Pharmaceutical Executive-08-01-2002

Donal Geaney and Tom Lynch, chairman/CEO and vice-chairman, respectively, of the troubled Irish pharma company Elan, resigned following intense pressure from investors.

Activist protests about access to, and the price of, AIDS medicines marked the International AIDS conference in Barcelona. But they failed to overshadow the promising results of research into new ways of attacking the virus.

Much has been said recently about how the blockbuster model can no longer sustain innovation and growth in the pharma industry. Hans-Joachim Lohrisch, CEO of German-based Altana Pharma AG, and George Cole, president of Altana Inc., its US subsidiary, beg to differ.

Just when pharma companies finally awake to the need for a good reputation, the stakes go vertical. The long-perceived and possibly illusory gap between shareholder behavior and public outrage suddenly disappears. And each company stands or falls on its revealed record.

When Pfizer gets in on a good thing, it isn't content to share. Two years ago the company initiated a semi-hostile takeover of Warner-Lambert to acquire full marketing rights to the hot-selling cholesterol treatment, Lipitor.

Successful 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.

Croatia's Pliva Pharmaceuticals is the first eastern European pharma company to make a US acquisition. Pliva paid $153 million for New Jersey-based Sobel Holdings,

The debate about direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medicines and internet information about therapeutic products is heating up again. Non-product-specific disease awareness campaigns are now allowed. In fact, Europeans were recently treated to retired Brazilian soccer star Pel¨sponsored by Pfizer) urging the afflicted to seek help for erectile dysfunction during World Cup commercial breaks .

The United Kingdom's much-maligned National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) could be in line for a shake-up if the recommendations of a House of Commons select committee go through.

In response to concerns about the low level of patient participation in clinical trials, the British Medical Association has launched an internet resource aimed at encouraging more patients to take part. Aimed at healthcare professionals, the site explains how different types of trials are conducted and spells out their ethical and best practices requirements.

Parma sales reps have long been using customer relationship management (CRM) systems to detail doctors and provide them with samples. But it was not until late 2000, when FDA initiated the final rule of 21 CFR Part 203 and 205, enforcing the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA) of 1987, that the industry grew attentive to the regulations governing CRM systems, also known as sales force automation (SFA) or sales force effectiveness (SFE) systems.

The House leadership collected just enough votes in late June to approve a Medicare reform bill that provides some coverage of pharmaceuticals for seniors. Democrats rebuked the measure as a scam and a fraud; some conservatives complained that it opened the door to a costly new entitlement.

In case anyone missed the recent wave of studies and reports documenting rising expenditures on medicines, Families USA weighed in with an analysis that further documents rising prices of medicines prescribed for the elderly. The report surfaced just before the US House of Representatives voted on a Medicare pharmacy benefit and was timed to influence that debate.