Must read- Marketing OVERDOSE

http://marketingoverdose.org/documents/ci_pharma_2007.pdf

Quote from report:

"This report reveals that the pharmaceutical industry’s
marketing practices in developing countries blatantly and
with relative impunity continue to:

• Unduly influence prescribing patterns of health
professionals

• Promote irrational drug use among consumers

• Exercise double standards in the information contained
in promotional material for these countries compared
to industrialised countries"

ahem... pharma marketers, found your conscience yet?

Pharma's prospects

If the wall street journal (USA edition) is anything to go by, pharma is doomed.

Week after week, analysts forecast for the industry is anything but rosy. In fact, it is downright depressing. Comparing the industry its early predecessor, the chemical industry, it seems that it is heading in similar directions.

With pipelines that are fast drying up, threats from generics and increased pressure from governing authorities, pharma needs to find solutions quickly or risk major upheavals. in the short term, profits will suffer, mid term will see more mergers and acquistions and long term outlook without adequate hedging of the business, will probably see many companies fading into oblivion.

Is there hope? Most analysts have placed their bets on biotechnology and increased focus on generic developments. The arcane way of creating new chemical entities are unable to keep up with the evolution of human diseases and medical needs. Its a classic case of innovate or sublimate.

My take on the future? Im contemplating leaving the industry.. for good. Not trying to be a doomsayer but rather, as a passionate marketer, i have long found local pharma too restrictive to creativitity. Growth is a tedious pursuit as the market size remains numerally challenged. The additional impetus comes from not being able to assess a positive forseeable future in the industry.

I envision that the next few years will bring about alot of structural changes, if not more M&As, in view of companies trying to reaccess their competitive positions and job cuts are inevitable. Following the major layoffs in the US and Europe, it is unlikely that our local environment will escape unscathed. Job security is a quintessential requirement of any career minded person. On top of that, why expose yourself to an office where low morale looms everyday while major changes are being laid out consecutively?

The search for innovation

Big players in infocomm

Wonder if they'll ever introduce sexily-clad models in medical conferences?

If you haven't been living in Timbuktu, you'd known that Singapore is playing host to the mother of all infocomm convention in this part of the world this week. I made a brief trip down to the expo just to busk in the exhilarating air of innovation and rapid advancement (albeit in the technological -ahem?? field)

For a regional event, describing it as massive seems to be an understatement, it is goliath, more impressive than most of the international medical conferences that i have attended. And this is merely for the expo, i did not register for the lectures.

If pharma is a trillion-dollar industry as quoted by oprah winfrey, then infocomm must be a mega-hexa-bazookazillion dollar industry. As i walked around the booths, i smell money, an obscene amount at that! What intrigued me most was that many companies (no small players) are offering their products and services for free! it is absolutely mind-boggling. i wonder about the invisible revenue streams and if i'm missing out something that these tech geeks have sussed out.

before i proceed, let me clarify that i am not posting in the wrong blog, i have not digressed to a non-related industry. my attendance at communicasia was to learn about the ever-evolving and highly morphological industry who is always at the forefront of things. While it is important to keep abreast of clinical and scientific information, one must be able to spot trends in an increasingly-converging world. and infocomm plays a big role in the current and progressive future of healthcare. http://www.ida.gov.sg/Infocomm%20Adoption/20060406150532.aspx

have i gleaned anything useful? plenty, but i'm not about to go into details with the techy stuff. instead, i gathered some perspective (which are always useful) about how disparate pharma is from the rest of the other industry. And even within the industry, how dissimilar pharma marketing is across the globe.

for you see, in pharma, things are pretty mundane and predictable. our product offering (drugs, devices, nutritionals, supplements, etc) business models, sales channels have remained the same since civilisation began trading. with the immense amount of governance the industry is subjected to, hardly anyone dares to challenge conventions. this in turns, stifle business innovations and marketing creativity.

This fact is even more glaring in Singapore, unlike US, where DTC promotions are permitted. Without the advertising portion, how then do the PMs spend their A&P? sponsorships (primarily, in various facades), marketing collaterals, samples, sales incentives, etc. Big YAWN for the consumer marketer.

It would be convenient to blame tight compliance for the lack of brilliant ideas, but surely a good marketer should be at the forefront of trends to understand market dynamics and identify opportunities. Looking around, you'll spot the typical PM spouting endlessly of strategies but when it comes to executions, they consider a trip out to the field as gathering market intelligence and holding a CME as action superieur.

Its about time too, that this industry sheds the grossly inadequate title of product managers in this age when IMC is being embraced if they expect their effectual outputs to include the rest of the 6 P's.

Tongue-in-cheek- Pharma 101

Non-industry people tend to have a very macro view of the pharma industry. Just the other day, my hairstylist called me up and asked if i will be popping by for a haircut anytime soon and that she has an important issue to consult me about. Imagine my dismay when she takes out a bottle of herbal remedy,(readily available in the pseudo medicinal section beside the toiletries in watsons i'm pretty sure) and asked if i am able to procure a few bottles for her on the cheap. "It's really great for my joints" i quote her.

It's difficult to explain to the layman why is it that, although we are selling drugs, we don't actually 'sell' drugs. A couple of misconceptions that i often find myself having to explain:

1. Herbal remedies, mushrooms and other icky animal parts are NOT typical pharma products

2. Drugs can only be dispensed with prescriptions
3. Only doctors are able to prescribe and/or sell drugs
4. Drug companies only market and promote the drugs and do not do any direct selling, which is done through a distributor
5. You do NOT need a prescription to purchase herbal remedies, mushrooms and other icky animal parts.