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What are the industry's current hiring needs? What functions are most challenging to retain? How do misconceptions about working in pharma affect recruiting? These were some of the questions raised at an exclusive roundtable on pharma industry recruiting, co-sponsored by Pharmaceutical Executive and the New York Times Job Market.

Orchestra conductors may, at first, seem like an unlikely comparison for pharma marketers. After all, a conductor's job is to ensure that each instrument harmonizes with others within the section; that all the sections complement one another; and that the timing, tone, and pitch of each disparate part are flawlessly executed. But when one appreciates the challenges facing executives today in integrating all components into the marketing mix, the analogy seems appropriate.

Biologics and specialty pharmaceuticals, which typically target small patient populations, have historically necessitated a high per-patient cost to justify their R&D investment and expensive manufacturing and packaging processes.

May 2004 CE.

Last year, FDA released a series of concept papers that summarized the agency's plans for risk management. One described a new mandate for the pharmaceutical industry: to develop a risk management plan (RMP) for each drug, to be submitted to FDA at the time of the new drug application. The concept papers still need to be finalized and converted into a guidance (a document that explains how companies may comply with FDA regulations), but the mandate is likely to go into effect this year.

College isn't just for students anymore. It's for companies too. Over the past decade, institutions of higher education have increasingly found that some of their most important stakeholders are their students' employers?and that they can extend their reach and influence by responding to the needs of local and regional business.

Alliances are a favorite of corporate strategists everywhere. More than 10,000 interfirm collaborations were formed worldwide in 2000, double the number of five years before. Alliances now generate 25 percent of the top 1,000 public US companies' revenues, up from 7 percent in 1990.

How well is the pharma industry prepared for rapidly approaching industry upheavals? Not very, according to a 2002 global survey on corporate early warning systems conducted by the Fuld-Gilad-Herring Academy of Competitive Intelligence. More than 100 managers responded, most of whom work in their companies' strategy, product management, or intelligence departments.

May 2004 Table of Contents

A major unresolved issue for the pharmaceutical industry in the 21st century is that few, if any, optimization techniques have found their way into the research portfolio arena.

MSL programs were a technical outgrowth of sales, but they have since evolved to partake in field-based clinical and educational efforts for companies’ products. However, in many pharma companies, that evolution has not gone far enough. Companies still continue to focus MSL activities on pushing information out rather than pulling it in from the field and integrating it into their decision-making processes. As such, companies are missing the opportunity to leverage MSLs within a sensory web.

April 2004 CE.

Is there a formula for the perfect biotech or pharmaceutical executive? As a candidate to be the next CEO of Pfizer or Amgen, it is better to have a PhD in microbiology or an MBA combined with a medical degree? Does a lifetime in the lab beat out a decade of sales and marketing experience?

Nektar?the drug delivery firm formerly know as Inhale?has been around for 14 years, but its pace during the last few has been dizzying. In 2001, the company made two major acquisitions that not only expanded its technology base from inhaled therapeutics to a broad range of exciting new technologies, but also gave it revenue from five products on the US market that use its technology and lined-up another four in Phase III. In 2002, Nektar brokered 11 collaborative partnerships, and in 2003, it generated $106 million in sales.

In 1894, a druggist named Asa Candler created coupons for Coca-Cola, a new "healthcare" product with "valuable tonic and nerve stimulant properties." After that early start in medical products, coupons developed as a marketing medium and were widely adopted by the consumer packaged goods industry. According to the Promotion Marketing Association's Coupon Council, 336 billion coupons were distributed in 2002, which were redeemed for approximately $3 billion in consumer discounts. Now, more than a hundred years after their debut, consumers are clipping coupons for prescription pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical companies big and small depend heavily on information, much of it confidential and valuable. From low-tech customer lists and marketing plans to the coveted results of expensive biotech research, the pharma industry is built on confidential information that must be protected, making the law of trade secrets a key component in a company?s strategy to protect its intellectual property.

April 2004 Table of Contents

More than one-third of the dollar value of all US healthcare assistance to the developing world is donated by pharmaceutical companies to humanitarian agencies. That is the finding of a 2003 survey conducted by the Center for Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at the Temple University School of Pharmacy and sponsored by the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD), an alliance of nine drug companies and a dozen humanitarian agencies. (See "About PQMD.") The survey, conducted annually since PQMD's inception in 1999, helps members quantify the value of their donation efforts and assists groups who wish to benchmark their work against that of other organizations.

WCPM 2004 Brochure

March 2004 CE.

In 1996, Sandoz (now Novartis) decided to brave new waters to create consumer demand for the antifungal Lamisil (terbinafine) in the United Kingdom. But with European law forbidding pharma companies to conduct brand-name advertising, Sandoz needed to find another way to encourage patients to talk with their doctors about onychomycosis and its treatment options. So the company re-named the condition the more consumer-friendly "fungal infection" and took out newspaper ads asking readers to call or write to "Step Wise" for a free brochure on foot care.

For a patient who is running out of hope, waiting for a drug to be approved can be interminable. Even on the fast track, a review can take six months or longer. Some patients with life-threatening diseases cannot afford to wait. In response, many countries have developed expanded access programs (EAPs) that give patients with no other viable alternative access to medically important drugs before they are commercialized.

Pfizer is embroiled in a whistleblower lawsuit based on an unproven legal theory with the potential "to scare the hell out of a lot of drug companies," says attorney Alan Minsk of Arnall Golden Gregory. If upheld, even those compliant with FDA regulations for off-label promotion might still be liable for Medicaid fraud under the federal False Claims Act (FCA).

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Antiquated manufacturing processes cost pharma money-a fact widely known and accepted in the industry. At some facilities, rejected batches, rework, and lengthy investigations have become a way of life, and by some estimates can inflate production costs by as much as 10 percent. According to G.K. Raju, executive director of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, manufacturing consumes an estimated 25 percent of drug company revenues.

February 2004 CE.

February Table of Contents

With overworked execs and underfunded campaigns, it is hard to believe that the ad industry has the resources to improve its creativity while churning out campaigns better, faster, and cheaper. But this year?s Rx Club Awards winners show that a more sophisticated and risqué style is emerging?direct in message, clear on benefit, and confident in execution.

I'm running as fast as I can." That describes how many pharma executives see their work-as a high-stakes race. Just as competitive runners find that a coach can be a vital part of their success, many business executives are discovering the benefits of working with a professional coach to improve their leadership skills. The result has been a transformation in the way coaching is applied and perceived. Far from being seen as a remedial step for "fixing" executives who are performing below standard, it has become widely used as a way to make already-effective leaders even better and to move them to the next level of their leadership.

When Gary Cupit, vice-president of global business development and licensing at Novartis, recently told an audience at Columbia University that "we always cling to products a year longer than we should," he was referring to one of pharma's more pressing and expensive, if lesser-known, problems: failure to promptly pull the plug on unsuccessful pipeline projects. A drug in clinical trials burns about $30,000 a day. For compounds that never make it to approval, that adds up to a frittering of $11 million each.