Pharmaceutical Executive, Sep 1, 2005

Features

Missing the Mark(et)

By Chris Nickum , Tim Kelly

If pharmaceutical companies hope to improve their marketing efficiency, they have to change how they approach their customers. For years, manufacturers have been practicing the "more is better" direct-selling approach to physicians. But research now shows what common sense has long suggested: More has become too much. Education has given way to inundation, clamoring for face time with physicians has led to diminishing sales returns, and relationships with major pharma stakeholders have broken down. Physicians, regulators, consumers, and legislators have come to mistrust manufacturers' motives and integrity. As pharma asks how its marketing strategies have missed the mark, it may discover answers in reinventing something it once relied upon: strong relationships with customers.

Building Blockbusters

By Michael G. Parker , David Amar

Companies face a serious pipeline gap, partly because they focus too narrowly on scientific breakthroughs. Stakeholders also value convenient compounds with reduced side effects and fewer doses.

50 5 2005

By Jonathan Wilkenfeld , Judith Braun-Davis

Implementation of policies that respond to industry compliance standards poses a considerable burden for companies in terms of time and expense. Unless industry changes its response to state laws, the condition will worsen.

Track and Trace

By Jamie Hintlian

The issue of pedigree requirements is emerging at the state level—and figuring out to what extent that will push back to the manufacturers.

No Margin for Error

By Mason Tenaglia , Patrick Angelastro

When rebate strategies are coupled with sales force and DTC spending, it results in "margin-negative" business—that is, sales that bring in less than the marginal cost of selling, promoting, and manufacturing the drug.

Biomarkers Come of Age

By Suzanne Z. Mattingly , Bo E. H. Saxberg

In a few years' time, or so the conventional wisdom goes, personalized medicine will become a reality, and many (or even most) new drugs will come to market supported by tests that will help physicians make the decision of who gets what drug, what's the appropriate dose, and who's in the greatest danger of serious side effects—all based on a better understanding of biological processes and newly available data from testing at the molecular level to characterize patients and disease. We're not there yet, of course. To date only a handful of drugs are accompanied by molecular-level diagnostic tests. At the 2005 Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, Ian Massey, PhD, senior vice president and head of research and preclinical development at Roche, expressed the opinion that molecular diagnostics will only affect a few medicines in the near to mid-term.

Missing the Mark(et)

By Chris Nickum , Tim Kelly

2005 Industry Audit

By Bill Trombetta

Not surprisingly, the biotechs hold three of the top five rankings in percent of sales invested in R&D. Even more impressive, then, are the ratios for Big Pharmas like Schering-Plough and Eli Lilly, in third and fourth place, both at a bit more than 19 percent.

Columns

Legal: Jumping the Pond

By Mark Herrmann , Richard Elks

Class actions threaten industries that deal with the public. If European lawmakers remove the restriction on class-action suits, consumers will be free to file cases. Pharma companies should take heed.

Direct to Consumer: Perpetuating Prescribing Myths

By David Mittman , R. Mimi Clarke Secor

The current DTC ads, through their persistent use of the term "doctor," are misleading to the public and keep all other prescribers invisible to patients.

Alternative Media: Mouthing Off

By Lydia Worthington

In the healthcare and pharma industries, where lives are at stake and skepticism proliferates, consumers are even more apt to turn to peers for trusted information and advice about medical treatments.

Sales Management: The X Factor

By Stan Striker

Gen Xers are attractive to many managers because they typically have a strong work ethic. Although they are self-reliant, they still desire to be taken seriously and want to be valued by their companies.

Marketing to Professionals: Doctor-Patient Communication

By Charlene Prounis

Instead of leaving the doctor's office well informed, the patient often leaves without enough comprehensible information to comply with the prescribed treatment.

Back Page: Evolution? It's Not Right!

By Humphrey Taylor

The pharmaceutical industry depends on good science. So what does it mean when a majority of the US population turns its back on one of the fundamental insights of modern biology?

Washington Report

Washington Report: Crawford Steps Up

By Jill Wechsler

FDA could lose 251 employees under the administration's proposed 2006 budget. The agency will try to do more with less through risk-management practices, but important tasks will fall by the wayside.

From the Editor

From the Editor: It Never Changes (Until It Does)

By Patrick Clinton

My doctor and I have two different visions of an avian influenza pandemic. She's picturing regular flu season, but worse. I'm imagining 1918. Does the conflict sound familiar?

Backpage

You Raleigh Got Me

By Natasha Metzler

Raleigh, North Carolina, hopes that building a new convention center attracts groups seeking fresh venues for meetings. The city will make special efforts to host gatherings for medical and healthcare organizations.

You Raleigh Got Me

By Natasha Metzler

Global Report

Global Report: Kids 'R' EU

By Sarah Houlton

If the legislation passes, companies will be rewarded with a six-month extension of market exclusivity if they conduct pediatric trials. And under the proposal, companies that fail to comply can be penalized.

Thought Leader

Thought Leader: (Eco)systemic Change

By Wolfgang Klietmann

Digital forms of image transmission, archiving, and education with the virtual microscope will revolutionize pathology.

Supplement Feature

Return on Opportunity

By Ray Altieri

Is convention marketing the opportunity that will make up for the decline in office time? A few years ago, the Healthcare Convention Exhibitors Association (HCEA) conducted a before-and-after survey of physicians who attended a large medical meeting.

Networking

By Judy Williams

Physicians don't want their time wasted. CME meetings generally should not be longer than two and a half days.

Be Our Guest

By Diane West

Michael Aylmer recalls with some sentimentality the lavish three-day weekends that were once routine fare at New York's famous Ritz Carlton. Crowds of physicians and their spouses would come to the hotel to enjoy rich four-course meals, sumptuous spa treatments, and planned outings to the city's venerable hot spots and Broadway shows. This was, of course, before the 2002 PhRMA Code became the de facto law of the land.

Fair Market Value

By Fred Eaton , Yoram Levy

Pharma pays doctors hundreds of millions of dollars each year to tell colleagues about drugs. Warning of potential fraud and abuse, OIG set guidelines for fees. But even compliant companies may face tough lawsuits unless they can prove they pay

Networking

By Judy Williams

Physicians don't want their time wasted. CME meetings generally should not be longer than two and a half days.

Introduction

By Patrick Clinton

As pharma moves into a new phase, one can sense an added level of sophistication in how the industry and its suppliers handle the issues surrounding medical education meetings. In this issue, we look at some new threats and new solutions.

Introduction

By Patrick Clinton