Create Purpose-Driven-Brands To Win Marketing Warfare In The New Reality

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Tapan Ray

As we navigate through the Covid days, the hope of somehow getting back to the pre-pandemic normal still lingers – notwithstanding a host of uncertainties in its way. The longing is driven by the hype of availability of scientifically proven, safe and effective drugs and vaccines – unrealistically soon, despite top experts still keeping their fingers crossed. Some are even more forthright in their expression, as reflected in a September 30, 2020 report. It flashed a headline - “There is no getting ‘back to normal. The sooner we accept that, the better.”

Alongside, COVID-19 crisis has also triggered some disruptive changes in the business processes around the world. Amid this global health crisis, interestingly, several global pharma CEOs are sensing a number of game-changing opportunities – having business implications, even much beyond the pandemic.

One such example, as Bloomberg reported on September 29, 2020, the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Plc feels: The Covid Pandemic is ‘a Shot at Redemption in Pharma Industry.’ Elaborating the point, she said: ‘the sector’s push to find vaccines and drugs to end the crisis, if successful, could change the perception of pharmaceutical companies in the future.’ Coincidentally, the researchers from The Harris Poll found:

As of May, 40 percent of the American public said pharma’s reputation had improved since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak
And 81percent recalled seeing or hearing something about the industry during that time.
This is a continuation of the former trend that The Harris Poll first noted on March 2020.

There shouldn’t much doubt, either, that similar general impression on the pharma industry, with a varying degree, may now be felt in most countries, across the globe.

Curiously, flowing from this ‘redemption of pharma reputation’ angle – with new drugs and vaccines, the scope for leveraging another opportunity is also surfacing. This is from pharma ‘branding’ perspective and pertains to creating ‘purpose-driven brands’ for success in the new reality – during the pandemic and much beyond. In this article, I shall focus on the second area, and would start with its relevance to increasingly more informed health care consumers of date.

‘Purpose driven brands’ – attained greater relevance in Covid time:

The concept of creating ‘purpose driven brands,’ is profound – it goes much beyond product features, benefits and intrinsic values. It is motivated by – why the brands exist not just for providing a solution to manage or cure a disease, but also to meet a crucial need in society.

Studies have unfolded, with better stakeholder connection – and greater share of their mind, ‘purpose driven brands’ help improve brand loyalty, resulting into increased revenue and profit. We will see below, why in Covid time, this trend has started gathering wind on its sail, and deserves to find its place at the very core of any pharma branding strategy.

The consulting arm of The Beautiful Truth, also echoed the same sentiment in the article – ‘How Pharma Can Navigate Change With Purpose.’ It reconfirmed, at times of external crisis, like the global pandemic, creation of ‘purpose-driven brands’ is vital. Not just ‘for saving and maintaining business, but also for boosting internal team morale, and reconciling public trust.’

The pandemic has redefined the core purpose of a brand:

Another recent article –‘Through COVID-19, Leading Brands Have Found Their Purpose,’ published in CMO by Adobe, among many others, vindicated this point. Acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic has redefined the meaning of brand purpose, the paper explained the reason for the same.

In pre-Covid days, many organizations used to build brands following traditional norms – curing or effectively managing a disease is the purpose of a brand. But, since last few years, a growing number of new generation health care customers expect a brand’s ‘purpose’ to expand beyond the product and the company. It has to be inclusive in nature – benefiting the macro-environment, including governments, health care professionals, and the public. With this expectation gathering momentum during Covid time, pharma players would also need to redefine the core ‘purpose’ of a brand. Incidentally, many pharma CEOs also believe, if this trend continues, the image of the industry would probably undergo a metamorphosis.

Surveys vindicate the rationale for redefinition:

Several top consulting organizations have published excellent articles covering a number of critical points in this area. One such paper - ‘Purpose is everything,’ was published in Deloitte Insights, on October 15, 2019. It wrote on how brands that authentically lead with ‘purpose’ are changing the nature of business today.

The rationale for redefinition of brand purpose, also gets reflected in a contemporary Deloitte survey, as quoted in the above article. It revealed the following top three issues that stakeholders identify with, while making decisions about brands:

Top Issues	% of respondents
How the company treats its own people/employees	28
How the company treats the environment	20
How the company supports the community in which it operates	19

Aligning purpose to create deeper connections with stakeholders:

Especially at the Covid time, if companies try to align their purpose in doing good – for the society, they can build deeper connections with their stakeholders. And, in turn, amplify the company’s relevance in their stakeholders’ lives. From this perspective, it’s good to note in the above Bloomberg article, that one of the top pharma CEOs articulating the same in public. I reckon, increasingly, pharma businesses would endeavor harnessing the power and opportunity of aligning the ‘core purpose of brands’ with societal good, as came out in the above Deloitte article.

Mostly millennial generation favor ‘purpose-driven’ brands:

The initiation of this trend dates back to pre-Covid time with wider usage of internet. However, with the increasing democratization of health care - social media based instant information sharing, the ability to communicate with others as needed, have increased manifold. Consequently, stakeholders, particularly, the millennial generation with a different mindset, aspirations and expectations are expecting pharma players to act more on the pressing societal issues. This makes them lean towards a purpose driven brands and companies. The unprecedented Covid health crisis is acting as a force multiplier in this area.

Another study – ‘Why Customers Are Supporting ‘Purpose-Driven’ Brands,’ published in Link fluence epitomized this evolving customer preference succinctly. It reiterated, ‘It’s no longer enough for brands to deliver great products and experiences. Instead, consumers are demanding for brands to be more proactive and conscious in delivering value to society as a whole.’

‘Purpose-driven brands’ – the latest ‘marketing buzzword’?

This question was conclusively answered about two years ago - from the 2018 Cone/Porter Novelli Purpose Study. Although, this survey was conducted in the United States, it has a global relevance amid Covid pandemic. Some of the key findings include:

78 percent believe companies must do more than just make money; they must positively impact society as well.
77 percent feel a stronger emotional connection to Purpose-driven companies over traditional companies.
66 percent would switch from a product they typically buy, for a new product from a purpose-driven company.
68 percent is more willing to share content with their social networks over that of traditional companies.

Examples of ‘purpose-driven’ pharma brands/companies:

Let me give just two examples each – from pre-Covid and Covid times. The article – ‘Mission-Drive Pharma Brands,’ published by Wonder on January 15, 2018, cited several examples of ‘purpose-driven’ pharma brands. This was based on a research of individual drug campaigns for top-selling drugs around that time. These include promotional campaigns on:

Humira: Highlighted the participation in a community food drive, and volunteering in a playground construction project.

Lyrica: Highlighted the engagement in a multi-generational interaction and helping others.

Encouragingly, while combating COVID-19, several pharma companies have also displayed a sense of ‘purpose’ to save the humanity from the pandemic, mainly through collaborative approaches. Let me quote below two such examples:

On April 14, 2020 GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi announced a very unusual collaboration to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, expeditiously. This was done for a greater purpose, responding to the critical need of the society – saving millions of lives.

Roche called on and campaigned for the governments for focusing on testing and prevention, to maintain adequate medical supplies for health care professionals around the world. It also urged the health authorities to work closely with the life sciences industry to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic through international collaboration to tackle Covid-19 pandemic.

Conclusion:

Meanwhile, as on October 04, 2020 morning, India recorded a staggering figure of 6,549,373 of Coronavirus cases with 101,812 deaths. Still there is no respite from Covid-19’s unprecedented onslaught on the country. Be that as it may, coming back to the creation of ‘purpose-driven brands’ in the Covid time, let me quote again from the above CMO by Adobe article, where it underscored:“Never before have brands been asked to show their true purpose and leadership as they are today. It’s inspiring to see companies across industries and throughout the world come together to address some of the most pressing needs brought about by this crisis.”

As Accenture had articulated: ‘In an era of radical visibility, technology and media have given individuals the power to stand up for their opinions and beliefs on a grand scale.’ Keeping this in view, with gradually changing stakeholder mindset and expectations, the ‘purpose of a brand’ deserves to be a critical centerpiece in the pharma ‘branding’ process. Various studies have established – since pre-Covid time, and more during this pandemic – brands, reflecting a robust sense of ‘purpose’ on societal values, people and the environment, connect better with customers.

Consequently, as the stakeholders find these companies walk the talk, they develop a strong and sustainable brand preference, and reward the manufacturers commensurately, both directly and also through word of mouth. Alternatively, if the stated ‘brand purpose’ is not genuine – which customers can quickly find out through digital transparency, they shift their preferences to the deserving ones. Going by this growing trend, I reckon, creating ‘Purpose-Driven-Brands’ assumes a critical importance to win marketing warfare, in the new reality.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Neutralize Covid-19 Impact on Drug Prices And Market Access For Faster Recovery

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Tapan Ray

Covid-19 pandemic that has not spared any facet of human lives and livelihoods, has also reignited several ongoing debates related to the drug industry. The need to urgently resolve these issues grows manifold, as the real magnitude of this health crisis doesn’t seem to be clear even to the key Government decision makers.

This is vindicated by the research paper, written by government scientists and other experts, published on September 10, 2020 in the Indian Journal of Medical Research. It reveals, India had nearly 6.5 million cases as early as May 2020. Whereas, according to the health ministry, the total number cases stood at around 180,000 in late May. This happened because, ‘large numbers of cases could have gone under the radar earlier this year, because testing was limited to symptomatic patients or states had varying testing rates,’ the paper highlighted.

From the pharma industry perspective, a pandemic of such magnitude is also causing indefinite delay in pre-planned market access of several important drugs and vaccines. Some are due to technical reasons. However, many others are related to their value-based cost-effectiveness in the new normal, when the pandemic has put enormous strain on health expenditure, across the world.

In this situation, past mechanisms of new drug pricing, are required to undergo significant changes. The new yardsticks, I reckon, will be based on two critical factors. The first – the disease treatment priorities, as will be decided jointly by both doctors and patients. And the second – the paying capacity of both payers and individual patients, based on the value that each treatment will offer – again, as perceived by patients.

As it appears, the impact of Covid-19 on the pharma industry will continue till the medium term, if not beyond. Consequently, the concept of new drug pricing – based on well-documented, differential value offerings of treatments, would need to be revisited and recalibrated. This has to be realigned with evolving patient needs. Considering the emerging scenario, this article will focus on the exigency to neutralize Covid-19 impact on new drug prices and pre-planned ‘market access’ – for faster business recovery.

Covid-19 has increased the drug price sensitivity:

The challenge of increasing drug price sensitivity – triggered by the new Coronavirus pandemic, has now assumed a global dimension. A June 18, 2020 study, flags: ‘Nine in 10 Concerned About Rising Drug Costs Due to COVID-19.’ Although, this particular study (Gallup Poll) was conducted in the United States, general public apprehension is no different in other parts of the world, including India, for various reasons.

Even in America, which is considered Eldorado for pharma business, primarily for unregulated drug pricing, is also changing with the impact of Covid-19. The reason being, reported instances of drug prices are rapidly rising, amid the pandemic. As the above Gallup Poll highlights, today ‘a large majority of Americans support direct negotiations by the federal government with the drug manufacturer on the price of a treatment for the disease itself.” Interestingly, ‘significant support exists across all major demographic groups.’

Other specialists on pharmaceutical pricing and market access, also envisage that pharmaceutical companies will be faced with increased price sensitivity, and are quite concerned with the long-term impact of the pandemic on health care systems.

Covid-19 pandemic would seriously impact pharma spending:

As quoted above, several other specialists for pharmaceutical pricing and market access have also pointed out some critical Covid-19 impact areas, including:

Tremendous increase in pandemic related public expenditure, could prompt further austerity measures in already strained health care budgets, besides job losses or pay cuts of scores of people for different reasons.

The pandemic is likely to result in a redistribution of health care funding towards infectious diseases (e.g. prioritization of antivirals and vaccines) and chronic diseases associated with worsening COVID-19 outcomes.

This may result in more drug pricing pressure in other disease areas, besides push for increasing use of similar cheaper generics and biosimilars, unless absolutely necessary.

Stricter monitoring of usage of medicines, especially in private hospitals, to ensure their use within the regulatory label and/or within the reimbursed population.

Possibility of mandatory price cuts either across the board or for drugs which have been on the market for a specific duration.

The report also envisages, pharmaceutical companies will be faced with increased price sensitivity and decrease in willingness to pay by authorities. Consequently, the key question in this area becomes: What impact will COVID-19 have on the future of pricing and market access? And how to address this issue, effectively?

Need for an appropriate drug pricing models in the new normal:

Overall scenario for drug pricing model has not changed much, till Convid-19 pandemic overwhelmed the world. The age-old concept of drug pricing, being treated as almost given, is changing fast. As I wrote earlier, it started in the developed world, with newer concepts, such as, Health Technology Assessment (HTA), besides a few others. However, to illustrate the point, I shall focus only on the HTA model. It includes a multi-faceted assessment of the clinical, economic, ethical, legal, and societal perspectives that may be impacted by a new technology, procedure, drug, or process.

Application of HTA in Medicine Pricing:

The ‘Working Paper 6’ of June 2013, on ‘The Role of Health Technology Assessment in Medicine Pricing and Reimbursement,’ published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Action International (HAI), is worth referring to.

The paper aims to identify and describe the role of HTA in price-setting and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals, with a focus on its use in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, as Covid-19 is now fueling the drug price sensitivity across the globe, and not just in the LMIC, this reference will help drive home the point, as one faces today.

While combating health care resource crunch in the face of the Coronavirus quagmire, many countries are contemplating a variety of approaches to maintain affordable access to healthcare for patients. The concept of HTA is one such common approach. It includes pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, medical and surgical procedures, besides the systems within which health is protected and maintained.

Relevance of a recalibrated HTA in the new normal:

For a new drug, as the Institute For Clinical And Economic Review (ICER) puts it, a final HTA report would attempt to answer the following questions, besides a few others:

Is it safe and effective?
Which patients benefit the most?
Is there a meaningful improvement in health status?
Can all people afford to pay who might need it?
Will it offer a good value in the long run?
What other considerations make it important?

These points need to be looked at keeping in view that Covid-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the health care spending. Thus, the process needs to be recalibrated in the new normal. In any case, HTA has the potential to play a critical role in new drug pricing, by assessing the intrinsic value of medicines that can significantly expand patient-access to care. In tandem, it could maximize the value for money in health expenditure with most efficient allocation of scarce health resources, that most countries are facing today. Nevertheless, there could well be a few company or country specific barriers to capture the value of a drug or treatment, as well. A robust plan for their mitigation needs to be well-thought through, to ensure effective implementation and achieve desirable outcomes.

HTA in India:

At least, on paper HTA exists even in India. The Government of India had created an institutional arrangement called “Health Technology Assessment in India (HTAIn)”, under the Department of Health Research (DHR). It was entrusted with collation and the generation of evidences on cost effectiveness and safety of health care interventions, including medicines and devices.

The key goals are, to reduce the cost of patient care, overall cost of medical treatment, reduction in out of pocket expenditure of patients, besides streamlining the medical reimbursement procedures. Nevertheless, it remains a million dollar question whether India would leverage this system to ensure fair pricing of new drugs in India.

Some pre-requisites to implement HTA – afresh:

In those countries, where HTA for drug pricing and reimbursement doesn’t already exist, there could be several pre-requisites. These may include, as the above paper indicates, establishing a medicines regulatory system, developing and enforcing legislation, employing the appropriate technical expertise, and the allocation of sector-wide financial resources in accordance with the decisions of the organization using the HTA.

That said, the bottom-line is, the quest to arrive at fair pricing for a new drug, could also help ‘market access’, especially in a difficult time, like today’s health care crisis. In that endeavor, let me briefly dwell on the concept of ‘fair pricing a drug’.

The concept of ‘fair pricing a drug’:

This issue has been well deliberated by many experts around the world. However, let me quote a recent article – ‘Defining the concept of fair pricing for medicines,’ published by The BMJ on January 13, 2020.

The paper articulates, ‘a fair price for a medicine is affordable to the buyer while covering the seller’s costs and providing a reasonable profit margin. Within a fair pricing zone, a specific price may be higher or lower, possibly reflecting differential value.

Interestingly, the authors also noted: ‘Applying the framework to decision making would require access to data on R&D, manufacturing, and distribution costs, which is generally not publicly disclosed. This lack of transparency about costs undermines efforts to assess the fairness of medicines prices.’

The article underscored, lack of transparency in these areas, ‘also exacerbates information asymmetry to the sellers’ advantage.’ It suggested, disclosure can be enforced through legislation, regulation, and judicial action. Or as a condition of receiving public research funds, tax benefits, regulatory approval. Or listing in a formulary for reimbursement. ‘In the absence of disclosure, decision makers may rely on reasonable estimates based on publicly available information,’ the paper concluded.

Conclusion:

As recorded in the morning of September 13, 2020, total Coronavirus cases in India have reached a staggering figure of 4,754,356 with 78,614 deaths, overtaking Brazil. This trend continues going North, as days pass by.

All-pervasive Covid-19 pandemic is fueling severe resource constraints, especially for health care. Amid this complexity, to combat this deadly virus – alongside other non-Covid related illnesses – value added drugs and treatments could help overcome many hurdles in this area. They could help improve cost-effectiveness of treatments to price-sensitive patients, besides other stakeholders.

Recalibrated HTA mechanism, which I have used in this article as an example to effectively overcome prevailing drug price sensitivity, is one among a few others. Importantly, HTA mechanism exists even in India. It can be appropriately used for new drugs and vaccines pricing, if the Government wishes to.

On the other hand, it’s up to individual companies to choose any other price-value model’ that they will deem appropriate, to arrive at a ‘fair value for new drugs’. However, the goal remains common for all - Neutralizing Covid-19 impact on drug prices and market access, to ensure faster recovery of the business.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Shift from Disease Centered Care To Patient-Goals Directed Care In The New Normal

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Tapan Ray

In the initial days of the first quarter of 2020, no one could fathom that just within the next 4 months over two million fellow citizens will get infected by an unknown virus, recording over 45,500 deaths. Many authorities may wish to project or analyze these Covid-19 numbers in so many different ways. Nevertheless, the fact remains, currently, in passing each day India is recording the highest count of fresh Covid-19 cases in the world, alongside the most daily deaths from the virus.

In the early days of Covid19 in India, many expected a remedial pathway to emerge soon – conventional or unconventional. Accordingly, Indian citizens across the country responded to the call of some national leaders by observing some – even unconventional measures, such as:

On March 22, 2014, to “boost morale” of doctors and public workers, as urged by the Indian Prime Minister, many people banged pots and pans on balconies across India.

On April 05, 2020, again responding to the Prime Minister’s passionate call, a large number of Indians turned off lights, lighted candles and Diyas hoping to dispel COVID-19 darkness.

On May 02, 2020, as organized by the Government, the country’s armed forces engaged in a nationwide exercise to express gratitude to doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff and other front-line workers involved in fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.

Gradually, the stark reality sank in, as the old normal faded out in the horizon. Public expectations arguably started shifting from heavenly interventions, as it were, to science-based measures. It has now been generally accepted that there is no alternative to social distancing and wearing a mask at the public places. These should continue, till the ‘silver bullet’ – vaccines arrive. More so, when going for herd immunity “cannot be a strategic choice or option,” given the size of India’s population, as the Government said.

Billions of people have now started hoping for the ‘silver bullet’ to come soon. This sky-high expectation continues to be fueled by media hype – based primarily by the Press Releases of the concerned companies. In the midst of these, comes a word of caution from the apex health body of the world. As recent as August 03, 2020, the World Health Organization (W.H.O) announced, ‘despite strong hopes for a vaccine, there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19, and the road to normality would be long.’

To add some degree of certainty in this humongous – primarily scientific and logistical challenge to save lives, – pharma and biotech industry, as usual, are coming to the forefront. Billions of eyeballs are now glued on to them – following every bit of what they are saying – as the devastating impact of this health catastrophe is profound. Besides individual health, the fall-out of the pandemic is intimately intertwined with livelihoods, nation’s economy, social fabric and adjusting to the new way of living, including new mechanisms for most transactions.

Obviously, this would create a new normal – quite different from the old one – and naturally would include pharma business, as well. In this scenario, patients will assume a much different status, especially in the disease treatment process. More patients would likely to prefer their individual health-goals directed holistic care, which calls for a holistic disease treatment solution. The process needs to be contactless as far as practicable, less time intensive and above all cost effective

In this article, let me focus on this area. I reckon, many pharma players are also evaluating the impact of this shift to achieve business excellence in the new normal.

The current treatment approach and the pharma focus:

A recent paper, published in the JAMA Cardiology on the April 2016, made some interesting observations in this area. Citing cardiology disease area as an example, the authors noted the following, among other points:

Physicians’ decision-making process generally ‘concentrates on disease-specific outcomes, following practice guidelines for specific conditions.’

Value-based purchasing also largely focus on individual diseases.

However, disease-centered framework is ill-suited for persons with multiple chronic conditions, including older adults and the majority of adult health care users of all ages.

Disease-centered decision-making results in treatment burden when patients must adhere to multiple guidelines and harm when guideline recommendations conflict.

Furthermore, disease-centered recommendations may not address what matters most to these patients – varying health priorities.

The shortcomings of this approach from the patients’ perspectives, besides adding greater value for patients, prompt a need for change. From the current disease-oriented treatment approach, and pharma’s business-related focus in sync with this system.

Habit of visiting specialists at the very beginning complicates the process:

The disease-oriented treatment approach, as it is today, isn’t a legacy issue. In the good old days, General Practitioners (GP) used to examine their patients thoroughly – covering the entire body. Thereafter, depending on the specific areas of need, expert interventions used to be recommended.

However, todays well-informed people, equipped with health information of all kinds, can possibly figure out the broad outline of their health problems. Accordingly, many of them directly arrange appointment with specialists. As most of them are generally not terribly wrong in figuring out the problem areas, specialists’ treatment progresses in the same direction. Other existing health issues, not being of high priority treatment areas for persons concerned, could remain ignored, till these also flare up.

Undoubtedly this approach, even if is made ‘patient-centric’, in a broader sense, by pharma players, would cost more time, more money to patients. Besides, loss of income and increase in morbidity. This is certainly an avoidable situation for all – patients, doctors and pharma companies.

Go beyond ‘patient-centricity’ encompassing ‘patient-goals directed care’:

The new focus should be directed towards ‘patient-goals directed care.’ This approach, which flows from a very old and a classic concept of Sir William Osler articulated in the 19^th century. This remains as relevant today for any holistic - ‘patient-goals directed care.’ It goes way beyond much hyped ‘patient-centric’ approach.

Sir William Osler once said, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” The great physician understands the patient and the context of that patient’s illness. Accordingly, I reckon, pharma players new focus needs to be in conformance to this concept. It fits in so well with changing patients’ expectations in the new normal.

As has been evaluated in many studies, although, patient-goals directed care may appear to be particularly useful for persons with multiple chronic conditions, ‘this approach works across the age and health span, making it a compelling path toward value-based care from the patient’s perspective.’

‘Each patient represents a story’ which needs to be carefully deciphered:

The article – ‘To Be a Great Physician, You Must Understand the Whole Story,’ published in the Medscape General Medicine on March 26, 2007, elucidated the point nicely. It said, each patient represents a story, which includes their diseases, their new problem, their social situation, and their beliefs. A physician needs to understand this story. Accordingly, perform a targeted physical examination based on the historical clues, order the correct diagnostic tests, and interpret them in the context of the history and physical exam. Once the appropriate data are collected, the patient’s story needs to be revisited, based on scientific data.

Revisiting process of the patients’ story includes making the correct diagnosis or diagnoses. The story must reveal the patient’s context – Who is this patient? – What is the patient’s goal? – How might the patient’s personal situation impact the treatment options? And more – as the above article highlights.

Each patient’s story’ is important for pharma companies, as well:

Patients’ disease related stories are of crucial importance to the pharma players, as well, for strategic reasons. Not just to gain insights on the disease manifestation process, but more importantly to facilitate a company’s engagement with them.

Another interesting article has brought out some more important issues in this area. The paper is titled, ‘Patient Centricity and Pharmaceutical Companies: Is It Feasible?’ It was published by the SAGE Journals on March 28, 2017, where the authors underscored, engagement with patients can only be possible, if there is credibility. Elaborating this point, the paper cited two GSK examples aimed at building trust with patients and physicians, as follows:

Change in marketing practices: In 2011, GSK eliminated prescription sales targets in the US and introduced a new incentive model for sales and marketing practices based on value and feedback from prescribers; external speakers/ convention travel support was discontinued (2016).

Clinical transparency: Since 2013 GSK has committed to promote transparency of clinical research and is a leading example in the pharmaceutical industry—it was the first company to grant access to anonymized patient data. The ‘All trial campaign (2013)’ commits to publishing all trial data; the GSK patient-level data access site has become a multi-sponsored portal (2014).

Conclusion:

As of August 09, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases in India have crossed a staggering 2 billion mark, reaching 2,153,10 with 43,452 deaths. The figure keeps climbing – faster than expected, unabated.

The business relevance for a shift from the conventional disease centered care to patient-goals directed care, require deep understanding of the top pharma leadership along with its very purpose, in the new normal. Patients deserve this now, more than ever before, as explained above.

In my view, a changing mindset to align pharma business strategy – from providing a disease-oriented care to patient-goals directed care, is expected to improve patient outcomes manifold. Nevertheless, like what the above SAGE article emphasized, the organization at its end would require defining collectively and with clarity – why is this change now? How it is to be done – step by step? And what are the results the company aims to achieve?

Consequently, it would help create a large pool of delighted and company loyal customers having strong ‘word of mouth’ advantages. Top pharma leadership’s ‘buying in’ this concept, with an appropriate organizational structure in place, would herald a new dawn of ‘Patient Value-Based Care’ – Convid-19 pandemic notwithstanding.

By: Tapan J. Ray

New Digital Tools To Protect From Infection, Neutralize Covid-19

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Tapan Ray

There seems to be some light at the end of the dark tunnel of a serious biological threat that the world is passing through, since the nightmarish last seven months. The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to 213 countries and territories, and the number of new cases is continuously rising. According to reports, the severity of the situation has already re-shaped our society, more than ever before.

In tandem, reports are arriving from most countries, testifying the tremendous commitment of the governmental, scientific and clinical communities, to help local populations dealing with the pandemic. Scientists are still far from having a complete picture of the pathophysiology of this dangerous disease, including its long-term implications on individuals.

Amid this challenge, round the clock search for a life-saving and long-term pathway to outmatch the fast-spreading Covid-19, seems to be coming to fruition, soon. If everything materializes as expected, Covid-19 vaccines may be available by the end of this year or at the beginning of the next year. If it happens, this will be a record in the history of any vaccine development process, as the normal ‘mind to market’ period to deliver a scientifically proven, safe and effective vaccine is normally around 10 years. That said, there always exists a gap between the cup and the lip, as the saying goes.

No doubt, vaccines will be the best way to bring the new Coronavirus under a tight leash to help normalize life, restore livelihoods, and putting a nation’s economy back to the growth trajectory. The good news is, alongside this magic bullet, the power of technology is exploring other technological measures to keep the virus at bay, wherever possible. In this article, I shall focus on this interesting area.

Let me hasten to add, the value offerings of these devices can’t be compared with the long-term benefits that vaccines will offer in containing this global pandemic. Nevertheless, the questions still remain, when will a well-documented, safe, effective and affordable vaccine hit the market?

W.H.O expects to deliver 2 billion doses of vaccines by end 2021:

According to a News Release of July 15, 2020, by the World Trade Organization (W.H.O): ‘Seventy-five countries have submitted expressions of interest to protect their populations and those of other nations through joining the COVAX Facility, which aims to:

Accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
Guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.

The goal of COVAX is to deliver two billion doses of safe, effective vaccines that have passed regulatory approval and/or WHO pre-qualification, by the end of 2021. Besides W.H.O, other experts are also cautiously optimistic about the availability of Coronavirus vaccines ‘soon’. Here also the question may crop up: how soon is ‘soon’?

How soon is ‘soon’ – for sooner availability of Covid-19 vaccines?

Experts have opined, a vaccine would normally take years, if not decades, to develop. However, in this unprecedented global health crisis, researchers hope to achieve the same amount of work in only a few months, following the ‘fast track’ regulatory pathway. Let me give a sense of the prevailing buzz around the availability of some of these vaccines.

Going by what the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India said about Oxford-AstraZeneca developed vaccine, many expect their availability by the end of the current year in India. The Company CEO, reportedly, said on July 22, 2020: “By November, we hope to launch the vaccine if the trials are positive and if the Drug Controller of India blesses it and says it is safe and effective.”

Further, on July 28, 2020, Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. also launched two 30,000-subject trials of Covid-19 vaccines that could clear the way for regulatory approval and widespread use by the end of this year, as the companies announced. Notably, both vaccine candidates rely on a new technology that allows for faster development and manufacturing than traditional vaccine production methods, but does not have an extensive track record.

According to another report of July 30, 2020, Russia said, the world’s first COVID19 vaccine to be ready by August 12, 2020. The vaccine is being developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

India’s indigenous experimental Coronavirus covid19 vaccine candidate, developed by Bharat Biotech, is also undergoing phase 1 and Phase 2 trials at 12 sites spanning across India. The initial results are positive. Earlier, ICMR had announced its launch on August 15, 2020. However, specialists in this area feel, ‘the August 15 timeline seems totally unrealistic, if not entirely impossible.’

Be that as it may, most experts still think a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus, known officially as Sars-CoV-2, first emerged. Bringing to the market a Covid-19 vaccine, no doubt, will be considered as a ‘huge scientific feat,’ but ‘there are no guarantees it will work’ for all. It’s also a point to ponder that ‘Coronaviruses already circulate in human beings. They cause common cold symptoms and we don’t have vaccines for any of them’ just yet, as the report highlights.

It’s, therefore, a clear possibility that a well-documented, safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine may not be available, at least, in the next 6 months. Moreover, access to an affordable Coronavirus vaccine by the global population will also not happen in a jiffy. In that case, it is encouraging to note that other cutting-edge technological initiatives are also moving ahead with a great speed, to bring the rapid transmission of the new Coronavirus under a tight leash.

Novel, non-medical tech initiatives to contain the Covid-19 spread:

As potentially lethal Covid-19 is overwhelming the world, besides search for new drugs, faster diagnosis to fight the infection – and most effective preventive measure – vaccines, several non-medical tech initiatives are also underway. Many of these are quietly heading forward in search of user-friendly solutions, not just to ‘take the pressure off overworked health care workers’, but also ‘to stop the spread of the disease.’ These are all running parallel to offer technology driven disease treatment-options during this global health crisis.

An interesting paper from the European Parliamentary Research Sevice (EPRS), also vindicates some critical developments in this area. It focuses on technology-based solutions for various pressing pandemic-related problems. Let me illustrate this point with one example each, in the areas of ‘taking the pressure off overworked health care workers’, and in ‘stopping the spread of the disease.’

Technology to ‘take the pressure off overworked health care workers’:

Even in India, one hears quite a lot about the hardship of overworked health care workers. Various unconventional ways were also prescribed for the nation to encourage them. Some of these aren’t inexpensive, either. From this perspective, one such application is robotics technology. It can be effectively used as an intelligent solution to reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission − especially in pandemic hotspots. As the above EPRS article highlighted, many countries are now deploying robots in other areas also to ‘take the pressure off overworked health care workers,’ such as:

To disinfect whole hospitals,
Decontaminate public and private sites,
Handle biohazardous waste,
Deliver food and medication to infected patients,
Taking patients ‘ temperatures and act as medical assistants.

For example, an Israeli-made AI-powered robot assistant is, reportedly, being used in hundreds of hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes, and corporate buildings in Asia. This is to help minimize human-to-human contact as millions of people take precautions due to the novel Coronavirus outbreak worldwide. By the way, Israel is now a good friend of India, too.

Technology ‘to stop the spread of the disease’:

On June 01, 2020, Science Daily reported, the researchers at Penn State, the University of Minnesota and two Japanese universities, have found that a personal, handheld device emitting high-intensity ultraviolet light to disinfect areas by killing the novel Coronavirus, is now feasible.

Another report of July 10, 2020 also brought to the fore that the researchers from the University of Houston have created a new air filter that virus tests at the Galveston National Laboratory found can kill 99.8 percent of COVID-19 instantly. The filter could be useful for killing COVID-19 in public places, such as, in airports and airplanes, in office buildings, schools and cruise ships, besides other closed spaces such as schools, hospitals and health care facilities. Thus, the ability of this “catch and kill” air filter to control the spread of the virus could be very useful for society,” confirmed another report.

On July 29, 2020, an Indian business news daily wrote, ‘Bengaluru-based Organization De Scalene has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and the European Union to license and manufacture Scalene Hypercharge Corona Canon (Shycocan).’ The device disables the virus’ capability to infect, by flooding electrons in closed areas. It is claimed that Shycocan ‘has the ability to neutralize 99.9% of the Coronavirus that might be floating in the air in closed spaces.’

Although, it is not an alternative to medicines that can cure infected people or preventive vaccines, the device can be used to keep Covid-19 at bay, at least, till vaccines arrive. Thus, going by these developments, one gets a sense of various non-medical technological activities post Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Especially about, how today’s technological whiz kids are working alongside the medical scientists to take the sting out of Covid-19 onslaught.

Conclusion:

The Lancet article – ‘Applications of digital technology in COVID-19 pandemic planning and response,’ published on June 29, 2020, also made similar observations. It said: ‘With high transmissibility and no effective vaccine or therapy, COVID-19 is now a global pandemic.’ In this scenario, to contain the spread of a highly transmissible virus, countries that have quickly deployed digital technologies in various critical areas to contain the spread of the infection, may emerge as front-runners in managing disease burden, the paper concluded.

As of August 02, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases in India reached a staggering 1,751,919 with 37,403 deaths. Recent Sero-surveys also show COVID-19 peaks in the country is still far away. It is very likely that a vast majority of the population will survive the Covid-19 catastrophe, even if only the existing systems are followed. But, just surviving is neither the reason nor the purpose of life. What most people want today is finding out a comprehensive way for – ‘jaan bhi and jahan bhi’ (life also, the world also).

Understandably, on July 31, 2020, W.H.O has also reiterated: “The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come.” Under this backdrop, unleashing the potential of new non-medical digital tools, as illustrated above, seem to be of immense benefit – not just to protect many more people from the infection, but also to neutralize Covid-19 effectively, especially in India.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Time For Pharma To Leverage ‘The Break In The Clouds’

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Tapan Ray

A ‘break in the clouds’ is now clearly visible in the dark and overcast sky – witnessing a global havoc caused by the Coronavirus pandemic in the healthcare space – with its severe socioeconomic consequences. The name of the game to combat this gargantuan crisis in a heavily restricted environment with success, is adding ‘error-free speed’ in all aspects of the planned countermeasures.

This isn’t a very easy task, either. And certainly, is possible with well-integrated digital interventions. From this perspective, one can construe this situation as ‘break in the clouds’ that can be leveraged by pharma companies for digital transformation of their respective business operations.

It may also be interpreted as a blessing in disguise, because such transformation will empower the companies to take appropriate effective measures with speed. When effectively leveraged, such strategic steps will help pharma players in two ways. One, to contain the virus spread while ensuring access to care through business operations. And the second, will help propel the organization to move ahead, even within such a crisis. However, the ‘Digitalization’ process is multifaceted, having, at least two fundamental prerequisites. In this article, I shall focus on this strategic space.

Alternative ways to provide health care is fast gaining ground:

The product and service delivery models of pharma companies are generally built around the concept of physical presence of patients while consulting a doctor or other health care providers. However, Coronavirus pandemic has triggered some significant changes in this area. Let me illustrate this point with some contemporary references.

As the recent L.E.K paper – ‘COVID-19 and the Acceleration of Digital Health in APAC’ emphasized – ‘by sheer necessity, governments and regulators have also reduced the barriers to participation and uptake for remote engagement of consumers, enabling access to care despite social distancing measures,’ during the pandemic. Moreover, a technical guidance paper, published by the World Health Organization (W.H.O) on April 1, 2020 on strengthening health systems against COVID-19, also recognizes ‘telemedicine’ as an alternative model for delivery of care to ensure the continuous running of essential health care.

COVID-19 will take health system digitalization to a new level:

The above L.E.K paper also pointed out – in the days and months ahead, COVID-19 will accelerate the ‘digitalization’ of health systems to a new level. Especially when, healthcare stakeholders adopt a more urgent, no-holds-barred strategy to stem the rising tide of infections. L.E.K article predicted, the new ways of working and behaviors, forged and refined in the heat of battle against COVID-19, will not be easily put “back in the box.” Consequently, this increasingly digitalized reality will force a paradigm shift in the healthcare ecosystem, the paper concluded.

‘A virtually perfect solution’ to neutralize Covid-19 impact:

Another paper - ‘Virtually Perfect? Telemedicine for Covid-19,’ published in the NEJM on April 30, 2020 wrote, disasters and pandemics pose unique challenges to health care delivery. It underscored, ‘Though telehealth will not solve them all, it’s well suited for scenarios in which infrastructure remains intact and clinicians are available to see patients.’ It also indicated, telemedicine may be a virtually perfect solution, particularly where such infrastructure is available.

‘Governments must reimagine healthcare delivery’:

That ‘Telemedicine can be a COVID-19 game-changer’ - both now, and in a post-pandemic world, was also articulated by another article, published by the World Economic Forum on May 13, 2020. It suggested: ‘Governments must reimagine healthcare delivery in the face of COVID-19.’

This is mainly because, hospitals and several other places where the COVID-19 battle is raging – have become risky places for both patients and healthcare workers. Although, several measures are being taken to limit transmission from such places, those are still ‘insufficient to stop overstretching of healthcare systems that were already overwhelmed before COVID-19,’ the article observed.

The good news is, in sync with the recommendation of the World Health Organization (W.H.O) for the use of telemedicine as an alternative model to boost clinical performance and optimize service delivery, India has also recognized its telemedicine facility. The Government finds it as ‘a blessing in disguise in time of Covid-19’ and has urged - ‘it’s already high time to recognize telemedicine as a mandatory technology for responding to the current pandemic.’

Health consumers started utilizing digital platforms during lockdown:

hanger, As I wrote in my article of April 27, 2020, being literally locked down at home, a good number of healthcare consumers in India, are utilizing innovative digital platforms, mostly for common illnesses or follow-up consultations, such as:

For medical consultation on digital platforms, e.g., Skype, Facetime etc.
Getting diagnostic tests done at home by requesting through digital apps,
Sending test reports to doctors digitally,
Getting doctor’s prescription through digital mode,
Ordering medicines through e-pharmacy apps by uploading prescriptions,
Getting medicines delivered at home after e-payment,
Repeating the same process whenever required.

I also mentioned there, the use of telemedicine in several different, unconventional formats, is also gaining momentum, signaling its greater potential in the years ahead. It seems a reality today, as strict compliance with ‘social distancing’ guidelines is one of the basic requirements of health safety for all.

Does pharma have any other prudent choice now to be effective?

Traditionally, health care industry almost in all countries, is structured on the model of in-person interactions between patients and their clinicians. As the article – ‘Covid-19 and Health Care’s Digital Revolution,’ published in the NEJM on June 04, 2020 wrote, ‘clinical workflows and economic incentives have largely been developed to support and reinforce a face-to-face model of care, resulting in the congregation of patients in emergency departments and waiting areas during this crisis.’

Realizing that this model of care contributes to the spread of the virus to uninfected individuals who are seeking evaluation, many health care consumers are now postponing the needed care or looking for a digital solution for common ailments, to begin with.

In this environment to be effective – pharma players don’t seem to have any other choice but to transform their business operations and scaling up operating systems with the power of digital technologies, as the article indicated. Although, some digital technologies, including telemedicine, have existed for decades, they have had poor penetration into the market for different considerations. But, it’s a transformed situation today, exhibiting a groundswell for the same.

Groundswell for digital transformation in pharma?

COVID-19 pandemic is creating a groundswell for an early digital transformation in the health care space where pharma industry plays a very critical role. If one observes carefully, it is not difficult to fathom the change in behavior and practices of health care consumers. Thus, it calls for commensurate changes in the operating models of the drug players, to keep the kettle boiling, at the very least.

Consequently, the need for integrated digital interventions, quite akin to ‘Zoom’ – replacing many long in-person meetings. Changes of such nature and significance won’t just come and go. These are here to stay to add speed, convenience and cost-effectiveness in business operations, even if Coronavirus disappears, eventually.

The shape and talent need of future organizations will be prompted by such changes, facilitated by digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, digital transformation isn’t just a ‘switch-on’ operation of drug companies, as and when they would wish. Moving towards this direction will call for an unbiased assessment of, at least two prerequisites, for each player.

Two important prerequisites:

As both personal lives and also the work lives of almost all professionals and entrepreneurs, along with the customer behavior, have metamorphosed significantly, commensurate changes need to be implemented in all these areas, urgently. One area where a quantum change has taken place almost unknowingly – mainly driven by the human instinct of survival in a crisis, is the use of various state-of-the-art digital platforms. These include, the way businesses and professionals interact with each other for productive engagements.

Many studies have unraveled this process, such as the one – ‘Seizing the moment in digital’, published in the eye for pharma on May 28, 2020. It underscores two critical prerequisites for any digital transformation of businesses. These are to assess – first, how compatible will this transformation be with the existing organization culture and the same of its top leadership.

If any barrier surfaces, the organization would need to ask, whether its business is ready for a commensurate cultural transformation to make it work productively. The second one is, the capability – it may not be just the technical capability – internal or outsourced to go digital, but more importantly, the capability to run the transformed business to fetch desired results.

Conclusion:

The world is still in the midst of a global crisis, triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic. It is quite far from even plateauing in India. As on July 5, 2020 morning, crossing half a million mark, the recorded Coronavirus cases in the country have reached 673,904 with 19,279 deaths. And its climb continues.

Thus, amid a virtually unfathomable Covid-19 crisis, it will be foolhardy to predict what will happen next. However, as one joins the dots of some significant development, a perceptible trend emerges through the break in the clouds. This is unlikely to vanish anytime soon, and is very likely to be a new normal. Many articles from various thought leaders, such as one of McKinsey Digital - ‘The COVID-19 recovery will be digital’, published on May 14, 2020, vindicated a ground swell for the same. Yet another interesting article of May 11, 2020, termed the Covid-19 pandemic as a black swan event – ‘pushing towards a digital future.’

That said, digital transformation for a drug player will call for an unbiased assessment of two critical prerequisites – culture and capability, to deliver a meaningful outcome. Be that as it may, all indicators confirm that this is undoubtedly a critical time for pharma to leverage the ‘break in the clouds’ in pursuit of excellence – in the new normal.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Time For Predictive Rather Than Reactive Pharma Strategy

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Tapan Ray

Traditionally, pharmaceutical industry, across the world, is mostly reactive – rather than proactive or predictive in its strategic approach – spanning across all its business domains. A large number of pharma players – both innovators and generic drug makers, formulate their business strategy – generally reacting to competition, changing market dynamics and patient/ doctor /other stakeholder preferences. The same is being witnessed even during Covid-19 pandemic. However, this trend seems to be more prevalent in India – as one looks around.

For example, in R&D – be it a statin drug, proton pump inhibitors and right up to monoclonal antibodies or cancer immunotherapies – after a first-in-class molecule comes, a plethora of ‘me-too’ – but patented molecules soon follow. A comparable trend in the generic drug categories is also all-pervasive, including fixed-dose combinations (FDCs).

Similarly, even in the good old days of sales and marketing, we have seen – after the first product detailing folder was successfully introduced by a leading pharma company in India, how competition lapped the concept up – considering this change as a magic wand for brand demand generation!

In recent days, a similar trend is surfacing for ‘Digitalization’ of pharma business, mostly reacting to the changing practices of key competitors, or involving patients or doctors’ preferences. It gets reflected in other business domains, as well. With this perspective, in this article, I shall deliberate on this area, especially in view of the current situation.

Traditional ‘safe sailing’ is no longer an option:

The Coronavirus pandemic could be a stronger catalytic factor for the drug industry to initiate the much-desired transition from being reactive to predictive in its strategic business approach- faster. Interestingly, way back in June 2007, the PwC Whitepaper titled “Pharma 2020: The vision”, had also articulated: ‘The social, demographic and economic context in which the pharmaceutical industry (Pharma) operates is changing dramatically.’

Some drug players have already opted to transform their organizations in sync with the changes in the operating environment. But, a vast majority of them preferred to stick to the traditional reactive mindset, for a safe sail, as it were. However, this doesn’t seem to be an option, any longer. Be that as it may, there is nothing wrong in being reactive in strategic business practices, although formulating a predictive or proactive growth strategy demands more cerebral prowess and is much different from the reactive ones.

The difference, I reckon, is similar to that of a leader and the followers, with nearly similar impact on overall corporate image and performance, besides a prime-mover advantage of the latter. Nevertheless, there could be a predictive approach even within a reactive approach to competition. To illustrate the point, let me cite an example related to ‘me-too’ – patented-drug development.

Making an overall reactive strategic approach proactive in nature:

Among several examples of making a reactive strategic approach – proactive in nature with innovative goals, let me quote a very recent one. For decades, drug companies have been selling ‘me too’ but patented drugs, at prices similar to the original and ‘first-in-class’ drugs, which are successful and enjoying a market monopoly.

Moving away from this trend, a startup drug maker, reportedly, wants to disrupt the traditional pharma industry practices by delivering what most patients and healthcare stakeholders want. It has set a novel goal of becoming patient-centric in its offering by making innovative drugs available at affordable prices. The startup wants to achieve this objective ‘by changing long-held industry practices for developing, pricing, and selling slightly different versions of costly brand-name drugs.’

Accordingly, with a proactive or predictive approach within an overall ‘reactive’ trend, it wants to create a unique niche for itself. The entity ‘will focus on developing “me too” drugs, which imitate the biological functions of existing drugs, but use distinct molecular structures so they don’t infringe on existing drug patents.’

Evolving a new demand of value-based health care system:

During disruptive changes and uncertainties in the business environment, such as what is being experienced today, gaining actionable insight on how these changes will call for new strategies to excel, would require a predictive mindset. This is of critical importance, particularly when a new demand for a value-based health care system is fast unfolding. This subject was well deliberated also in the book – ‘Healthcare Disrupted: Next Generation Business Models and Strategies.’

About six years back what the authors of this book predicted, seems to be a reality today. They had said: The concept of “value” rules the day, undoubtedly. The transition from the old ‘fee-for-service’ to ‘fee for value’, is game changing. On the same subject, another article - Focus on Value 1: The “Tsunami of Change”, published in the ‘eye for pharma’ on March 22, 2026, quoted the authors of this book – explaining the scenario lucidly.

They said, today’s health care system is largely reactionary, as the health services react to the persistence of consumers, their phone calls, queuing for services, waiting in the waiting room and calls to healthcare insurers. Whereas, ‘tomorrow’s system would prompt the health care providers to answer a seemingly simple question: how will they become relevant to a customer group?

Even six years down the line, especially in the current global pandemic situation with an evolving demand of a value-based health care system, this concept remains so relevant, possibly more than ever before. That said, an unforeseen and unprecedented situation could also force a pharma player – already moving on a predictive strategic path, to choose a reactive path – mostly for survival and progress of business.

When a company moves into a ‘reactive’ path from a ‘predictive’ one:

Such instances are infrequent. But a major event like Covid -19 may give rise to such a situation. For example, in the Pharma and Biopharma R&D space, it happened and is still happening. As ‘Evaluate Vantage Covid-19 Report’ of April 16, 2020 highlighted, as follows:

‘Anyone thinking that 2020 might travel down a predictable path for the biopharma sector was swiftly disabused of this view in the opening weeks of the year. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the focus for almost every drug developer, whether they are working on potential treatments or trying to keep their businesses on track – or both.’ Good or bad, this is the reality today.

However, many of these organizations are unlikely to jettison their well-thought out ‘predictive’ pathway and are expected to soon find ways to move back to it. Thus, the question that one may pose, how does a company move into a predictive pathway from a reactive one? And particularly considering, if Covid-19 pandemic has caused some irreversible changes, or even – a long-term change in the business environment.

Getting back to predictive strategic path from a reactive one:

This issue was also covered in the article – ‘Three Proactive Response Strategies to COVID-19 Business Challenges,’ published in the MIT Sloan Management Review, on April 17, 2020. It wrote, as organizations move from a reactive to a proactive approach to dealing with COVID-19, they should ask themselves the following three questions:

Can we offer a version of our products and/or services through an online channel? Going online is the closest equivalent to low-hanging fruit in the current environment.

Can we use our existing infrastructure to produce products and/or offer services that are in demand? Many organizations have allocated infrastructure to produce goods and services to support the fight against COVID-19, but some strategic companies would think beyond the crisis to future changes in consumer needs.

How can we rapidly increase our capacity to produce and distribute on-demand products and/or services? Turning to partnerships with other companies can boost capacity in a crunch situation, such as today.

The need for collaboration, in such extraordinary situation, has also been underscored by the European Pharmaceutical Review. It pointed out - how academia, government and the pharmaceutical industry can work together to potentially ‘repurpose drugs’ for the treatment of COVID-19. This is another example of formulating a predictive growth strategy to create a win-win situation, while being in the midst of a reactive one.

Conclusion:

Meanwhile, despite national Lockdowns at a very early stage on March 24, 2020, India has now climbed up to occupy the fourth highest position in terms of the number of Coronavirus infected cases. Continuing the steep ascending trend, as on June 14, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases in the country reached 321,616 with 9,199 deaths.

During the current global pandemic of a humongous scale, drug companies are trying to respond to rapid challenges across their business operations, right from planned R&D programs to effectively maintaining supply chain, including manufacturing activities. If the current COVID-19 pandemic lasts for medium/long term, there could also be significant delays in the execution of various other ongoing projects/programs. This was the analysis of Deloitte in a paper, titled, ‘COVID-19 response for Pharma companies – Respond. Recover. Thrive’

While the full impact of the Coronavirus pandemic is still unknown, adopting a predictive strategy in the prevailing overall reactive environment, is expected to yield a significantly better business performance. As I said earlier, the core difference between adopting a ‘predictive’ and a ‘reactive’ business pathway, under the circumstances, is akin to the difference between a leader and a follower.

Unlocking the value innovation in all areas of pharma business is the name of the game, for excellence. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) based contemporary ‘predictive’ tools will help pharma players break the new ground, even in such trying times. Coming from this perspective, a ‘predictive’ strategy rather than a ‘reactive’ one, apparently, is the demand of time – where we all are in – today.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Post Covid-19 Lockdown: Is Pharma Industry Ready?

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Tapan Ray

It’s over a month now since national lockdown in India came into force to win the war against Covid-19. Many promises and apprehensions about whether or not Covid-19 will keep ravaging human life, continue surfacing. As it appears today, whatever best happens post May 03, 2020, the Coronavirus outbreak is going to change the way we live and the businesses used to operate, in many respects, till an effective vaccine comes, at the very least. This change also includes the health care, in general, and the pharmaceutical industry, in particular.

It is obvious now that Covid-19 will stalk the planet for a long time to come. On April 22, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) also reiterated: ‘Make no mistake, Coronavirus will be with us for a long time.’ This vindicates many apprehensions against an early promise of winning the Covid19 war decisively in 21-days or even by May 03, 2020, or whenever the national lockdown is phased-out in a calibrated manner. Further, W.H.O has also cautioned: “Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics. And some that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases.”

As on April 26, 2020, the recorded Coronavirus cases in India has sharply climbed to 26,496 and 825 deaths, with the Union Health Ministry saying on April 23, 2020: ‘Doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in country is now 10 days.’ Whereas, on the same day, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also said, ‘for now, it is very difficult to tell when a peak state of COVID-19 pandemic in the country will arrive.’

The life-changing disruptions that Covid19 has caused, and may continue to cause in the near future, has apparently made a significant impact, also on how the healthcare consumers think about the available disease treatment solutions, including buying medicines. Thus, in this article, I shall, focus on this area.

Why winning the Covid-19 war can’t be immediate:

Covid-19 pandemic brought the drug industry under a sharp focus of the entire world, with an expectation to win the war against this deadly and invisible virus. This solution could be anything – an effective prevention, such as, with a vaccine, or a curing the infection with a drug, or even a mechanism that is able to make the virus less contagious. There are still no scientifically proven and approved drugs or vaccines for Covid-19. Although, many trial and error experiments are in progress, mainly based on anecdotes and gut-feeling, for the respiratory disease caused by Coronavirus.

The good news is, since January 2020, after scientists in China provided the virus’s genetic sequence, over 40 teams of global drug companies and the academia, are working on a vaccine and drugs for Covid-19. As of now, six Coronavirus vaccines are on clinical trial. Last Thursday, human safety trial of Oxford University developed Covid-19 vaccine, with the first two of 800 healthy volunteers, has commenced. Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India (SII) has tied-up with the Oxford University to manufacture the vaccine in India, if the trial succeeds.

Some bad news in this area also came by, such as, ‘remdesivir’ – the well-hyped drug, thought to be one of the best prospects for treating Covid-19, failed to have any effect during the first full trial. However, Gilead – the drug company developing this product has said, ‘the findings were inconclusive because the study was terminated early.’

The bottom-line is, although, first tests for more new vaccines may commence within a few months, the final regulatory approval of these will take much longer - at least 18 months, i.e. not before 2022, according to W.H.O. Meanwhile, some disruptive changes within current health care delivery systems, involving both behavior and transaction practices of key stakeholders, may prompt equally disruptive changes in the Indian health care delivery mechanisms. These changes are likely to have unforeseen impact on several pharma operations, critical for business excellence in the drug industry.

Commonly followed procedures for the Indian healthcare system:

The procedures that most health care consumers currently follow for healthcare in India, require patients to be physically present in most touchpoints of a disease treatment process. These include, doctors, chemist shops, hospitals, diagnostic clinics, among others. During the national lockdown period, redressal of non-Covid-19 related common health issues, has been a great challenge for many people, such as:

visiting a doctor
going to a hospital outdoor
procurement of medicines from retail shops for chronic conditions
visiting a diagnostic clinic even for follow-up – previously advised by a doctor

This happened primarily due to the need of compliance of social distancing and mostly out of fear of getting the Covid-19 infection. Fortunately, the available digital platforms to address the pressing common health issues, proved to be of immense help to many.

Pharma business has also been greatly impacted:

Driven by initial panic buying of regular medicines by the people, for the lockdown period and may be beyond, monthly sales of pharma might show a spurt. But, that is unlikely to be the real picture for a medium to long term. Otherwise, like many other industry sectors, pharma business has also been greatly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, across its various domains – right from planned R&D – through manufacturing, sales and marketing – to supply chain.

The early adopters to the new normal will be the outright winners:

For example, meeting a doctor for product detailing following the conventional chain of activities, and simultaneously maintaining strict ‘personal distancing’ or ‘social distancing norms, may not be the same again. The changes required by the pharma companies to make this process effective and productive, may also be disruptive in nature.

No-one can accurately predict toady, how exactly the important business operations can be resumed, ensuring full health-safety for all and with compromising on the effectiveness and productivity of business. Nevertheless, one thing for sure, lockdown during Covid-19 pandemic has brought the possibility and the opportunity of going digital to the fore, for both – the healthcare business and also its consumers, including various other stakeholders. The early adopters to the new normal are expected to be the outright winners.

Green shoots of digitalization within healthcare consumers and providers:

As digital transformation at health care consumers and providers level, gain a critical mass, the healthcare business would require to be not just digitalized, but also digitally innovative. The situation would demand from them to be much more ‘customer centric’ on digital platforms, as the locked down – homebound health care consumers, complying with ‘social distancing’ norms, get increasingly more digitally empowered.

Bain & Company in its March 20 ‘Brief’, titled ‘How the Coronavirus Will Transform Healthcare in China,’ discussed some of these issues from China perspective, which are already visible there. To illustrate this point in this deliberation from the Indian perspective, let me draw examples from the country’s health care consumers’ standpoint.

Is the traditional health care system slowly undergoing a metamorphosis?

The overall impact of Covid-19 outbreak in India has made visiting general practitioner’s (GP) clinics, pathological labs or even hospital emergency facilities, a tough challenge for many patients. This is primarily out of fear of getting a Coronavirus infection from others during the process, with strict compliance to ‘social distancing’ becoming a top priority for many. Consequently, traditional healthcare related activities in India, is likely to undergo an early metamorphosis.

Being literally locked down at home, a good number of healthcare consumers in India, are utilizing innovative digital platforms, for common illnesses or follow-up consultations, such as:

for medical consultation on digital platforms, e.g., Skype, Facetime etc.
getting diagnostic tests done at home by requesting through digital apps,
sending test reports to doctors digitally,
getting doctors prescription through digital mode,
ordering medicines through e-pharmacy apps by uploading prescriptions,
getting medicines delivered at home after e-payment,
repeating the same process whenever required.

An upside of the situation:

The upside of the situation is, these patients are feeling more digitally empowered and self-reliant to get non-too-serious ailments addressed against all odds. Some of these practices, such as, online consultation with doctors, getting most of the medical tests done at home, buying medicines through e-pharmacies, I reckon, may continue even after calibrated withdrawal of the national lockdown in India. The net impact of all could trigger a meaningful attitudinal change in patients, especially towards health care delivery processes, in general.

The healthcare industry is ready to log on to this digital mode?

Many early adopters in the global pharma industry, are going for digitalization within various functional domains of the company, at a varying scale. This has started happening in India, as well. However, as social distancing becomes the new normal in the foreseeable future, how prepared are the pharma companies to adopt themselves with the increasing number of digitally empowered consumers, is still unclear. More importantly, how will the industry meet new demands at various points of transaction and interaction with various critical stakeholders, such as, doctors, in the post Covid-19 eraof social distancing, ensuring health safety of all?

Another requirement that should form the bedrock of the grand integrated corporate strategy of a customer-centric pharma business, necessarily, in the changing times. This is – all decisions in this area must be based on a huge pool of contemporary data, analyzed by sophisticated data analytics and thereafter, the strategic and tactical pathways need to be charted, desirably, through skillful application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), because of evolving complex and multi-dimensional health care needs of the consumers.

Alongside, telemedicine in different new formats – even for GP level consultations, besides, drug procurement through e-payment from approved e-pharmacies by uploading doctor prescriptions, signal a great potential in the years ahead. This appears to be very close to reality, especially, going by the W.H.O prediction for a long-haul Covid-19 battle, where compliance with ‘social distancing,’ is one of the basic requirements of health safety for all.

Conclusion:

‘Month of lockdown impedes virus – a long battle lies ahead’. As the former President of the Unites States twitted on April 25, 2020, ‘If we want life to approach anything like normal anytime soon, we need a comprehensive testing program. It’s not going to be cheap, but it will ultimately pay off many times over in saved lives, saved businesses, and saved jobs.’

In any case the crux of the matter is, Covid-19 is not going to vanish soon, even after scaling down of the lockdown in a calibrated way. Moreover, the fear, if not the panic of a large population in India and around the world, on the possibility of getting infected by Covid-19, will continue – till one does not get vaccinated or acquire ‘herd immunity’ in a different way. Meanwhile, related behavioral changes and habits, of a large number of people, including health care consumers, will continue taking place.

From this perspective, besides the existing ones, once the lockdown-period-converted ‘e-consumers’ of health care get used to the new digital mode of availing healthcare services against e-payments, it could have a snowballing impact on many others. That will help usher in a new paradigm of medical consultation, follow-up interaction, disease diagnosis, drug procurement and all related transactions, through digital platforms.

Having experienced the convenience and user-friendliness of the digital mode, during an extended period of social or physical distancing and other new normal, instead of time-consuming legwork, it seems unlikely that the majority will try to go back to the traditional mode of pre-Covid 19 era. In that situation pharma companies will have no option but to necessarily re-engineer the business operations, bringing disruptive digitalization at the center of any strategy formulation related to mainly patients and doctors, besides others.

Covid-19 prompted lockdown and the post lockdown period, I reckon, is unlikely to be a ‘switch-off’ and ‘switch-on’ type of a situation for anyone or any industry, as threat of getting Coronavirus infected will continue for quite some time. The need of the hour for pharma players in India, therefore, is gaining deep insight, through continuous data capturing and analysis, on each component of the changing market dynamics – prompted by Coronavirus pandemic. The point to ponder, therefore, is pharma industry getting ready for a possible disruptive change in the future environment?

By: Tapan J. Ray

What Pays More: Creating ‘Innovative ‘Customer Experience’ Or ‘Innovative Drugs’?

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Tapan Ray

More innovative a drug is, the better is its business success rate. This was the general perception of around 92 percent pharma professionals in the past three years. Whereas the fact is: ‘Having the best product doesn’t guarantee sales anymore’. This was established by a research study of the ‘Bain & Company’ - covering multiple therapeutic areas, and was published on October 14, 2019.

It showed, when physicians prescribe a drug – its efficacy, safety and side-effect profile initially account for only 50 percent to 60 percent of the physician’s choice, with a declining trend over time. Interestingly, the other 40 percent to 50 percent of it, is based on a range of ‘physician and patient experience factors’, which pharma players need to target in innovative ways to differentiate their brands.

Many pharma companies are now experiencing the harsh reality that more innovative drugs, backed by traditional sales and marketing support are not yielding desirable financial returns. Head scratching has already started among astute pharma professionals to understand its reason for remedial measures. Thus, the number of executives who agreed with the above ‘Bain & Co’ study that: ‘Having the best product doesn’t guarantee sales anymore,’ increased to almost fourfold – from 8 percent to 28 percent in the next three years.

Thus, in this article, I shall explore whether innovation in creating a ‘unique patient experience’ during a disease treatment process, is as important, if not more than a ‘new drug innovation’. Curiously, high failure rate of most pharma players to innovate in this area, isn’t discussed as much as high failure rates in the development of innovative new drugs.

‘Customer service’ innovation – high failure rate – falling short of expectations:

Again, another article - ‘How Agile Is Powering Healthcare Innovation,’ published by ‘Bain & Company’ on June 20, 2019, brought out some interesting points related to this area. Let me quote a few of which as follows:

65 percent of ‘customer-service innovation’ fall short of expectations of the target group.

The number of health care executives recognizing the need to respond quickly to changing customer-needs, has increased from 38 percent in the past three years to 60 percent for the next 3 years. But, most of them ‘lack the methodology, and even the language to implement it in practice.’

‘Having the best product doesn’t guarantee sales anymore.’ Thus, healthcare companies face growing pressure to innovate in providing unique ‘customer experience’.

The critical point to note, customer needs evolve continuously, and leading companies respond rapidly with innovative new solutions catering to changing market demand.

As the core purpose of working for ‘customer-service innovation’ is linked with creating ‘brand loyalty’, let’s have a quick recap on ‘brand loyalty’ really means for pharmaceutical products, in today’s context.

‘Brand loyalty’ for pharmaceutical products in modern times:

There are many similar definitions of ‘brand loyalty’ for a pharmaceutical product. The research article – ‘Brand Loyalty as a Strategy for the Competition with Generic Drugs: Physicians Perspective,’ published in the Journal of Developing Drugs, on August 30, 2016, defined ‘brand loyalty,’ and articulated its advantages.‘ I am paraphrasing a few of which, as below:

The extent of the faithfulness to a particular brand, which is a major indicator of a long-term financial performance of companies.

The main advantages of brand loyalty can be defined as greater sales and revenue, a substantial entry barrier to competitors, increase in a company’s ability to respond to competitive threats and lower consumer price sensitivity.

‘Brand loyalty’ can protect against price competition, including branded generics, as it gives confidence to physicians on the perceived effectiveness and safety of a brand – which they usually won’t be willing to compromise with for lower prices.

This brings us to a key question. Are traditional pharma methods of creating ‘brand loyalty’ getting replaced by the key consideration of creating a ‘unique customer experience’?

Creating ‘brand loyalty’ through ‘patient loyalty’ – a new equation:

It’s a fact today that traditional pharma methods of creating ‘brand loyalty’ is getting replaced by the key consideration of creating a ‘unique customer experience.’ This, in turn, is increasing the need of building ‘patient loyalty’, both for a pharma brand, as well as respective companies offering these brands. This is a new equation, where offering a ‘unique treatment experience’ to patients assumes a critical role more than ever before. This needs to be clearly understood by today’s pharma marketer, without any ambiguity.

In traditional pharma marketing, physicians remain, virtually, the sole focus of the branding exercise, as they appear to be the only decision makers of writing a brand prescription. Patients, in general, hardly used to have any role to play in that process. In this scenario, brand loyalty for the doctors – assuming the absence of any malpractices, is primarily driven by the following three much known factors:

Physicians’ unprejudiced buying-in a brand’s value offerings
Evaluation of opinion leaders and the doctors’ professional counterparts,
Quality of disease treatment outcomes.

Nevertheless, before getting into this area, let’s have a quick look at the primary drivers that pharma marketers have been using to boost financial performance of a brand.

Traditional sales boosters of a pharma brand:

The primary drivers that pharma marketers have been using to boost financial performance of a brand can broadly be classified as follows:

Multiple ways are followed to make important doctors write more prescriptions,
Increase the drug price, whenever an opportunity arises.

These factors still remain important, but aren’t just enough to deliver sustainable performance over a period of time. Thus, a new dimension needs to be added to it.

Add a new dimension to create brand and corporate loyalty:

With the emergence of increasingly more informed and demanding patients, there is a need to create a ‘loyal patient population’, by offering them primarily a ‘unique treatment experience’. And this is the new dimension.

For this purpose, off-the cuff approaches or strategies based on mere gut-feelings are unlikely to work. As I indicated in one of my articles, marketers need to acquire deep insights on their customers to make sales and marketing decisions more informed, than what it is today. Currently available state of the art technology can be a great enabler to facilitate this process.

This is easier said than done, because answering the question – how does a drug company create ‘brand loyalty’, is indeed a tough call. Nonetheless, many different industries have realized, since long, that offering a ‘unique customer experience’, is critical to create a pool of ‘loyal customers’.

I also had written earlier, pharma is still a late learner in accepting various new normal, in a holistic way. Accepting this reality, a sharp focus on creating ‘brand loyal doctors’ in various innovative ways, I reckon, will serve this purpose well. It’s only recently, a few companies have started working to offer such ‘experience’ to patients in the disease treatment process - end-to-end. Ironically, a large majority of them prefer to talk about it more than actually translating the same into reality.

Benefits of ‘brand loyalty’ through ‘unique customer experience’:

There are several advantages of building pharma ‘brand loyalty’ by offering ‘unique customer experience, without diluting the focus on ‘increasing prescription generation through doctors’. The benefits, I reckon, include, both new – innovative products and also branded generics. Let me give below one example of each:

Innovative new-products – positive word-of-mouth promotion: Satisfied patients having ‘unique end-to-end treatment experience’ with a new, innovative brand, are very likely to share it with others. This may be done by using different modes of communication, including various social-media platforms. This, in turn, may help both – add to take-off speed – post launch and create a snowballing impact on the brand adoption thereafter.

Branded generics – extend the product life cycle and increase growth: Patients who are loyal to a particular branded version of a generic molecule, are quite likely to refuse any change to a cheaper equivalent, even if recommended by the physician. Moreover, they will advocate for this brand to others, using different communication platforms, as indicated above. Continuation of this process will extend the life cycle of the branded-generic, with increasing growth and market share.

Conclusion:

Now, it’s time to get back to what we started with - What pays more: Creating ‘Innovative ‘Customer Experience’ Or ‘Innovative Drug?’ From the above perspective, it emerges that bringing innovative product to markets is, of course important. However, to ensure its sustainable financial success, other innovations, such as creating ‘a unique end-to-end patient experience’ with the brand, in all probability, would weigh more. This is an area which did not receive much attention for a long time, moving beyond the creation of increasing numbers of ‘brand loyal’ doctors, for business success.

Today, increasing consumerism in the health care space, besides pricing pressure, unfavorable perception and sinking image of the industry, is creating a strong headwind – impeding desirable growth of many pharma players. Such a challenging business scenario has prompted a few of them to innovate in designing a differentiated ‘customer experience’ – in a true sense.

Although, a large number of companies are talking about it, most are mere lip-services – a ground-swell in this area is yet to take place. The industry priority, in general, still weighs heavily in developing innovative products, and creating ‘brand loyal’ doctors, rather than cultivating ‘brand loyal patients’, alongside.

By: Tapan J. Ray

PILMAN

A Tapan Ray Website

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What Pays More: Creating ‘Innovative ‘Customer Experience’ Or ‘Innovative Drugs’?