2020: Learnings From A Yearlong Catastrophic Disruption And Crystal-Gazing 2021

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Tapan Ray

Wishing All My Readers A Very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous 2021

Just a few days left for the year 2020 to merge with history. It will be remembered by all – as a year of all-round catastrophic global disruption. With unprecedented impact on human lives, livelihoods, economy, and ways of doing things – sparing virtually nothing. The sole cause of which is an unprecedented single event – Covid-19 pandemic. As of December 27, 2020 morning, India recorded a staggering figure of 10,118,392 new Coronavirus cases with 147,659 deaths. The threat of subsequent waves for further infection of Covid-19 infection continues.

In this article, I shall focus on some critical lessons learnt from the 2020 health crisis, while crystal-gazing 2021. I’ll do this purely from the health care perspective, in general, and the pharmaceutical industry, in particular. Keeping this in view, some of the lessons learnt during the pandemic are as follows:

A. Never allow a sense of hubris setting in:

This is easier said than done. Nonetheless, before the Covid pandemic played havocs with all, many top pharma leaders were, apparently, in a hubris. It was often laced with excessive confidence, if not arrogance. The predominant belief was nothing can go so wrong sans unfavorable policy decisions by the governments. This was against a much-known management dictum for all – always anticipate future probabilities that may impact the business and keep prepared for the worst, while hoping for the best. On a hindsight, this was, obviously jettisoned – lock, stock and barrel. No one was prepared for any biological threats, such as, Covid pandemic, till the deadly virus caught the humanity off-guard around December 2019, as we see below:

The pandemic was expected, but struck unexpectedly:

A pandemic wasn’t totally unexpected either. Therefore, they question that surfaces - Experts warned of a pandemic decades ago. Why weren’t we ready? Just in 2015, even Bill Gates, during a Ted talk titled, “The next outbreak? We’re not ready,” also predicted - based on available facts that an epidemic would kill millions in the future.

He further added: “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s more likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war – not missiles, but microbes.” Gates further emphasized: “We have invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents, but we’ve actually invested very little in a system to stop an epidemic. We’re not ready for the next epidemic.”

B. Research on anti-infective drugs shouldn’t be pushed to the back burner:

These warnings were, apparently, ignored by the pharma industry. For example, as reported in the first quarter of 2020, many research-based pharma companies shifted ‘resources away from emerging infectious diseases into more lucrative areas like cancer treatment. Their business decisions risk leaving gaping holes in the fight against epidemics, such as the one caused by the novel Coronavirus.’

Let’s now take a pause for pharma players to ponder. Are they ready, at least now, with a robust plan – based on almost a year’s experience of an unprecedented agony along with its customers, specifically to counter any future biological threat? Be that as it may, there have also been some good outcomes out of the Covid crisis, both for the pharma industry and also for the health care customers.

C. The pandemic hastened pharma’s digital transformation process:

As is known, compared to many other industries, pharma industry was a late learner in the digitalization process of organizations. The new realities of disruptions caused by the pandemic had significantly expedited this process to keep the business going. There were no other effective options available, either, but to move beyond business stabilization and redefine how they do business. The IQVIA article, ‘Digital transformation in a post-Covid-19 world,’ published in the Pharmaceutical Technology, on August 31, 2020, also reiterated this point.

Elaborating the point further, the article pointed out: ‘As a result, acceleration of three key capabilities is occurring to create sustainable competitive advantage,’ as follows:

Digital capabilities with modern technology are enabling companies doing the right things during the pandemic and accelerating the process.

Providing access to granular data to support the extraction of precise insights into the needs of patients and physicians.

Ensuring capabilities for sustaining relationships. While face-to-face interaction has been dramatically reduced, relationships with HCPs and patients are taking new shapes and are of more importance than ever before.

D. Telemedicine came under mainstream care, supported by Government:

Finding no other viable alternatives during the Covid lockdown period and the need to stringently follow prescribed health measures, many patients were pushed to search for a robust digital solution for health care needs. Just as many of them were already using online platforms to meet other regular needs. In that sense, Covid propelled health care into a virtual world, bringing telehealth or telemedicine toward mainstream care, supported by the Government with a policy, for the first time, ever.

E. Quality of pharma response to pandemic enhanced industry image:

As I had discussed before in this blog, Consumer centric communications, driven by the ‘hope and confidence as companies rushed to come up with COVID-19 vaccines and treatments’ of all, helped to significantly enhance the industry’s image during the year. In my view, pharma shouldn’t let go this opportunity to reposition itself, to reap a rich harvest in the years ahead.

Crystal-gazing 2021:

A. A lurking fear will keep haunting:

Moving away from the outgoing year – 2020, if one crystal gazes the incoming – yet another brand-new year – 2021, a lurking fear still haunts most peoples’ minds. Will the all-round disruptions of 2020 be the new normal in 2021 – with no further escalation of the current situation?

B. Vaccine rollout will reduce rapid spread, but not eliminate Covid-19:

Gradual rolling out of vaccines may reduce the rapid spread of pandemic, provided Covid-19 doesn’t throw more surprises, such as, complicated mutation, blunting this initiative. However, currently available evidence indicates, the new variant could be more transmissible, yet vaccines may work very well against it.

C. Masking, physical distancing, hand washing, etc., will continue:

Besides, many yet unknown side effects, the duration of immunity following coronavirus vaccination is still largely unknown due to the simple lack of time we’ve had to study such immune responses. Moreover, the trials do not tell us if the vaccines can block the transmission of the disease from those who are asymptomatic and have been vaccinated. Thus, masking, physical distancing, hand washing, testing, treating and contact tracing, reportedly, will continue to be important in the global campaign against COVID-19, even after vaccine rollout.

D. NDDS for Covid drugs and vaccines may come:

New formulations, new Covid drug delivery systems, newer methods to bring Covid vaccines, like nasal sprays, in a powder form for easy transportation and to reach more people around the world, are expected to commence in 2021.

E. Waiting for going back to pre-Covid game plan is a losing strategy:

Vaccines are unlikely to take us back to pre-Covid time, any time soon. Even McKinsey & Companypredicted the same in its article: ‘‘How COVID-19 is redefining the next-normal operating model,’ published on December 10, 2020. It emphasized: “With everything disrupted, going back to the same old thing is a losing strategy. The strongest companies are reinventing themselves by embracing pandemic- driven change.”

Many pharma majors are also echoing the same, even as Covid-19 vaccines have started rolling out for public in different parts of the world. After weighing-in the pros and cons of waiting, many of them have articulated: ‘We will not return to the old ways of working.’ They believe, it’s too early to put a specific timeline on turning that page now. Hence, the year 2021, working of the pharma companies is unlikely to be significantly different from the year 2020.

F. Need to capture and respond fast to changing customer behaviors:

Covid-19 pandemic is fast changing many human attitudes and behaviors, forcing organizations to respond. ‘However, the need to respond won’t end when the virus’s immediate threat eventually recedes,’ reaffirmed the Accenture article ‘COVID-19: 5 new human truths that experiences need to address.’ The massive behavior changes of key pharma stakeholders, at a never before scale and speed, will continue to prompt many leading drug companies to respond to them with well thought through digital tools, to gain competitive advantages.

G. Virtual meetings with reps, doctors and others will continue:

As witnessed in 2020, often for the first time – virtual meeting of sales reps, key opinion leaders and others will continue in 2021, even after ‘live’ ones return, but with more innovative structure and content. Pharma marketing’s long awaited and comprehensive digital foray will continue gaining a strong foothold, entering into new areas, without glancing back over the shoulder, in 2021.

H. More new drug launches will move entirely digital:

It began in 2020. For example, dozens of new drug launches moved entirely to digital, for the first time in 2020. As a pharma leader remarked, with the traditional launch framework gone during the pandemic, “we had to throw out the playbook and really embed into people’s heads that playbook is no longer meaningful. It no longer works, and we have to think outside the box.” She further added: “There’s truly no bigger place for a marketer right now. This is the new world.” None can deny this fact as we enter into the new year.

I. Success requirements of pharma professionals will be different:

With significant transformation of pharma’s operational strategies, success requirements of pharma professionals will also be significantly different in the new normal. Quick capturing and fast adaptation to the changing customer behavior for multi-channel engagement digital platforms, will be fundamentally important – not just for business excellence, but for its long-term sustainability, as well. This is a totally new and highly cerebral strategic ballgame, where obsolescence of cutting-edge technology is much faster than anything in the tradition driven old normal.

J. More pharma companies will explore inorganic growth opportunities:

More pharma companies will look for acquisitions to bridge the strategic gaps, as AstraZeneca did in 2020.

Conclusion:

In 2021, Covid Mayhem may possibly be over with a gradual rollout of vaccines. But, the impact of utter disruptions that the pandemic has caused in multiple areas of businesses in 2020, especially within the pharma industry, would continue, as we step into 2021. As the drug industry overwhelmed by Covid-19, reset themselves with the digital transformation in the new normal -for growth beyond Coronavirus, one may also view this much awaited metamorphosis, as a blessing in disguise, as it were.

Overall, as the W.H.O observed very rightly on December 27, 2020: “We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one. This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand.” He further added: “History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life.” I hope, all concerned will realize this point in 2021. Alternatively, we may need to keep ourselves prepared to move, in a similar way, from the current new normal to yet unknown next normal.

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.

Aptness Of Pharma Marketing Audit In Covid Days And Beyond

Posted on September 21, 2020 by Tapan Ray

That, Covid-19 pandemic has changed the operational dynamics of many areas of the pharma industry, as compared to the old normal, is being felt by many. These changes generally fall into two categories. Some are broad industry specific changes, giving rise to a new normal. Whereas, a lot more could often be specific changes required by individual companies in the changing times – depending on how these companies were operating in pre-Covid days. The good news is, the industry specific ones are being well deliberated by many domain experts, almost on an ongoing basis.

Most experts are suggesting digital solutions, for a number of problem areas in the pharma industry as a whole. But, the reality is, for rapid adaptation of the new normal, there is also a crucial need to dovetail the Company specific solutions, with the industry specific generic ones. This effort will call for effective use of robust, well-structured and time-tested systems. However, not as many discussions seem to be taking place in this area, as on date.

As I see around, one such comprehensive and well proven approach is ‘Marketing Audit’. This can be effectively used to ascertain Company specific changes, required for successful pharma business operation during the Coronavirus triggered paradigm shift. It may not sound as zesty as a ‘digital approach,’ but remains fundamentally important for pharma marketers, nonetheless.

In this article, I shall discuss the relevance and the key importance of a comprehensive pharma Marketing Audit, in this trying time for business. Its key purpose is to give shape to a cutting-edge strategy in today’s unfamiliar order. Let me begin with a brief background of the same, for better understanding of all.

Marketing Audit demonstrated its perennial importance over decades:

To put it in perspective, let me refer to a landmark article by Philip Kotler, titled ‘‘The Marketing Audit Comes of Age.’ It was published by the MIT Sloan Management Review, on January 15, 1989. In his review of the need for Marketing Audit, one can get a sense of perennial importance of Marketing Audit, proven over decades.

In Kotler’s own words: ‘The marketing audit as an idea, dates back to the early 1950s.’ An executive at Booz Allen & Hamilton, conducted marketing audits as early as 1952. Its importance of improving business results, was captured by an excellent set of papers under the title ‘Analyzing and Improving Marketing Performance,’ published by the American Management Association, in 1959.

Covid-19 Surveys highlight general trends, not any Company specific:

We all are witnessing these days, how the Coronavirus pandemic is changing the pharma consumers. In my June 22, 2020 article in this blog on ‘Enhancing Pharma Brand Experience in The New Normal,’ I highlighted some of the basic changes required in the traditional pharma sales and marketing practices.’ These were the generic changes in the marketplace involving the stakeholders. To illustrate this point better, let me cite some recent examples.

The pandemic has suddenly accelerated certain trends:

The lockdowns have brought to the fore certain shortcomings of the pharma industry, more than ever before. Consequently, its serious fallout compelled almost all players ‘to evaluate and adapt its roles and responsibilities almost overnight.’ This point was captured in the ‘Survey results: Accelerating digital transformation during COVID-19,’ published by Reuters Events– Pharma on September 04, 2020. Some of the survey findings included the following:

Although, adoption of digital engagement has accelerated, pharma’s ability to deliver exceptional virtual engagement and content is being put to test.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Content Management Systems (CMS) and customer engagement platforms were found wanting and not fully exploited.
There will be a greater emphasis on the Connected healthcare customer journey.
Providing a unique customer experience will emerge as a competitive edge.
The industry must re-direct resources accordingly, and re-tool to make the most of them.

Let’s now examine some India specific findings from another survey in this space.

Some India specific survey findings:

To explore the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian pharmaceutical industry, another survey, conducted by C Com Digital of India, came out with some interesting findings, some of which are as follows:

The new normal warrants a strategic shift in the business operation, besides engagement with doctors and patients.

Increasingly, drug companies are moving into online business operations from mostly offline operations of pre-Covid days.

Many companies are considering dedicating about 5 percent to 10 percent of their marketing budget towards creating webinars and online communications.

Teleconsultations and online consultations are steadily increasing and around 42 percent patients are getting their prescriptions in this way.

Doctor visits dropped by 5 percent only during March-April 2020 period.

Companies are expanding in online patient education, and online field staff training through custom made e-Learning modules.

As we find above, the emerging new trends are all generic in nature – not enough to prepare any comprehensive company specific strategy for success in the prevailing situation. This brings us to the question: What exactly is Marketing Audit and its relevance during pandemic days?

Relevance of Marketing Audit during pandemic days and beyond:

Thus, the extent of changes required on all sales and marketing related areas, during the pandemic period and beyond, has to be carefully and productively evaluated by each Company, separately. No wonder, why a comprehensive ‘Marketing Audit,’ is also considered “a marketing mirror” - so appropriately.

Without going into the theoretical details, let me first try to explain this terminology in simple terms. It has clearly been established that a Marketing Audit helps understanding, both internal and external marketing environments of an organization, in a comprehensive way. Mainly because, it involves an in-depth and data analysis of the concerned company’s business domain, not just to accurately diagnose the new areas of problems, but also to work out a contemporary – cutting edge marketing strategy.

Thus, I reckon, this tool should be effectively used by pharma marketers, as a high potential mechanism in the marketing warfare, especially during the global pandemic and beyond. Still, some can raise the question, what exactly pharma industry surveys will tell you and what those won’t, – and what gaps company specific surveys will help bridge.

The gaps that Marketing Audit will help bridge:

Industry specific surveys on Covid-19 pandemic would tell the Companies where they should aim to reach. However, each Company would still need to figure out where they currently are in those areas, and most importantly how to reach the target point. An effective Marketing Audit will help the Companies get exact information on where they currently are, and how to reach where they want to reach.

As the new normal is changing, it needs to be done periodically:

The information obtained through a robust Marketing Audit will help address both customer and market needs – on the one hand and honing or reorganizing the company’s internal value delivery systems commensurately, on the other. However, when an unprecedented or a disruptive change, such as the Covid-19 pandemic keeps striking all conceivable entities, very hard, ‘the new normal’ keeps changing. In this situation, most of the past success ingredients will no longer yield results. Thus, to realign the business with changing market demand, pre-Covid strategic blueprint needs to be redrawn, alongside the necessary wherewithal required for the same.

Marketing Audit, therefore, becomes a periodic requirement for all organizations, assuming the importance of a key business success imperative, if not for survival in the new normal. Any delay in this area may lead to significant loss of Company business.

Conclusion:

According to Covid-19 update of Evaluate Pharma, ‘seemingly uncontrollable advance of Covid-19 in India,’ is perturbing. As on September 20 morning, the country had recorded a staggering figure of 5,400,619 of Coronavirus cases with 86,774 deaths, overtaking Brazil the week before.

The above report points out the potential danger of ‘the country’s health care system to buckle under the weight of hospital admissions for the virus.’ However disturbing this trend may be, from the pharma industry perspective, it sends, at least, four clear signals:

It’s a long-haul struggle for the business, as Covid-19 is not going to vanish any time soon.
The barriers to in-person interaction will continue for an indefinite period.
The market dynamics will keep changing, mostly based on Government’s new guidelines.
A robust, flexible, contemporary and comprehensive marketing strategy needs to be supported by stronger and time-tested marketing systems for all times.

From the above perspective, one such time-tested mechanism still remains – ‘the Marketing Audit.’ For business excellence during Covid times, it carries a game changing potential, by dovetailing the industry specific generic problems with company specific strategic solutions.

The criticality of ‘Marketing Audit’ does not remain limited just to bright pharma marketers. It also provides an equally critical top management decision support tool, especially for risk-benefit analysis of the corporate business. Thus, relevance and importance of ‘Marketing Audit’, would remain undiluted, not just during the Covid pandemic – but much beyond.

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.

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

Changing Doctors’ Practice Dynamics With Covid-19 And Beyond

Posted on May 11, 2020 by Tapan Ray

Unexpectedly, the answer to an onerous question surfaced just around a year’s time. In my article on this blog, written on April 08, 2019, I raised a question – “Would ‘Connected Healthcare’ Catch Pharma Players Off-Guard?” Interestingly, an unexpected and abrupt turn of events in the global healthcare space, including India, triggered by Covid-19 pandemic, signals an early dawn of an evolving reality, related to ‘Connected Healthcare’, in India.

Never ever, I reckon, the Government realized so well that continuation with a fragile public healthcare infrastructure is self-defeating for the country. Allocation of financial resources, at least 2.5 percent of the country’s GDP, for its rejuvenation – powered by AI-based modern digital technology, would help avoid overburden on the healthcare system. This will mean, saving more lives and also a significant reduction of morbidity, especially in a situation, like Covid-19 pandemic. Good health can propel good economy, more effectively.

That’s why, ‘connected healthcare’ – by effectively linking requisite ingredients of all health-related information that medical professionals and the patients would need, appears to be the new reality. This process is being facilitated by rapid acceleration of usage of various digital platforms, by both healthcare consumers and providers. Thus, it is becoming increasing clear now that leveraging digital technology with innovative mindset and a fresh pair of eyes, will be the way forward, in India, as well. It seems very likely, when considered from two angles:

What several research data reveals about an increase in usage of digital platforms by healthcare consumers and providers, before and during Covid-19 pandemic. Especially because, this struggle appears to be for a long haul.

Most countries are currently struggling to navigate through highly contagious Covid-19 outbreak and simultaneously trying to chart a workable pathway for avoiding similar eventualities in the future.

In this article, I shall try to focus on Covid-19 induced changes in doctors’ practice dynamics – based on research studies, while revisiting the subject on ‘connected healthcare,’ and its relevance now – also in the years ahead.

Research studies capture a new and growing awareness:

The recent findings from the “Digital Doctor 2020” survey, which is a ‘21-country study of Doctors’ perspectives on digital and connected health, highlight some interesting points. This study was conducted just before the global outbreak of Coronavirus. Some of its findings were also deliberated inan article published in the PharmExec.com on April 23, 2020. The paper is titled, ‘How Prepared Were Physicians for the COVID-19 Digital Upswing? Some of the key points, as reported, are worth noting:

Although, the awareness of drug prescribers of different digital technologies related to healthcare is high, how these technologies work in healthcare was unknown to many doctors at the time of the Digital Doctor 2020 survey. It came out that clear benefit statements, will be welcomed when there is such a steep learning curve.

Regardless of face-to-face interactions still remaining preferred choice before the pandemic, online channels are on the rise and accelerating with COVID-19 lockdown.

Benefits of using connected health devices for patient management and treatment are widely recognized and is believed to play a key role in the future. The respondents agree, even their patients are now more interested in their own health data, as they are gaining control over their weight, diet and physical activities.

Highlighting that their research data over the last few weeks showing increasing usage of digital solution to respond and adapt to the new realities of Covid-19 pandemic, the author of the article concluded: ‘For a long time, digital solutions have often been considered an option; now they have become a necessity.’ To understand the emerging scenario, let us now look at the preferred communication channels of the doctors – pre-Covid-19 outbreak.

Preferred channels of doctors pre-Covid-19 outbreak:

According to the Ipsos survey of pre-Covid-19 outbreak, face-to-face communication with Medical Representatives (MR) used to be the most favored channel of the doctors, as follows:

Channel	Med. Rep	Speaker Program	Conf.	E-detail	Journal Ads	Med. Liaison	E-mail	Direct mail	Pharma website
Pref. %	35.2	11.7	10.0	8.4	8.4	8.8	8.4	5.0	4.1

However, on April 14, 2020, Ipsos shared the results of their interim research conducted, together with M360, among doctors, conducted during Coronavirus outbreak. The preliminary findings indicate, Covid-19 will permanently alter physician practice dynamics. A clear shift in the engagement model with them – away from in-person detailing, throws several significant questions on the traditional physician engagement template of the pharma players.

It also signals another fundamental change in the physicians’ practice dynamics, as Covid-19 seems to have changed practicality of having face-to-face communication between the representatives and doctors, as before. This situation makes ‘connected healthcare’ a reality – as we move deeper into the everyday- evolving scenario.

Some unexpected and significant changes surfaced in a month:

The above research also flagged, the following two important changes, among several others, triggered by the Coronavirus outbreak:

The mean number of sales representative visits dropped from 15.7 before the Coronavirus outbreak to 1.3 in just the following month, during the pandemic

Overall preference and effectiveness of e-detailing also improved, significantly, where any non-personal communication and interaction with drug companies, either through sales representatives or by others, were considered as e-detailing.

This brings me back to the question, how are doctors feeling about this never before shift in their practice dynamics?

How are doctors feeling about a never before shift in their practice dynamics?

The ongoing research on this critical area captures a new reality, where many doctors, especially those who are not directly engaged in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, are clearly feeling a shift in their practice dynamics. Curiously, the new feeling of a shift also includes, the way these doctors interact with different drug companies, mostly through their Medical Representatives.

These inklings of the doctors are expected to get translated into some fundamental changes in the real-life situation, as we all sail through the life-changing time caused by Covid-19. Especially, considering the requirements of a new normal – social distancing, wearing a mask always while on outdoor, and several other norms as prescribed from time to time.

‘Connected healthcare,’ is expected to take its place on the center stage:

In this situation, ‘connected healthcare,’ which used to be more discussed than practiced, is expected to take its place on the center stage. It is necessary in the present situation for remote consultations, primarily for chronic ailments – for effective disease management and treatment. More so, as in the current situation individual health awareness of a large population, even in India, is increasing with an accelerated speed, perhaps more than ever before.

Thus, this is the right time to focus on ‘connected healthcare’, powered by AI-based digital technology. It has immense potential to help the Indian population getting immediate medical attention at a lower cost, with an improved access, for all. Though these are early days, it appears the ball has started rolling in the right direction, as the recent draft guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) indicates: ‘Patient can WhatsApp, SMS or email consent for Covid-19 clinical trials.’

Conclusion:

Still today, there is no sign of even temporary flattening the disease progression curve in India. As on May 10, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases continue to climb sharply to 62,939 with 2,109 deaths, which is rising in India faster than most other countries. On May 07, 2020, AIIMS director again warned that Covid-19 pandemic is yet to peak in the country. “According to modeling data and the way our cases are increasing, it is likely that peak can come in June and July,” he added.

But is it getting worse? Despite stringent lockdown, there has been a surge in cases, which can also be attributed to higher levels of testing. However, from a doubling rate of 11.5 days on May 3, it has shortened to 10.3 days, which means that cases are doubling in quicker time. Each set of 10,000 cases is now increasing at a more rapid pace than the preceding set, highlighted an editorial of a leading news daily.

With a vaccine still elusive, the government had been banking mostly on the lockdown to break the chain of transmission of the virus. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said: ‘Deliberately infecting healthy people with Coronavirus may speed Covid vaccine studies,’ reflecting more uncertainties in this area. It is also not likely that the country will cease to have any problems with its fragile public healthcare infrastructure and delivery system, even after flattening the disease progression curve.

Along with many other Covid-19 induced life-impacting changes, doctors’ practice dynamics are also expected to undergo a metamorphosis, lasting for an indefinite period. Consequently, I reckon, it’s about time, even for the pharma industry to voluntarily adopt ‘connected healthcare’ as a future way of life. One can get a glimpse of it in the Covid-19 clinical trial draft guidelines of the ICMR. Nonetheless, ‘connected healthcare’ comes with a clear signal of reducing the cost of healthcare and improved patient access, having the potential to effectively mitigate a sizeable part of the precipitated healthcare crisis, caused by Coronavirus.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Pharma Sales Post Covid-19 Lockdown

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Tapan Ray

Disruptions from Covid-19 pandemic have caused limited access to physicians for Pfizer’s marketing and sales teams have had. If ‘the novel Coronavirus pandemic hamstringing the company’s sales team,’ there could be a slowdown in new prescriptions and a sales hit in the second quarter, said the global CEO of Pfizer, on April 28, 2020. He further said, ‘new prescriptions for a range of its products will decline as patients continue avoiding in-office physician visits.’

Pfizer is not only the company facing such situation. In fact, the entire pharma industry is encountering a tough headwind for the same reason. However, being very specific on the quantum of sales hit – on the same day, ‘Merck, with a heavy presence in physician-administered drugs’, predicted an adverse impact of US$ 2.1Billion on sales, from COVID-19.

Physical absence of, virtually the entire pharma field force in the field for strict compliance of social distancing during the lockdown period, causing a crippling effect on the new prescription demand generation activity. This possibility was hardly imagined by anyone in the industry. Which is why, the current situation is too challenging for pharma sales and marketing leadership teams to respond, with a sustainable strategic approach. Moreover, most of them don’t yet seem to be accustomed with charting any pivotal demand generation activity, sans field force.

Further, the meaning of ‘Patient-Centricity’ in the post lockdown period – still maintaining ‘social distancing’ norms, is expected to undergo considerable changes. This may include development of newer health care practices for many customers, which they started practicing during the lockdown period. However, no one can exactly predict, as on date, whether such changes will continue for a long term, as we move on. In this article, I shall deliberate on a likely scenario in the pharma selling space post Covid-19 outbreak, based on research studies. This is primarily because Covid-19 could be with us for a long time.

Covid-19 could be with us for a long time:

As reported, on the day 35 into the world’s largest lockdown, India, reportedly, was failing to see an easing of new cases similar to what hot spots such as Spain and Italy have recently experienced with more intensive Covid-19 outbreaks. Even today, the scale and duration of the pandemic are very uncertain, so will be the necessity of maintaining social or physical distancing guidelines. This possibility gets vindicated by what the Director General of the World Organization said on April 22, 2020: ‘Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time.’ Thus, shutdowns in different forms, is expected to continue for some time in India.

‘Covid-19 pandemic to last for minimum two years’ with its consequent fallout also on the pharma industry:I

Interestingly, ‘India began its containment measures on March 25, when its outbreak showed only 564 cases.’ As on May 03, 2020, the recorded Coronavirus cases in India have sharply climbed to 39,980 and 1,323 deaths. India is now expected to prepare exiting the 54-day lockdown in phases from May 17, 2020, with a few limited relaxations even before that date. However, as the BBC news of April 9, 2020 also points out, the country may not afford to lift the lockdown totally – everywhere, for everyone and for all the time, anytime soon, for obvious reasons.

The April 30, 2020 report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, confirms this situation. It says: ‘The Coronavirus pandemic is likely to last as long as two years and won’t be controlled until about two-thirds of the world’s population is immune.’ This is because of the ability to spread from asymptomatic people, which is harder to control than influenza, the cause of most pandemics in recent history. Thus, the Coronavirus pandemic is likely to continue in waves that could last beyond 2022, the authors said.

Many countries around the world are already facing similar issues for exiting Covid-19 lockdown. It has been observed that easing the lockdown is a tricky policy choice, as it triggers a fresh wave of infection, as recently happened in advanced countries, such as, Singapore and several other nations.

It is, therefore, clear now that shutdowns need to continue in different forms in India as different waves of Covid-19 infections strike, in tandem with scaling up of requisite testing and health infrastructure to manage those outbreaks, effectively. Consequently, its impact on the pharma industry is likely to continue with its unforeseen fallout, prompting the same old question, yet again, why the oldest commercial model remains pivotal in the pharma industry.

The oldest commercial model remains pivotal in the pharma industry:

About a couple of years ago from now, an interesting article of IQVIA, titled, ‘Channel Preference Versus Promotional Reality,’ highlighted an important fact. It said, one of the oldest commercial models of using medical or sales representatives to generate product demand through personal communication with each doctor, and other key stakeholders, is still practiced in the pharma industry, both as a primary medium and also to communicate the message.

The same model continues in the pharma industry, regardless of several fundamental challenges in the business environment. Curiously, erosion of similar models in many other industries, such as financial and other services, in favor of various highly effective contemporary platforms, is clearly visible. Some of these fundamental challenges involve an increasing number of both, the healthcare professionals and also patients they treat, moving online.

This has been happening since some time – long before Covid-19 outbreak. Today, many patients want contemporary information on the disease-treatment process, available alternatives and the cost involved with each. These patients also want to communicate with their peers on the disease for the same reasons, before they take a final decision on what exactly they would like to follow. A similar trend is visible, at a much larger scale, with medical professionals, including top drug prescribers.

Healthcare customers’ increasing digital preference was captured well before the Covid-19 outbreak:

The rise of digital communication as a global phenomenon, was deliberated in the June 04, 2019 ‘Whitepaper’ of IQVIA, titled ‘The Power of Remote Personal Interactions.’ It captured an increasing digital preference of healthcare customers much before Covid-19 outbreak. For example, according to IQVIA Channel Dynamics data1, there was a 26 percent decline in total contact minutes for face-to-face detailing in Europe, since 2011.

Another 2018 IQVIA survey reported, 65 percent to 85 percent of representatives were saying that access to physicians is becoming harder. The paper also indicated that the rise of digital and multichannel communication with healthcare professionals has been far from uniform across countries, with Japan leading the world, followed by the United States.

India is an emerging power in the digital space, today. Thus, I reckon, it has immense opportunity to leverage digital platforms in healthcare, especially to effectively address the current void in the demand generation activity of drug companies. The key question that needs to be answered: Are pharma customers developing new habits during, at least, the 54-day national lockdown period?

‘It takes about 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit’:

According to a study, titled ‘How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world,’ published on July 16, 2009, in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit. Thus, changing preferences of many healthcare consumers, including doctors and patients, at least, in the 40-day period of national lockdown in India, may trigger a change in habits of many patients. This change may further evolve over a period a time.

Such changes would demand a new and comprehensive ‘Patient-Centric’ approach from pharma players, as well, having a clear insight on the dynamics of the changes. Gaining data-based insight on the same, pharma sales and marketing leadership would need to develop a grand strategy to deliver ‘patient-group’ specific desired outcomes. One of these approaches could be, triggering non-personal sales promotion on digital platforms.

Triggering non-personal sales promotion on digital platforms:

Dealing with future uncertainty calls for non-conventional and innovative strategies, such as, generating brand prescription effectively even without personal promotion. Thus, to tide over the current crisis, triggering non-personal sales promotion on digital platforms, appears to be the name of the game. In a 2018 IQVIA survey, looking at the multi-channel landscape in life sciences, 54 percent of the 250 respondents from pharma and biotech were found already using virtual interactions, such as e-Detailing, or were planning to assess the approach.

What is required now is to rejuvenate the initiative, with a sense of great urgency. Covid-19 pandemic has the possibility and potential to expedite a strong pull in this direction, responding to a new ‘customer-centric’ approach, as prompted by the evolving scenario, triggered during the 54-day long stringent lockdown period. This is especially considering the fact that it takes about 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit.

Further, as Bloomberg reported on May 02, 2020, “coming up with a vaccine to halt Covid-19, in a matter of months isn’t the only colossal challenge. The next big test: getting billions of doses to every corner of the world at a time when countries increasingly are putting their own interests first,” which may take quite time.

Conclusion:

One thing for sure, the sudden outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has made all ongoing and robust strategic business plans somewhat topsy-turvy. Most pharma companies were compelled to floor the break-pedal of several business operations, including prescription demand generation activity of field sales forces, during the lockdown period.

At this time, many healthcare consumers, including patients, tried various remote access digital platforms to continue with their treatment or for a new treatment of common ailments, besides procurement of medicines. Two primary drivers, in combination with each other, prompted those individuals to try out the digital mode. One, of course, the stringent lockdown norms, and the other being the fear of contracting Covid-19 infection, if the prescribed personal distancing standards are breached – just in case.

This position may lead to two possibilities – one, involving the patients and the doctors and the other, involving field staff/doctors/hospitals/retailers, etc. During, at least, the 54-day long lockdown period, if not even beyond May 17, 2020 – those patients may develop a sense of convenience with the digital platforms. This may lead to a new habit forming, which has the potential to create a snowballing effect on others – through word-of-mouth communication. The process may signal a shift on what ‘Patient-Centricity’ currently means to the pharma players.

The other one, I reckon, involves with the continuation of strict social or physical distancing norms for an indefinite period. This could seriously limit field-staff movement and meeting with the doctors, hospitals/retailers, besides many others, and more importantly would lead to a significant escalation of cost per call. The question, therefore, is: Will pharma selling remain as before, post Covid-19 lockdown? Most probably not. If so, a new task is cut out, especially for the Indian pharma leadership team, to chart a new ‘Patient-Centric’ digital pathway, in pursuit of sustainable business excellence.

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

An Essential ‘Acrobatic Feat’ Remains Relevant Even In Digital Pharma World

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Tapan Ray

“A manager must, so to speak, keep his nose to the grindstone while lifting his eyes to the hills — quite an acrobatic feat!” This profound statement was articulated by the Management Guru of all-time – Peter F. Drucker, in his book named “The Practice of Management.” This book was published probably before many management experts of today were even born – in 1954. This epic quote of Drucker is in context of the critical requirement to harmonize management decisions affecting the short and the long-term strategic business goals.

While looking at the pharma industry from the above perspective, one may often find, the quality-time spent, especially by its marketers, on ‘lifting their eyes to the hills’ – looking for the early signals on critical changes in future success requirement – is often minimal. Most seem comfortable in ‘keeping their nose to the grindstone’ to deliver the short-term objectives, with a belief that the future brand success factors will replicate the present ones. Thus, honing the current strategies would automatically ensure achieving the long-term requirements.

This prompts a question, should pharma marketers predominantly concentrate on sharpening their traditional marketing tools for near-term excellence or reach out much beyond that? Today’s article will deliberate on this subject, in the context of changing market dynamics and consumer expectations in the today’s world.

Are the brand success parameters changing?

Scores of data-based assessments of progressive changes in the customer value trend, highlight significant shifts from the past, necessitating an overhaul of the value delivery parameters and the system – not just honing. More often than not, such reconditioning could even be disruptive in nature – as may happen with the change to a well-integrated digital marketing system.

For example, until recently pharma brands used to be differentiated primarily based on its intrinsic key features and benefits, like efficacy and speed of recovery, safety and side-effects profile, ease of compliance and nature of drug interactions during concomitant use and more. Today, the parameters of brand differentiation have gone much beyond that, which could have been captured by an astute marketer while ‘lifting his eyes to the hills’, alongside ‘keeping his nose to the grindstone.’

The evolving parameters of brand-differentiation are not just restricted to the features and benefits, but call for unique customer value creation – such as providing a unique treatment experience to patients – understanding their needs, expectations and preferences. This, in turn, change the traditional pharma marketing ball game, as the success ingredients are so different.

Capturing, conceptualizing and delivering customer value, following the traditional pharma marketing tools and processes will increasingly be a daunting task. New digital tools and platforms – well-integrated into the evolving pharma marketing processes, would be necessary to win customers’ share of mind, more effectively than ever before. Nevertheless, value delivery still remains at the core of the pharma marketing system.

Value delivery still remains at the core – with significant changes:

Value delivery will always remain the core purpose, and a constant factor in pharma marketing initiatives. It was so in the past, is at present, and will continue to be in the future, regardless of changes in the market and customer dynamics.

Nonetheless, what is construed as ‘value’ to capture a sizeable share of consumers’ mind has changed. Traditionally, it has been mostly intrinsic to the organization, revolving around the product features and benefits, as stated earlier. But, today, it is getting more focused on the extrinsic factor – related to the customers.

Thus, creating a unique experience for them with the brand has become the new challenge of change to pharma marketers for performance excellence, as I discussed in one of my recent articles. Consequently, providing this external and well-researched ‘customer-centric value’ has become the new brand differentiator.

While ‘lifting eyes to the hills’, some interesting findings:

Among many others, Decision Support Group (DCG), as well, while ‘lifting their eyes to the hills,’ well-captured the emerging consumer expectations in health care through a detailed study. This was published as ‘Cybercitizen Health Infographic’ on October 27, 2015. Let me paraphrase below some of the important findings of this study:

As customers are expecting pharma to provide best-in-class patient experience and associated services in the disease treatment process, marketers need to differentiate brands through these parameters.

59 percent of health care consumers expect brand experiences and services beyond what the physical brand offers.

Only 8 percent of the respondents said pharma companies are providing a better customer experience than 2 years ago, while 30 percent said so for doctors, and 21 percent regarding pharmacists.

40 percent of the consumers who value experience as much as drug effectiveness, would pay a little more for a drug or a health procedure.

How is this extrinsic value measured?

As confirmed by several studies, going beyond what a physical pharma brand would offer, the customers, including individuals who pay from the pocket for a disease treatment, measure the value of a drug today differently. It is now predominately by outcomes, the patients’ overall experience during the treatment, and overall – cost-effectiveness of the entire process, and not just the medicine.

Thus, the pharma market is sending a clear signal to the marketers to ‘shape up’ accordingly, soon and start with measuring care by outcomes – going beyond the product features and benefits – just as patients would do. If not, there could be a strong possibility of being ‘shipped out’, as the marketing productivity could head south, with more capable professionals filling up the void.

Commensurate changes in marketing success measurement:

The emerging changes in measuring ‘marketing success’ were aptly demonstrated in the article, ‘Redefining Value: What Value-Based Care Means for Pharma’, published by the Intouch Solutions on July 07, 2016.

It said: ‘Once, success simply meant a “blockbuster” – a drug that sold enough.’ However, this paradigm is shifting. Soon, it will be measured by the value of outcomes with the brand – the positive impact that it creates on the patient’s health, leaving behind a unique treatment experience.

To be successful with the brand, the marketer will, therefore, need to create a genuine, credible and powerful data-based outcome story. It should effectively demonstrate how the unique brand value offerings, supported by services can make it possible. The services may include, among others:

Supporting patients in managing their condition as part of their life.
Educating patients and helping them feel empowered in the treatment decision making process.
Helping patient access to medication.
Assisting patients in developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

For many pharma marketers this exercise will involve a strategic shift in their thinking process. Embracing a fundamental change in the way they have been practicing traditional pharma marketing all these years.

Are some of these changes disruptive in nature?

Several of the aforesaid changes may appear disruptive to many, causing a discomfort of moving out of their comfort zones. Some may even try to wish it away, and continue practicing the traditional pathways as long as these help achieving some results. But, not certainly for a long while. In which case, it will be akin to delaying a greater disruption before ultimately getting caught off-guard.

Dr. Vas Narasimhan, Chief Executive of the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, puts it nicely. He advised, ‘the key to surviving disruption is understanding that a leader needs to be prepared to embrace it – even if that means willfully disrupting yourself.’

However, the good news is, digital transformation of a business makes embracing this change less difficult. Which is why, a number of companies are trying to seriously engage in digital marketing. Let me hasten to add, the ‘digital transformation process’, regardless of promises that many self-styled experts would make, is tough. It makes the organization chart an uncharted frontier and starts from the very top.

Digital transformation follows an arduous path, starting from the very top:

There are many descriptions of the ‘digital transformation process’. However, the one that appealed to me is the one that comes from the Agile Elephant. It describes the process as follows:

‘Digital transformation is the process of shifting your organization from a legacy approach to new ways of working and thinking using digital, social, mobile and emerging technologies. It involves a change in leadership, different thinking, the encouragement of innovation and new business models, incorporating digitization of assets and an increased use of technology to improve the experience of your organization’s employees, customers, suppliers, partners and stakeholders.’

The recent examples in this regard that come at the top of my mind, include:

Novartis - Spearheaded by its new CEO Vas Narasimhan.
Sanofi - Led from the front by its new CEO Paul Hudson.

Does digital marketing transform the brand value delivery process?

Digital marketing facilitates the new and extrinsic brand value delivery process, as the use of this technology is all pervasive in our everyday life. Interestingly, almost all businesses, mostly in the organized sectors and technology startups, are trying to leverage digital technology to create sets of differential customer values.

And then integrating those to the core marketing strategy, for effective delivery of a crafted solution to the patients’ comprehensive needs, will be a challenging task. Moving in this direction, besides creating interactive websites, many drug players are using a number of digital tools, including social media sites, to start with. These are all serving as integrated digital marketing platforms to engage with targeted customers.

It’s apparently a foregone conclusion today that ‘the traditional one-way relationship in our health care system, will soon change to two-way relationship.’ Where interactive digital marketing, social media and other similar platforms, will facilitate building such relationship for a meaningful exchange of information with the target groups, transforming in the healthcare landscape.

Some key transformation areas with the digital marketing system:

As Agile Elephant puts it, the following are a few examples of key healthcare transformation areas with digital marketing:

The efficacy of treatment will be transparent with cost-effective data-based outcomes story.
Data transparency will follow data visualization enhancing how patient data is communicated to them, or how certain medications and treatments are affecting different areas of the physiological system.
Patients will be empowered to play an active role in their health care.
Patients disease treatment experience could be optimized across multiple touchpoints’.

Conclusion:

Currently, it appears, most pharma marketers ‘keep their nose to the grindstone’ to continue honing the traditional processes of brand marketing with an expectation for better return. However, if they could find time for ‘lifting eyes to the hills’ with all seriousness, they will be able to sense a shifting paradigm with a new set of marketing success factors. If not done even now, it could perhaps be too late to make amends for business sustainability.

Many may get carried away by the hype of digitalization as a panacea, but this is just a facilitating technology – to be in sync with, among others, the evolving values of pharma customers, through innovative value delivery systems. Regardless of digitalization all around us, the name of the game that differentiate men from the boys in this game, remains – generation of cutting-edge ideas. Only this can transform – effective delivery of differentiated ‘customer value’ into business excellence.

Interestingly, to accomplish this objective meaningfully, the aforesaid ‘acrobatic feat’, as enunciated by Peter Drucker in 1954, remains relevant and essential for pharma marketers, just as all other managers, even in the digital pharma world.

By: Tapan J. Ray

PILMAN

A Tapan Ray Website

Tag Archives: digital

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