Pharmaceutical Executive, Dec 1, 2004

Features

Forecast 2005

This is the time of year to not only reflect on the past, but to ponder the future.Forget soothsayers, prophets, and fortune tellers' crystal balls. Inside are predictions from some of industry's key thought leaders.

Conflict Resolution

By Sibyl Shalo

"The worst thing in the world that any of us could do would be for one part of our CME enterprise to interfere with either the professional or legal obligations of other parts of the enterprise," Murray Kopelow, chief executive of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), said in his opening remarks as he addressed an initially antagonistic—if not hostile—crowd on the second day of Pharmaceutical Executive's Second Annual Med Ed Forum last month in Philadelphia.

Unleash the Dragon

By Zhu Shen

China's large patient base and concentrated specialty hospitals make it easier to recruit patients for clinical trials in than in the United States. On average, companies can save from two to five months by conducting a Phase I study in China.

Pharma Ethics Roundtable

The public cries that ethics has run afoul in the industry. Here, leaders examine some of the difficulties in choosing between right and right.

Columns

Meetings: Meetings 101

By Lynell Wakley , Melissa Dull

There's no trick to executing a well-attended, successful meeting—know the audience, anticipate all possibilities, and manage every detail.

Fight, Don't Settle, Class-Action Lawsuits

By Marc Scheineson

Many companies settle cases rather than assert their right of free speech. And that only serves to perpetuate more lawsuits.

Marketing to Professionals: MSLs: Show the Value

By Jane Chin, PhD

Executives are using both objective and subjective measures to communicate MSLs' value to organizational stakeholders—with metrics often defined as accountability for time or activities such as presentations.

Back Page: Withdrawal Syndrome

By Murray Aitken

There's nothing like a product withdrawal to put the pharmaceutical industry under the microscope. Following Merck's decision to withdraw Vioxx from the market, a flurry of reports in the US media suggested a need to re-examine and overhaul everything from the drug approval process, to direct-to-consumer advertising, to the way pharma handles R&D. Our challenge as an industry is to use the Vioxx case as a catalyst for making thoughtful improvements to our current practices—improvements that build on the many things we are doing right.

Public Relations: Beeline for the Buy Side

By Brooke Wagner

Weakness in the equity market has driven the decline of sell-side coverage by 27 percent. As the sell side shrinks, the buy side is beefing up. The reverberations can be felt throughout the financial community.

Direct to Consumer: DTC Marketers Tune In

By Stephen Friedman

A throwback to the old days, the ubiquity of radio may help boost pharma marketers' reach into targeted consumer audiences.

The Sweet Sweat of Success

By Sander A. Flaum

The most important activity going on in any given situation is what's happening inside your head.

Alternative Media: The EMR Revolution

By Paul Foley , Devin S. Paullin

Pharma should get behind an innovative patient adherence model that works.

Group Justice?

By William M. Janssen

Grouping procedures risk juror confusion and mischief and thus present serious prejudice for pharma.

Special Reports

Magic Molecules

By Michael D. Lam

Pharm Exec's Pipeline Report is packed with 25 of the year's most eye-catching experimental drugs. What's their secret? No smoke or mirrors—just innovative science, therapeutic value, and good business sense.

World News

When Is Enough?

By Sarah Houlton

The British trade association says the cuts are unnecessary because drug prices have fallen in real terms by 10-15 percent during the last 10 years while the UK government's budget has remained steady.

From the Editor

Telling Both Sides

By Patrick Clinton

Journalists try to tell both sides of a story. That's fine when there are two groups in conflict. But how do you tell the story right when the real conflict is between the two halves of one ambivalent opinion.

Washington Report

Four More...

By Jill Wechsler

Expanded coverage for the uninsured and Medicaid reform are low priorities at the White House.