Business Week: Changes coming to the pharma salesforce

Jan/30/2007 07:17 Filed in: Pharma Business

An article in this weeks Business Week magazine sheds light on the changing dynamics of the pharmaceutical sales force. It pretty much supports what this author has been saying all along which is that the sales force as we know it today is going to have to change to meet the needs of a new healthcare environment. What puzzles me, however, is why it took so long for pharma to see this coming ? Read More...

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The future big pharma: An oxymoron?

Jan/28/2007 04:13 Filed in: Pharma Business

The announcement this week that Pfizer is cutting 10,000 jobs maybe the first crack in the glass for big pharma. An industry with over 200,000 sales reps cannot sustain a profitable model for long. Marketing teams within pharmaceutical companies are also in for a rude awaking as senior management continues to evaluate the value of every tactic and position. Read More...

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Is the pricing model in need of repair?

Jan/24/2007 07:33 Filed in: Pharma Business

Before a drug reaches the market pharmaceutical companies usually go through simulated pricing scenarios to determine how to maximize their revenue. Of course this was before generic competition and insurers recommending alternate treatments, at a lower cost, to patients. It's time for pharma to acknowledge the reality of the market and work with health insurance companies on a pricing model that still maximize revenue and meet patients needs. Impossible? I don't think so.. Read More...

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Go ahead DTC Managers keep ignoring the Web

Jan/22/2007 06:39 Filed in: Internet & DTC Marketing

An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today with a poll asking "where do you turn first for health information"? Where do you think more than 64% of the 2600 votes said they go? A web site of course ! While the information is skewed because the demographics of the Wall Street Journal readers tend to have higher incomes and more education it is yet another reminder of the influence the Internet has on healthcare choices. Yet most DTC managers are still trying to read in the dark and are clueless as to the power of the Internet on health choices of aging baby boomers. Read More...

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Building Trust with a skeptical Congress and Public

Jan/22/2007 07:16 Filed in: DTC Environment

Well obviously the New York Times is trying its best to persuade public opinion against pharmaceutical companies. Today on the first page of the Business section the Times has a story titled "Showdown in Congress over DTC". Forget for a moment that the story is one sided and takes a very myopic view of DTC advertising, you would think that because of DTC people are taking medications they don't need and that patients could save real money if only DTC could be reigned in. How many punches does it take before the pharmaceutical industry gets up and starts fighting back? Read More...

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Web MD: The only game in town?

Jan/20/2007 10:11 Filed in: Media (Internet)

Am I the only person that thinks that the only thing Web MD has going for it is it's name? I recently went to Web MD to look up some medical information and I have to say that the web design is among the worst that I have ever seen. Way too many calls to action..no way to narrow searches and information that at times is dated. They should be looking in their rear view mirror because they are ripe for a competitor to come along and trounce them. Read More...

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If Monet worked in pharma

Jan/19/2007 06:32 Filed in: DTC Environment

The DTC Marketing environment is quite unique in today's matrix pharmaceutical organization. So what would Claude Monet have had to do in order to paint one of his masterpieces if he worked in pharma? Well read on it's not pretty but it's what a lot of DTC marketing people go through when they launch campaigns.
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Undestanding What We Sell: Enablex

Jan/19/2007 06:18 Filed in: Current DTC

It was interesting to watch the new Enablex commercial on the nightly news the other night. While it's a good spot I think that DTC marketers sometimes forget what we sell. We don't sell pills, capsule, or prescriptions we sell quality of life and it is my opinion that the Enablex spots miss that point although I am sure that a lot of people had to go to the bathroom after seeing the commercial. Read More...

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The war against cancer and DTC awareness

Jan/18/2007 07:06 Filed in: Current DTC

On Wednesday, after decades of grim news, the American Cancer Society reported the steepest decline in United States cancer deaths in the 70 years since nationwide data has been compiled. In 2004, there were 3,014 fewer cancer-related deaths than in 2003—which was the first year the society had ever recorded a drop in cancer deaths. The back-to-back decreases have specialists hoping that they may at last be gaining the upper hand in their long battle against the disease. Did DTC have any impact on the decline in cancer deaths? That can be debated by a lot of people but this encouraging news is more reason why sites like getbcfacts.com are needed as we still have a long way to go. Read More...

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Chatchkeys are a waste of $$$$

Jan/17/2007 01:59 Filed in: HCP Marketing

Pharma companies are known for giving out chatchkeys to physicians and other HCP's. It's supposed to lead to increased share but how a tissue box with a brand name of a prescription drug on it can lead to more sales is beyond me. I bet if you added up all the fee gifts that pharma companies handed out to HCP's it would be a tidy sum. Read More...

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Frustration of working in pharma leading to defections?

Jan/17/2007 08:21 Filed in: Pharma Business

Nearly half of all 11,000 respondents to a recent CNNMoney.com poll are thinking about changing jobs soon. In an online poll created as part of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For coverage, CNNMoney asked readers "Do you expect to change jobs soon?" and found that many people were on the hunt. 21 percent indicated they were already job hunting, while 21 percent said they'd start looking sometime this year. Seven percent expected to be promoted in 2007. 42 percent of respondents said they were happy where they were. And eight percent were "not sure". I have know a lot of people in DTC and I can say that more than half have had it and are looking to get out of pharma marketing all together. This is too bad because the industry needs bright people who are willing to push the envelope to reach empowered consumers. Read More...

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Good medicine leads to profits?

Jan/15/2007 07:39 Filed in: Pharma Business

My good friend John Mack reminded of this quote;

George W. Merck said: "We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. Not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear"

Is this still true today? The answer to that is more no than yes and that is unfortunate. Because of litigation, lack of leadership at the CEO level and the power of Wall Street the pharma model today has evolved more into a business/proift model than a "medicine is for people" model. Read More...

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NY Times has an axe to grind with pharma

Jan/12/2007 06:19 Filed in: Pharma Business

I have been a NY Times subscriber and reader for almost 20 years but I have to admit that lately their stories attacking pharma, especially Lilly, are short on research and insight which does not make for a good debate. The latest shot comes in a NY Times editorial today;

It is time for the Medicare drug program to work harder for its beneficiaries without worrying so much about the pharmaceutical companies

So are pharmaceutical companies public corporations who have a responsibility to shareholders and investors or not? Do they have a right to make profits and a return on investment ? The Times would have you believe that big pharma is evil and must yield control to the government because we can't trust them to do the right thing. Read More...

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Is a sales force really needed in pharma?

Jan/10/2007 01:52 Filed in: Pharma Business

An article in this weeks Wall Street Journal, written by a physician, details about how how he has turned drug reps away and as a result has less samples but more free time for patients. Is the pharma sales force becoming less effective at driving physician adoption of new products and more of a drain on expenses? My feeling is that it sure looks like it's headed that way, especially when pharma companies hire people right out of school send them through crash courses and then expect them to have a peer to peer conversation with physicians and other HCP's. Read More...

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The Rubik's Cube of Marketing

Jan/10/2007 06:32 Filed in: Unless your the lead dog the view never changes

I deal with a lot of vendors and agencies who are doing business with my company and want to do business with my company. In working with these agencies it's nice to have a seasoned account manager who understands the environment in which DTC marketers work but when they leave, as they often do on the agency side of the business, I find that their replacement has a lot to learn about the pharmaceutical matrix environment in which most of us work, better known as meeting hell. Read More...

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Physicians portal embraces Web 2.0

Jan/08/2007 06:25 Filed in: Media (Internet)

Welcome to the only online community where physicians around the nation exchange the latest medical insights with each other and improve patient outcome. So says the tag-line on Sermo.com a physicians portal where physicians can talk and interact with each other online. What a novel idea...actually using the web to connect the HCP community. Read More...

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Pharma continues to neglect the web

Jan/05/2007 06:51 Filed in: Media (Internet)

Well according to industry media spending on DTC the total percentage of dollars allocated to the web was just 1%. While I believe that the reported number is low, it is probably closer to 4-5%, it still tells me that most pharma DTC marketing people are living in the past and don't understand this unique channels ability to drive Rx behavior. Read More...

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