As business environments get tougher globally, drug companies have to make sure their medicines meet the needs of patients and command reasonable reimbursement rates, Genzyme’s top executive said Wednesday.

“It’s all about value creation,” David Meeker, president and chief executive of Cambridge-based Genzyme, told more than 200 executives at the BioPharm America 2012 Conference at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. “And value is defined by the patient’s ability to access treatment --- that’s the end-game.”

Meeker, whose company is owned by French drug maker Sanofi SA, said that some companies are having their drugs approved by European regulators only to be denied adequate reimbursement by government and insurance payers.

“That’s the new reality,” Meeker said.

Increasingly, he said, regulators and payers are asking not about how do drug candidates compare to placebos, but how do they compare to the best therapies already on the market.

Meeker ended his remarks on an upbeat note.

“The future of our industry is incredible,” he said. “The science is better than it’s ever been. The need is as great as it’s ever been.... Our ability to improve health care is the future of this industry.”