Pharmaceutical Executive-10-01-2006

MSLs tend to stay put. Just three in 10 left a job after less than a year. Half held their current position for more than three years.

Leaders must focus on "brainrest." Perspective comes only when the venue changes dramatically and you have enough time to mentally remove yourself from the usual office tensions and concerns.

Almost $60 billion of the drug industry's global sales comes from just 10 drugs. In fact, these so-called "mega-brands" have sales so high that they are bigger than many Fortune 500 companies. So why aren't they being managed that way?

Marketing effectively to physicians in today's pharmaceutical industry is more important than ever. No longer can companies rely solely on DTC and sales force efforts to increase drug and therapeutics revenue.

Dtc advertising has caused more than its share of controversy both inside and outside the industry. Critics wonder: Are patients paying for drugs they don't need? Meanwhile, industry is still struggling to answer the basics: How effective is DTC in getting patients to request a drug by name? CommonHealth's MBS/Vox division conducted a survey that tried to answer industry's question, and in doing so, inform the wider debate about DTC's role in healthcare.

The problem isn't that there's conflict between safety and efficacy or between getting a useful medicine to market and protecting the public from a dangerous one. The problem is that the conflict isn't well structured. That needs to change.

To avoid the extra expense, many pharmaceutical companies abandon their Spanish sites when a new general-market campaign is launched.

Scientists are worried about what they can and cannot say. Senior scientists feel that if they voice the disagreements that are important to scientific discussion, they might have to leave FDA.

Cost-shifting is still one of the favorite tools in almost all employers' cost-cutting toolboxes. But many fear that shifting too many costs to workers will backfire. Low co-pays keep people healthy and on the job: a big return on investment.

New partnerships with nanobiotech firms are helping pharma companies overcome solubility problems and extend profitable product lifecycles.

As pharmaceutical markets go, china is a land of opportunity fraught with complex challenges. Potentially the world's largest market for prescription drugs, China is also the fastest growing market among large countries. At the same time, the sprawling system of 17,000 hospitals-the most important drug-distribution channel in China-is fragmented and encumbered by Byzantine regulations.

Most people have never heard of psychotic depression, but they are familiar with the case of Andrea Yates, who tragically murdered her children during an episode of the disease.

Pharmacists have applauded Plan B's behind-the-counter status, and FDA hints that the drug might pave the way for more pharmacy-only OTC products.

In cases that reached a verdict between 2002 and 2006, the branded pharma industry won six of six cases by verdict in Delaware, but lost six of eight in New Jersey, all by summary judgement. Despite what judges say, it's no coincidence.

Isr?l makov has adventure in his blood. A fourth-generation Isr?li, he speaks proudly of his great grandmother, who bought and sold wool in Russia until the late 1890s when, at the age of 50, she moved to Palestine, bought a piece of land, and helped found a town in the wilderness. It was the kind of career move that Makov, CEO of Teva Pharmaceuticals, admires and emulates. As a boy, he rode a donkey to work in his father's orchards on the land his great grandmother bought. He attended an agricultural boarding school, started his career in citrus exports and-decades before Teva recruited him-managed Abic, the second-largest pharma company in Isr?l, and founded Interpharm, the country's first biotech company.

A new European collaboration of biotech, pharma, academia, and government takes up the challenge of boosting R&D.

A sales rep's sensitivity to the doctor's marketplace, and his understanding of the pressures on physicians-from formularies and HMO rules to the practices of affiliate hospitals-makes him a greater asset in the customer's eyes. Getting to know a doctor involves understanding the responsibilities of personnel in his office. Reps need to know who the doctor relies on most to get things done.

In revamping its R&D department, Wyeth "really looked for people who were not going to give us the same old, 'This is how you do pharmaceutical development, dah-dah-dah,' but who could really think of different ways of doing things."

With "launched the world's best-selling drug" on his resume, Rob Scott was ready for his next professional endeavour. The former Pfizer executive is now head of R&D and chief medical officer at AtheroGenics, named for the signature technology that's being used to develop AGI-1067, a cardiovascular anti-inflammatory in late Phase III clinical trials.