Pharmaceutical Executive-01-01-2007

A new GAO report sets out to explain why drug development is so expensive and what to do about it. What the report says is important, but what it leaves out is a sense of how the world of pharma actually works.

One fortunate consequence of a slower job market is that tenure levels are increasing: 80 percent of sales managers now have at least two years experience under their belt.

Pharma companies today are focused on driving prescriptions. But just because physicians are prescribing a brand doesn't mean that they are committed to it. Who's to say a doctor won't jump ship the moment a flashier new drug comes on the scene?

How hard is it to spot an emerging threat or opportunity in time to actually do something about it? Is it as hard as spotting a scud missile in the deserts of Iraq? As hard as identifying an underwater threat to a submarine using only sonar? As hard as spotting a consumer trend in a vast and complex business like financial services?

Pharma faces a wide array of pressing issues-almost too many to think about comfortably-from drug safety and the industry's image to intellectual property in emerging markets and the overall usefulness of marketing. To remain effectively focused on strategy, industry executives must find relations between all the individual issues and group them into larger themes. Pragmatically, we all know this is essential.

I've been shocked that physicians haven't rebelled in unison against legislators and academics, at Harvard in particular, and fought back against those who have berated the integrity and ethics of the medical community. Is there anyone who seriously thinks a doctor will write one brand over another because of a ball point pen or a pad of paper?

In Germany, the eight million richest citizens contribute nothing to the system that pays for the remaining 70 million insured people.

There are lots of politicians, Senators Grassley and Waxman to name just two, who often say FDA is in the pharmaceutical industry's pocket. But anybody that has ever worked with FDA realizes not only is that not right, it's comically wrong.

Pharma's next big challenge is simple: Rebuild its broken business model. But between expiring patents and dry pipelines, pricing wars and safety woes, a beleaguered FDA, a bloodthirsty OIG, and Dems on parade, many companies are just trying to steer clear of icebergs.