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Counterfeit Drugs, One Click AwayIf it looks too good to be true.... The price is unbeatable, the Web site proudly displays an accreditation seal of approval, medicines are advertised as "generics" of the branded versions (implying bioequivalence with respect to safety and efficacy), and patients never have to leave their homes. Marcia Bergeron, a 57-year-old Canadian resident likely had these things in mind when she purchased antianxiety and sedative medication from an online pharmacy. The pills she received from the Web site, however, caused hair loss and vision problems, and ultimately resulted in her death. The coroner's toxicology report showed that the pills she purchased online were laced with traces of dangerous metals, including uranium, strontium, selenium, aluminum, and arsenic. Bergeron, like many others around the world, was a victim of the counterfeit-medicine business, an industry that the US-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) predicts will reach $75 billion in sales globally by 2010.
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Pharma Comes Under Fire for Jump in Rx PricesDrug manufacturers came under fire at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce?s health subcommittee for bumping drug prices 10 percent this year. Pharma claims rumors that it?s boosting costs in anticipation of healthcare reform are baseless, but the industry could be facing an uphill battle.
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Avandia Sales AwayAvandia's market share erosion was magnified further by the almost complete absence of new prescriptions being switched to Avandia from its competitors. In the weeks before the event, Avandia accounted for more than 20 percent of all switches by primary care physicians
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Hits Like a BRICThe first wealth is health, wrote American thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson. Indeed, history has taught us (even before Emerson) that health and wealth are inextricably linked-the more money one has, the healthier one is likely to be.
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Marketing to Professionals: Fax Me!Doctors like direct mail as long as the message is concise and to the point. The minute you ask the doctor to actually do something with the direct mail, that's when your effectiveness starts to go downhill.
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CRM The "Ecosystem" DifferenceSuccessful pharmaceutical sales and marketing organizations operate much like healthy ecosystems: each interdependent group fills a critical need for the company's growth and survival. (See "Sales and Marketing Ecosystem," ) Yet many pharma com-panies can barely sustain past growth performance, let alone attain a higher level. If the trend continues unchecked, several pharma companies could falter.
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Legal: E-headacheDocuments from R&D, clinical affairs, regulatory, and sales and marketing can be in the millions. Throw electronic information into the mix, and the number of documents required for litigation increases exponentially.
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A Fine LineIs a pharma website a type of labeling, a form of advertising, or some new hybrid? The industry has used the internet as a communication channel since 1994, yet, after nearly a decade of online medical development and experimentation, none of the major regulators has decided yet-or offered any clear guidance about-what constitutes "acceptable use."
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The Growing Pediatrics MarketPediatric drugs require investments in formulation, but the market opportunity is worth the cost.
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Outsource from the InsideWhen it comes to clinical teams, the question of whether or not to outsource brings some untraditional answers
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Pharma ConfidentialHow hopeful are execs about the future of their own companies and the industry in general?
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Outsource from the InsideWhen it comes to clinical teams, the question of whether or not to outsource brings some untraditional answers
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DTC advertising: A matter of perspectiveWhether browsing through magazines or watching television, one doesn't have to look long in order to find a direct-to-consumer advertisement for a prescription medication.
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Professional Promotion Through Patient UnderstandingThough it may sound paradoxical, the most effective deployment of a patient-feedback program is within a pharmaceutical brand's professional promotions
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Counterfeit Drugs, One Click AwayIf it looks too good to be true.... The price is unbeatable, the Web site proudly displays an accreditation seal of approval, medicines are advertised as "generics" of the branded versions (implying bioequivalence with respect to safety and efficacy), and patients never have to leave their homes. Marcia Bergeron, a 57-year-old Canadian resident likely had these things in mind when she purchased antianxiety and sedative medication from an online pharmacy. The pills she received from the Web site, however, caused hair loss and vision problems, and ultimately resulted in her death. The coroner's toxicology report showed that the pills she purchased online were laced with traces of dangerous metals, including uranium, strontium, selenium, aluminum, and arsenic. Bergeron, like many others around the world, was a victim of the counterfeit-medicine business, an industry that the US-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) predicts will reach $75 billion in sales globally by 2010.
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Creating Clinical Portals: A Model for SuccessClinical trials are complex, time consuming, and data intensive. Yet pharma remains one of the few industries that is still largely paper driven.
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Health Economics: Data MiningIt's certainly not headline news that these are tough days for the pharmaceutical industry. More than $60 billion in revenue from blockbuster drugs will evaporate as these products go generic over the next five years, while the productivity of clinical development has hit a particularly rough patch. Even in the companies with relatively strong pipelines, many of the new treatments are biotech products acquired out of house. The expected authorization of biogenerics will squeeze profits only further.
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Salesforce Survey 2008Welcome to the new employer's market for reps. The Hay Group's annual survey reports how, as the primary sales force contracts, so too does its pay.
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Professional Promotion Through Patient UnderstandingThough it may sound paradoxical, the most effective deployment of a patient-feedback program is within a pharmaceutical brand's professional promotions
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A New Era of Ethical LeadershipLisa LeCointe-Cephas, SVP, chief ethics and compliance officer and office of general counsel, human health, Merck, uses her unique style of leadership—stop, drop, and roll—while elevating voices that need to be heard.
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Shape Up! With 7 Steps to Company FitnessCompanies, like individuals, must stay in shape, and both must search-in an environment of high demands on time and resources-for the right tools to achieve and maintain fitness. The pharma industry's current challenges suggest that the need for fitness may be greater than ever:
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Good TailoringPersonalized health communication enables marketers to vary the messages they deliver, and it increases their ability to motivate different patients to act
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Networked PharmaDuring the next ten years, big pharma companies will need to launch two products a year to generate 5 percent annual growth, five products a year to hit 10 percent growth, and nine products a year to meet a 15 percent annual growth target. Clearly, the stakes are high.
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The Right StaffConsider the following real-world scenario: Feb. 28-Apr. 14, 2000. Third-party auditors warn Schering-Plough (SP) of problems with product quality, including lack of quality control (QC) and high staff turnover. Dec. 20, 2000. SP's stock price reaches a high of $60 per share. Jan. 19, 2001. FDA completes an in-depth inspection of SP production facilities, identifying significant, repeated, and widespread QC violations dating to 1998. Several production lines are shut down and the Clarinex (desloratidine) launch is delayed.
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Pharma and Biotech Markets: Mostly Sunny, But An Uncertain ForecastPharm Exec's Editorial Advisory Board member, Peter Young, cover a summary of the strategic issues facing the biopharma industry, but goes on to tell the story of what happened last year and this first quarter in terms of the stock market, M&A and financing (including IPOs) activity, where it is headed, and the implications for senior management.
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Back Page: Where are the Women?Despite efforts to increase diversity, the stark reality is that today's leading pharmaceutical companies are still run by men.
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Opinion: Trigger PointsFor several decades, conventional wisdom in the pharmaceutical industry has held that a large sales force is the key to commercial success. However, in recent years, a number of warning signs have emerged about the effectiveness and long-term viability of this expensive asset. While few are saying it publicly, a number of pharma executives are now exploring the possibility that it could be only a matter of time before the industry's dependence on personal selling comes to an end.
