Views and analysis
As social media flourishes and new technologies emerge to support the trend, Danny Lieberman challenges pharma to take a fresh look at the sales approach and embrace these new media to better engage with customers. Pharmaceuticals and Kirby vacuums: The last bastions of door-to-door sales? A medical representative operates in the center of a “cluster” of doctors that they personally know and meet with face-to-face…
In the second of this two part series, Cisco and Exploria follow on from their review of the challenges to pharma promotion across influence networks with some potential solutions. So, if these are the challenges, what is the solution? We believe the way forward lies in greater personalization, enabled through the seamless integration of intelligent content management systems with unified communications…
As they are bombarded with an assault of changing customer groups and pharma companies explore new channels with which to reach them, Peter West asks what fate is in store for the traditional medical rep. One could be forgiven for thinking that the medical rep is about to be added to the World Wildlife Fund’s list of endangered species. The pharma industry is awash with talk about the inevitable doom facing the medical rep…
In response to some of the questions raised around future pharma sales models and the fate of the rep, Jonathan Carney takes a look at the emerging model of Key Account Management and explores what it requires for success. Much has been written about the demise of the traditional pharmaceutical sales model and the “Complex Buying Environment” that now pervades within our industry…
As the UK faces the prospect of implementing new laws on generic substitution which would give pharmacists the right to dispense a generic against a branded prescription, Leslie Galloway explores potential outcomes and asks whether it is a good idea. In the UK, the 2009 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) settlement included a proposal by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for the introduction of generic substitution (GS) from 2010…
As the increase in bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics becomes an ever more prevalent problem, Jan Alenfall discusses a new class of drugs known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and the potential they have for helping to manage resistant infections. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an ancient group of defence molecules. They display multiple modes of action, such as bactericidal, fungicidal and cytolytic properties, as well as having immunomodulating properties…
As the turn of the year fast approaches, Paul Tunnah wonders what growth the pharma industry can expect in 2010 and asks for pharmaphorum readers to present their views. There is no doubt it has been a challenging year for pharma so far as with many other industries. Further consolidation has been observed with big pharma whilst many biotech companies struggle for much-needed investment in these challenging times…
pharmaphorum is proud to introduce the first piece in a regular column every two weeks by experienced strategic consultant Mike Rea, who takes a fresh look at pharma marketing and challenges our current perceptions. At IDEA, we use Macs. They’re self-evidently better machines than PCs. It is rare to meet a client who wouldn’t also prefer to use a Mac…
As medical ghostwriting comes under increasing scrutiny, Les Rose asks whether the ability to communicate in writing should not be a specialism in its own right. Many years ago I was the project manager of a large clinical study. I ran the study, did most of the data management and a good deal of the analysis, and then left the company for pastures new. Someone else came on board and wrote up the results…
