance in the Pharmaceutical Industry
We will be shining the spotlight on our network of professionals specializing in ethics, compliance, integrity and conduct with a series of profiles designed to paint a clearer picture of just how varied and diverse this field is.
Today, we will get to know Marie-Claude Hudon, Executive Director, Ethics, Risk and Compliance, at Sandoz Canada, who has a 20-year background in the pharmaceutical industry.
Marie-Claude trained as a lawyer before enrolling in a graduate degree in bioethics, applied ethics and healthcare law. Her interest in the pharmaceutical industry led her to GlaxoSmithKline, where she occupied various positions in sales, corporate training and governance, before focusing exclusively on ethics and compliance.
She joined the executive team at Sandoz Canada in 2021.
The versatility she has developed over the course of her career has given her unique insight into the industry and the issues that affect every aspect of it. This expertise has definitely come in handy in setting up ethics and compliance programs and initiatives.
Two roles, multiple benefits
There are many benefits to a formal ethics and compliance program, says Marie-Claude: “Not only are they good for building public trust, but they also help bring corporate policies to life and support the thinking process. They put the tools for good decision-making in the hands of the people who need them.”
In her industry, ethics and compliance are often separate from legal affairs. And they are often overseen directly by senior management. This gives them the required degree of independence to see the big picture and deliver added value to these programs.
What does Marie-Claude hope to see in the long run? “I’d love it if companies no longer needed ethics and compliance staff because everyone across the organization had an innate understanding of corporate rules and values and automatically abided by them.”
However, given the complexity of modern-day regulatory requirements, the changes in the social and legal frameworks, the non-stop influx of new workers and the public’s expectations of today’s businesses, high-level expertise in ethics and compliance, and jobs in the fields, will be in demand for some time yet.
Learn more about our Certification in Ethics and Compliance program today.
Published by the Ethics and Compliance Community of HEC Montréal
November 2021
