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Indian Pharma Leadership: A Glimpse of Changing Mindset Post Pandemic

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A recent survey of physicians, published by the CMI Media Group, provides fresh evidence that Medical Representatives meetings with the physicians that have become trickier to arrange since COVID-19, still continue. This was also reported in the March 29, 2023, edition of Fierce Pharma.  

The survey objective was to capture what are physicians’ preferences, when asked whether they want to meet with pharmaceutical reps in person more often, less often or in equal frequency as pre-pandemic. Some of the key findings of this recent study include the following: 

  • 25% of the doctors, reportedly said they are reducing face-to-face interactions.
  • With 10% of doctors responding never seeing reps, it could be challenging for many pharma players to call on these doctors via the traditional in-person route. 
  • However, another 51% of physicians replied that the frequency of their in-person interactions is unchanged from pre-pandemic and 14% seeing reps more frequently than before. 
  • It also found that digital channels have potential to compensate for the pullback from in-person meetings.  
  • Most of such doctors prefer receiving resources for talking to reps via video or phone. 
  • Interestingly, 70% and 78% of physicians said digital resources are more convenient, educational and valuable than remote rep visits. 

Let me hasten to add that the above study was carried out mostly in the European countries. Thus, in today’s deliberation, I would focus mainly on two areas:

1. How is this situation evolving in India and the way some of the Indian majors are gearing up to convert this challenge into opportunities to gain a competitive edge, and 

2. What, in my view, needs to be a pharma marketing leadership mindset change, alongside its traits for effective change management, to excel in the changing market dynamics. More importantly, whether or not this trend is also visible within some of the Indian pharma majors.

The comparable situation in India:

I find some interesting data on the Indian pharma industry in this regard, from several public domain. These indicate that while some physicians may be open to virtual interactions with medical representatives during and after the COVID pandemic, there are also examples of physicians who were not too keen to meet with pharma reps. These seem to be for several reasons. Some reported examples are as follows:

  • Delhi Medical Association (DMA), which represents more than 15,000 doctors in the Indian capital, has banned pharma med reps from entering hospitals or meeting with doctors in person. The DMA has cited concerns about the influence of pharma reps on prescribing practices, besides potential conflict of interest.
  • With over 3.5 lakh memberships, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) appears to have discouraged physicians from meeting with MRs. Instead, the association has urged them to rely on evidence-based information and guidelines while prescribing drugs to patients.
  • Some private hospital chains in India have also restricted or banned pharmaceutical sales representatives from interacting with physicians. This includes Fortis Healthcare, which has banned pharma reps from its hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai, and Max Healthcare, which has restricted interactions to virtual meetings only. 
  • The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) has issued guidelines for its members recommending that they avoid interactions with pharma med reps. The IPS has stated that interactions with pharma reps can create conflicts of interest and bias in prescribing practices and may not always provide accurate and reliable information.
  • Some physicians in India are increasingly turning to online platforms to access unbiased information about medications and treatments, rather than relying on information provided by reps. Online platforms such as Medscape and Docplexus provide physicians with access to up-to-date medical information and peer-reviewed research studies.

With a changing mindset, some Indian players are facing this challenge:

Evidence suggests that there is a growing awareness among several physicians in India about the potential biases and conflicts of interest that can arise from interactions with pharma representatives. While virtual interactions and non-promotional information may still be acceptable to some physicians, others may prefer to rely on more objective sources of information or avoid interactions with pharma reps altogether. 

There are several examples in this area highlighting how some Indian pharma majors are trying to stay ahead of the technology curve. As reported, some specific responses of Indian pharmaceutical companies to the restrictions on interactions with physicians

include, Cipla’s launch of a digital platform called CiplaMed to provide healthcare professionals with access to non-promotional medical information and education.

Post-pandemic changes in the mindset and outlook of marketing leadership:

As I see, the COVID pandemic experience has brought significant changes in the mindset and outlook, especially, in the marketing leadership of several Indian drug companies. One key reason could be the success requirements in contemporary pandemic market dynamics are going through a metamorphosis. Which is why the emerging situation demands new approaches and strategies for success.  

Many pharma marketing leaders are now trying for early identification of even the nuanced change requirements relevant to their respective organizations for sustainable business success in the current paradigm. Some of these requirements were identified as:

Agility and Adaptability: The pandemic has highlighted the importance of being agile and adaptable. Pharma marketing leaders must now be able to quickly pivot their strategies and tactics based on changing market conditions and consumer needs.

For example, Cipla adapted quickly to the changing market conditions during the pandemic by ramping up the production of essential medicines and medical supplies. The company also developed innovative product solutions, such as a portable mechanical ventilator, to address the critical shortage of medical equipment during the pandemic. 

Similarly, Lupin demonstrated agility by diversifying its product portfolio to include COVID-19 testing kits, PPE, and other pandemic-related products, besides helping to develop innovative solutions to address the pandemic, such as a telemedicine platform that enables patients to consult with doctors remotely. 

Digitalization: The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digitalization in the pharma industry. Marketing leaders must be able to effectively leverage digital channels such as social media, online advertising, and telemedicine to reach and engage with consumers.

For instance, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories leveraged digital technologies to enhance its customer engagement efforts. The company developed a mobile app called - ‘Medznat.’ It is touted as a one-stop solution for physicians, medical students and other healthcare professionals to stay abreast with the latest medical knowledge. It offers an umbrella of offerings, such as news, scientific articles, case studies, regulatory updates, medical events, drug flashcards, and many more. The app offers some key features, such as: personalized quality content, any time, anywhere and patient education materials.

Customer-centricity: The pandemic has increased the need for customer-centricity in the pharma industry. Marketing leaders must now prioritize customer needs and preferences and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

Sun Pharma appears to be another leading example that, reportedly, demonstrated customer-centricity by developing patient assistance programs that provide financial support to patients who cannot afford their medications. The company also partnered with healthcare providers to develop disease management programs that improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

Data Analytics: The pandemic has highlighted the importance of leveraging data science and data analytics in the pharma industry. Marketing leaders must be able to effectively analyze data to understand customer behavior and preferences and to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. 

The name of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals comes to the top of mind in this area. The Company is now using data analytics to analyze sales data and identify trends in the market. The company is also using analytics to track physician interactions and ensure compliance with government regulations.

Continuous Innovation: The pandemic has created new opportunities for innovation in the marketing domain. Thus, marketing leaders must be willing to experiment with new approaches and technologies to stay ahead of the competition and meet changing customer needs.

As is known to many, Zydus Cadila has developed a COVID-19 vaccine and has also been working on the development of a COVID-19 drug. The company has also been involved in the development of new drugs to treat various other diseases.

Collaboration: The pandemic has underscored the need for collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem. Pharma marketing leaders need to work closely with other stakeholders, including healthcare providers, payers, patient advocacy groups, and government agencies, to develop solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders.

In this area, Biocon, for instance, collaborated with government agencies and NGOs to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to underserved communities. The company also worked with healthcare providers and patient advocacy groups to develop education and awareness campaigns that promote better health outcomes.

Similarly, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories partnered with IQVIA to rollout IQVIA’s OCE application to its entire field force and marketing users in India to drive more meaningful and impactful customer engagement.

 Conclusion: 

These are a few areas with examples from a few Indian pharma majors that would give a sense of how the mindset and outlook of their marketing leadership teams are changing. This is happening, as is widely believed, after having experienced the last two years’ unprecedented disruptions in business and customer behavior.

It’s equally interesting to note that our domestic drug industry, which was not traditionally well known for effecting significant proactive changes – is transforming itself while stepping into the post-pandemic world – in pursuit of excellence. 

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.

 

 

Mindset Change: Now A Bigger Factor in The Rise And Fall of Pharma Corporations

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Currently, in the pharma industry across the world, almost everyone is talking, thinking, and trying to implement several significant changes – just to be in sync with the changing customer needs and market expectations. As Covid vaccination process gathers momentum with markets gradually opening up, many envisage even much bigger changes. Such changes encompass, medium to long-term strategic thinking process, re-engineering business operations, customer-centric new value creation and value delivery mechanism in the new normal.

Several pharma players have also started expressing it explicitly, even on their websites. One such example is a Novartis communique of January 21, 2021. It says: COVID-19 was a catalyst for change in healthcare during 2020 – an accelerator for digital health. As the virus spread exponentially, the world was forced to work virtually, wherever possible. Digital solutions were needed fast – not just to support remote working, but to keep the very fabric of business, healthcare, education, and essential services in operation. The need to cope with multi-faceted pandemic–triggered challenges of change, prompted the rise of digital health as the only viable option of the time, as it were. In the following months thereafter, it has set some emerging trends for digital innovation to meet global healthcare needs, which will continue through 2021.

The communique underscored: “For Novartis and many other pharmaceutical companies, the challenge was not just to enable employees to continue working, but to ensure that medicines reached patients as needed, and that healthcare professionals (HCPs) had the information they required to support their patients’ questions and needs. It was also essential to make sure that clinical trials remained on schedule and the development pipeline continued.”

Similar mindset was exhibited by many other pharma companies when the chips were down, and Covid vaccines were under development or just had hit the markets. Its impact, got reflected in The Harris Poll Survey of February 2021, which reported a peak positive rating of 62% for the image of the pharma industry – an incredible turnaround from 32% of just the previous year.

Therefore, the question, arises – with Covid vaccination initiatives gathering steam what will major pharma players, both local and global, possibly do? Will they use the pandemic period experience as a springboard – for more innovation of all kinds to reap a sustainable harvest – with an ongoing customer-centric mindset? Or they will try to get back to the old normal – with self-serving interests – till it stings – very hard. This article will explore that area.

What prompts the above questions?

The above questions are prompted by the fact that since then, pharma industry’s image slipped from a peak positive rating of 62% in February as the vaccine rolled out and then dipping to 60% in May and now at 56%, according to The Harris Poll Surveys. Thus, many wonders – ‘is it time to ask whether the halo around COVID-19 vaccine and treatment innovation is gone?

Further, some recent instances on pharma’s reverting to self-serving interests, could also play some role in this regard. Interestingly, notwithstanding pharma’s image going south after achieving a peak of 62%, the ghost of unreasonable drug pricing appears to haunt again.

As an illustration, amid Covid pandemic, the public perception that pharma companies’ business practices changed – from mostly self-serving interest orientated – to meeting customer value and expectations, did not last long. Several actions akin to pre-Covid period, went against the above perception. These include, Covid vaccine prices and Biogen’s $56,000 (Rs.40 lakhs/year in India) price tag for its recently approved Alzheimer drug – Aduhelm that requires monthly infusions with no clear limit on treatment duration. No wonder, Alzheimer’s Association, reportedly, finds this price simply unacceptable,’ as it further “complicates and jeopardizes sustainable access to this treatment” and could further deepen health equity issues.

I reckon, how pharma companies conduct their strategic business operations from now on will possibly reveal the nature of Covid-triggered changes, if at all, within the industry. Industry watchers generally believe the majority will follow the digital transformation path with a new organizational culture, and an agile mindset to always be in sync with stakeholder values and expectations. However, there are also some, who want to mostly revert to the pre-pandemic business culture, practices, and mindset. It will be interesting to know what some top ‘Think Tank’ of the pharma industry envisage.

What some top pharma ‘Think Tank’ envisage: 

Notwithstanding some recent developments as mentioned above, which could be outliers, some top pharma think tanks are quite optimistic about the continuity of Covid triggered positive changes in the industry. For example, in an interview with Pharmaceutical Executive, published on May 19, 2021, a current Amgen Board Member and former CEO of several global pharma majors - Fred Hassan, made some profound statements.

He reiterated, ‘COVID-19 has accelerated the ongoing shift to enterprise-level digital transformation across Fortune 500s.’ Fred further emphasized, “the impact of digital in helping transform the customer experience or to improve efficiencies, is now a bigger factor in the rise and fall of corporations. Astute C-suite executives recognize the opportunity to not only enable, but to also empower their teams to quickly embrace digital as a differentiating tool.” 

A journey – not just a destination:

The above interview further underscored – ‘Digital transformation is a journey — not just a destination.’ The speed of transition to digital must be accompanied by sustainability. It should take all stakeholders on board in the journey of change. The key requirement is to ‘actively energizing the entire organization so that people internalize the digital mindset to help empower their customers, their own company and themselves, as individuals.’

More importantly, ‘Dithering around scaling past the initial digital pilots, is rapidly becoming an unacceptable option,’ as Fred Hassan cautioned. Which is why, while the C-suite needs to actively lead during a digital transformation, they must leverage the commitment of their middle management to motivate front line managers to keep following through with passion, courage, and tenacity. This is because: ‘Digital transformation is a journey – not just a destination.’

Indian pharma suddenly had to ride the wave of digital transformation:

The unprecedented pandemic literally compelled most Indian pharma companies of all sizes, to ride the digital wave in business, mostly for survival – to keep the business operations running. However, with the passage of time, Covid related disruptions started accelerating their journey for digital transformation – at a varying pace, though. This was also reported in the KPMG paper – ‘India’s healthcare sector transformation in the post-COVID-19 era,’ published on February 01, 2021.

The paper also articulated that this unprecedented health crisis “have not just laid bare the myriad challenges and gaps in our health system, but also highlighted the importance of investing in ‘well-being’ at both personal and system levels. It has ushered in an era of digital and technological innovations and advancements that is expected to help communities fulfil those requirements at a much faster pace.”

The pandemic has also accelerated the pace of evolution of ‘Smart Healthcare’ in India. This is also not a destination, but a journey with the digital transformation process, where changing or flexible mindset of the leadership, is the catalyst for change.

‘Smart Healthcare’ is also a digital journey:

As more and more health care customers are entering the digital space, triggered mainly by Covid appropriate behavioral norms, Virtual Healthcare initiatives are also increasing manifold, backed by robust supports from the Government. As a result, several integrated ‘Smart Healthcare’ platforms like Telemedicine, are now, reportedly, being, considered as the “Natural evolution of healthcare in the digital world.” Specifically, in the Indian scenario of low doctor to patient ratio, telemedicine has the potential to be one of the frontline health care value delivery systems, in the “new normal.”

Capturing early signals for such changes in the market trends, and leveraging the same to create a win-win situation for both the company and stakeholders, would necessitate a changing or flexible pharma leadership mindset. The reason being the digital transformation of an organization is an ongoing process with increasing rate of obsolescence of digital tools, platforms, and applications. Let me illustrate this point taking ‘Smart Healthcare’ as an example.

‘A bigger factor in the rise and fall of corporations:’

In today’s digital environment any transformation initiative is a continuous journey, and not a one-time exercise. Digital transformation of an organization – if, as and when pursued for business excellence in the new normal, would demand, at least, two big leadership commitments. These constitute – one, to continuously exceed stakeholder expectations in value delivery, and the other – a changing mindset that always puts customer perceived value on a higher pedestal than a company’s self-perceived value, both for product and services.

For example, for telehealth to carve out its niche as a dominant force in health care after the pandemic ends, will depend on how successfully virtual health care is humanized that will allow physicians and patients to build and maintain trusting relationships. These issues were well deliberated in Harvard Business Review article – ‘3 Ways to Humanize the Virtual Health Care Experience,’ published on March 25, 2021.

The paper concluded by emphasizing, the future rate of adoption of telehealth will ‘heavily depend on its ability to support a trusting relationship between patients and physicians. As provider organizations choose telehealth technologies and digital health companies develop new tools, they must keep the core human needs of both patients and physicians front and center.’

Conclusion:

The above examples clearly point out that any digital transformation process, be it of a corporation or of a system, such as telehealth, is a journey and not a destination. To successfully leverage the benefits of moving into a digital frontier would call for a changing or a flexible mindset of the provider or its leader.

This requirement undoubtedly, therefore, is ‘a bigger factor in the rise and fall of corporations,’ or any digital application, platform, or a system. Which is why, as many believe: ‘pharma still needs to be on its front foot and pushing forward,’ in the new normal. Going back to the traditional practices of the old normal is not an option, any longer.

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.

 

 

In Pharma’s Moment of Truth “What You Do is Who You Are”

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It’s a time when pharma industry will be tested, both by its external and internal customers – more than ever before. Looking back, in search of footprints on the sand is no answer either, as there isn’t any. But, a decision on moving ahead has to be made by each drug company in any case – charting a strategic pathway, in search of business excellence, if not for survival. A possibility looms large that the crisis may even overwhelm a company, if any, ill-conceived or ill-thought through steps are taken.

In that sense, the moment of truth has arrived for the industry – a time when ‘what different you do’ in the value delivery process of the business, will decide ‘who you are.’ One’s ability to lead the company or even follow the leadership, to navigate through this crisis, would determine the present and future success of the corporation. This isn’t an easy task. The evolving processes would be challenging to implement, and the traditional mindset may often act as a retarding force, as it were. In this article, I shall explore this critical area with recent examples, as far as possible.

Ability to fathom its most critical component is the bedrock for next steps:

The most critical component in this situation is the ability to make a careful and unbiased assessment of – how different would the ‘new normal’ be from the ‘old normal.’ The focus should not be on the barriers in making the necessary strategic changes, which I hear too often – but how to steer the business through this unprecedented crisis, regardless tough barriers on the way.

Covid-19 threat isn’t going to go away anytime soon:

However, one thing is for sure – no one knows, not just in India, but globally how big the crisis is, and will assume what form, when and how long. Let me give just three illustrations in this area that will be easily understood by all:

  • Initially, experts used to say, face masks are required only for those having symptoms and people close to them. “Masks are not required for those who doesn’t have symptoms. Whereas, the same experts are saying these days, “data now emerging about asymptomatic patients spreading the infection across the country, masks play an important role in containing the spread.” Thus, one is required to wear a face mask always while going outdoors.
  • Explaining the mode of disease spread, earlier, many experts, including the W.H.O, said that COVID-19 virus is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact routes. Thus, a mask is needed when one goes outdoors. Whereas, now the same experts, including the W.H.O, have confirmed that Coronavirus can be airborne indoors. In that case, one may need to wear a mask even indoors.
  • On April 23, 2020 the Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), reportedly, claimed that the situation is stable, and the country has been able to ‘flatten the curve.’ But on May 09, 2020, Director, AIIMS, reportedly, said, “Currently, the cases are continuing to grow at a flat rate, sometimes even more. So, it is very difficult to predict when the peak will come; but it is likely to peak around June or July…” Whereas, an MIT study, which has also been reported in the press reveals, “India might see 2.87 lakh Covid cases per day by February 2021.”

These instances drive home the point – although a serious threat of Covid-19 infection will continue in the foreseeable future, but the way it will manifest itself, and the fresh precautionary measures that will deem necessary, may change with time. Let me give one more example of increasing threat of getting re-infected by Coronavirus by already infected individuals has heightened today than in the past.

The battle tactics need to be updated:

Strategy for war against Covid-19 onslaught may broadly remain similar. But the battle tactics in the multiple fronts need to be updated on an ongoing basis. This needs to be based on increasing or narrowing of the spectrum of threat and other critical factors, as scientific evidences will reveal from time to time.

For example, as is unfolding today, a large number of already infected people, particularly living in areas with high population density, may not necessarily develop any long-term immunity against the Coronavirus infection. Such a possibility will have a wide impact on any business strategy in the new normal that an organization may contemplate.

The rationale for constantly updating battle tactics:

Let me now focus on the rationale for constantly updating battle tactics based on scientific evidences with a few contemporary examples. The study, published in the Nature Medicine on June 18, 2020, found that individuals recovering from Covid-19 infection may have immunity only for 2-3 months. Although, it may not necessarily be construed that a recovered person can get re-infected, but any vaccine that may eventually come may need to address such issues, which seems to be a tough call.

Alongside, findings of another large research – Spain’s Coronavirus antibody study, published in The Lancet on July 06, 2020, has also cast doubt on the feasibility of herd immunity as a way of tackling the Coronavirus pandemic. As the BBC News reported on July 07, 2020 - based on these findings, Prof. Danny Altmann, British Society for Immunology spokesperson and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London has made similar comments on effective vaccine development initiatives.

He said, the study would, “reinforce the idea that faced with a lethal infection that induces rather short-lived immunity, the challenge is to identify the best vaccine strategies able to overcome these problems and stimulate a large, sustained, optimal, immune response in the way the virus failed to do.”

“What You Do is Who You Are”: 

As the saying goes: “What You Do is Who You Are.” With this fast-evolving scenario, pharma leadership will need to effectively address a dual strategic game plan to outmaneuver the barriers of the Covid-19 pandemic:

  • Putting in place a robust operating strategy for customer value delivery process of the business.
  • Capturing the details of new Covid19 related ongoing developments to constantly hone the battle tactics in several different fronts.

Both the above processes will involve picking up all such validated research findings, mostly on the run. Mostly because, such issues may impact both internal and external customers of the organization, besides competition. Therefore, factoring-in each of those new developments, while constantly sharpening the war strategy and battle tactics in the fast-evolving scenario, will be of crucial. And, what you think or do in this situation will determine who you are – what type leadership traits you exhibit to face the challenges of the new normal, effectively.

Two types of leadership in the new normal:

Amid challenges of the present crisis, I reckon, top leadership will find two broad types of domain leaders – ‘pro-tradition’ and ‘pro-change’ – both will have successful past track records. They need to be identified for appropriate strategic tasks.

As is known to many, a good number of successful leaders are operating through decades around the concept of physical presence of patients while consulting a doctor or other health care providers. Several of them seem to be still unsure about the extent of organizational and operational changes required to face this unprecedented crisis, head-on. Even today, some of them keep trying to impress others by citing instances of what they did so well in the past.

There is nothing wrong in that. But, the business environment and requirements of those days were different – quite different from today’s demand. Curiously, many of such good leaders, with impeccable past success records, seem to be more bothered about seemingly insurmountable barriers on the way. They are afraid of migrating away or jettisoning the traditional pathway of success. Probably, the fear of failure – after achieving success for a long time, is the reason. I consider these successful professionals as ‘pro-tradition’ leaders.

There are also examples of another type of leaders. They are generally younger, looking forward with a contemporary mindset, nurture a can-do spirit with a resilience to bounce back, even in difficult times. Which is why, any transient fear of failure doesn’t usually overwhelm them. And, these leaders, I reckon, may be broadly termed as ‘pro-change’ leaders.

Keeping aside, past success records or future success potential of pharma leaders, in the current scenario – what they actually think or do in the changing environment to steer the organization out of this never-before crisis, will indeed determine ‘who they are.’

A contemporary initiative sets an example:

Top leadership of several drug companies, such as those at Novartis, is leading the way for a change management as the new situation will demand – by setting examples for others. These leaders seem to be taking note of all changes, as discussed above, while giving shape to a strategy, and reshaping the same based on data, as and when required. Interestingly, more technology professionals are getting attracted to pharma operations during Covid-19 pandemic than ever before, as a recent research report unfolds. This is a good omen for pharma and needs to be leveraged, effectively.

The findings of a new research report:

A new research report from Novartis -  A Powerful Pairing,  emphasizes: “The global COVID-19 pandemic sparked a seismic shift in the adoption and scaling of digital technologies across the healthcare sector at a pace never before seen. Almost overnight, organizations had to dial-up their efforts to develop, manufacture and ultimately bring medicines to patients in a socially distant world.” The survey brings out some interesting points, such as:

  • 86 percent of respondents believe the time has come for digital healthcare, and many of them are interested in taking part.
  • Regardless of the sector they currently work in, the two industries that technology professionals would consider switching to, are technology and healthcare and pharma (49 percent for each). This interest rises to 58 percent for workers based in India and 55 percent for those based in China. They feel, Covid-19 pandemic has made them more aware of medical causes around the world and how important they are. Through work in this sector, they can save countless human lives.
  • 52 percent of technology talent sees innovation potential in the healthcare and pharma sector, with the top reason to apply for a job being the opportunity to innovate through technology.
  • 89 percent technology professionals say that data science is important to the development and delivery of healthcare industry solutions and services.

Conclusion:

Surging ahead to reach a million mark, as on July 12, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases in the country reached 850,358 with 22,687 deaths. With a record high of 27,755 daily cases yesterday, the pace of climb continues.

It’s now virtually a writing on the wall that India will have to sail through the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic for quite some time, where unprecedented leadership interventions will be of critical importance – even in pharma. This endeavor will also call for selective induction of competent technology professionals in all pharma business domains, as required. The challenge involves not just carving out the ‘war strategy’, as it were, against Covid-19, but also continually honing the ‘battle tactics’ in multiple fronts – mostly on the run, for desired outcomes.

The situation calls for taking an in-depth inventory of an organization’s existing human resources, based on success ingredients required to turn the tide, which, I reckon, should also be the starting point in this venture. In this moment of truth – standing at the cross-roads of the drug industry, there is no further room for top pharma leadership to procrastinate the decision-making process. All competent professionals should be taken on board. In tandem, both – seemingly ‘pro-tradition’ and ‘pro-change’ leaders, should be encouraged to realize that in the new normal “What You Do is Who You Are” in the future pharma business.

By: Tapan J. Ray

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

Enhancing Pharma Brand Experience In The New Normal

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In these days of unprecedented and all-pervasive disruptions – almost in every facet of life – caused by an unknown virus, scramble to find an effective solution for saving lives and livelihoods, still continue. The discomfiture seems to be omnipresent across the healthcare space.

On its upside, pharma witnessed an unparalleled surge in various collaborative activities both in the search for a cure and also in preventing the infection. The downside is, conclusive scientific evidences are still not available for these drugs – except one that was unraveled just on June 16, 2020. On the contrary, after granting emergency authorization on March 30,2020, for use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in Covid-19 infection, the US-FDA on its own, revoked it on June 15, 2020 for lack of conclusive evidence.

Amid initiatives of saving lives, pharma industry – besides trying to be a part of saving livelihoods – alongside others, is also gearing up to restart its demand generation activities, and move ahead, as the looming crisis continues, unabated.

From the pharma industry perspective, this new beginning, as it were, in a scenario that was never envisaged in the past, would require two most critical ingredients, amongst several others, more than ever before. It is another major transformation, where pharma leadership would require encouraging:

  • A change in mindset with a fresh pair of eyes to find game-changing opportunities in the new normal.

This article will focus on the relevance of these two areas, for the drug companies to come out with flying colors, yet again, in a difficult situation.

Evolving changes in the pharma ecosystem:

That the evolving ecosystem is changing the life sciences value chain and creating new opportunities to capture future value by providing end-to-end solutions, was also highlighted in the EY report - “Today for tomorrow: realizing the potential of Life Sciences 4.0.” This was released in February 2020, as Covid-19 started changing the world and the way businesses operate.

To successfully navigate through such fast-changing healthcare landscape, ‘companies need to develop an exponential mindset that leverages technology for business model reinvention and empowering the workforce,’ the report emphasized.

As moving in this direction with agility is critical, drug companies will require a leadership team of a different mindset, who can ferret out path-breaking opportunities amid ‘never before’ problems. Mainly because, the strategy for success will be quite different from the traditional recent practices. Enhancing contemporary and personalized value of product and service offerings to healthcare consumers – with end-to-end solutions, won’t be everybody’s cup of tea in the shifting paradigm.

Let me explain some basic changes in the traditional sales and marketing domain to drive home this point. 

Some basic changes in the traditional sales and marketing practices:

Until Covid-19 battle is decisively won by a vast majority in the planet earth, by acquiring either a vaccine-induced or herd-immunity – maintaining social distancing and strict compliance with other health norms will remain in force. Besides, a palpable fear among a large population from getting infected by the Coronavirus, is unlikely to vanish soon. From this angle, many traditional pharma demand generation activities may not be as productive as they used to be, such as:

  • Meeting doctors the way one used to in the past for a face to face prescription demand generation activity, will be different. Moreover, per doctor call time may increase significantly – with a commensurate increase in cost, impacting average yield per call.
  • All marketing events, requiring the participation of many doctors under one-roof, namely – large symposia, Continuing Medical Education (CME) or even sending doctors by air for educational group-tours or even sponsoring any other medical events, may be challenging now.
  • Changing mindset of doctors, triggered during a long national ‘Lockdown’ period to remain updated from different sources in the cyberspace, may continue, prompting lesser interaction with drug company representatives.

There are many other areas, which different companies may consider a great commercial value, would also need to be identified – as the pharma companies restart their prescription demand generation activities. Nonetheless, equally important is to zero-in to alternative strategic approaches, soon.

Zeroing-in to alternative strategic approaches with a new mindset is critical:

There could be several strategic approaches for this area. One such is, mapping the end-to-end customer journey in the changing situation, to enhance their brand experience during this process. As the time is very limited now, being ‘right the first time’, will be crucial for pharma marketers. Otherwise, competition will prevail.

Any game-changing approach at this time, will call for a fresh pair of eyes, having a contemporary mindset. ‘I did it this way before’ approach will not work, as the situation is unprecedented, and there are no footsteps to follow. Thus, I reckon, the organization will require taking the following measures based on a predictive mindset and actionable insight:

  • Creating a ground swell of the need for the proposed changes – explaining the benefits of each.
  • Prompt mitigation of any resistance that may surface during this process.
  • Identifying the loose knots in the process of strategy implantation.
  • Choosing the implementation team with right competence, mindset and agility in achieving the set goals, across the business domains.
  • Providing continuous training, problem-solving support – ensuring an all-time learning mindset for all in the selected team.
  • Initiating an emotional omnichannel engagement to take all stakeholders on board – with aligned messages – for desired outcome.
  • Assigning accountability to each one, for achieving agreed results.

The biggest hurdle in the business transformation process:

In tandem, another key point also to be borne in mind. Because, with each passing day, some new finding in Covid-19 disease area – some good news for drug and a vaccine development, or could even be another crisis, may keep unfolding. The team should always remain on course, despite limited resources and other business challenges.

Many will know, the biggest hurdle for any transformation process is culture. Open minds of all concerned will make the process easier. With traditional business practices, it will be complex to navigate through the current situation. Therefore, a change in people’s mindset in the new situation, is a fundamental requirement to restart the pharma industry – in full steam.

The core objective needs to be understood by all:

The core objective during the entire process of such transformation, is to enhance a patient-centric brand experience – throughout its customers’ journey, seeking an end-to-end disease treatment solution. The process would, in turn, require a deep understanding of the emotions, requirements and related preferences of the customers. This is critical to establish a meaningful human connection, virtual or otherwise, with them.

Nevertheless, it will entail data-based and detail mapping the customers’ journey, while seeking an effective treatment solution for the disease that one is suffering from. Accordingly, creating a patient-centric content to build a brand persona, alongside crafty dissemination of the same for the target groups, through omnichannel platforms, will need to be diligently worked out. More important is its execution with military precision, by emotionally connecting the intended stakeholders to deliver a unique brand experience.

Conclusion:

Like many other countries, ‘unlock down’ process related to Covid-19 pandemic has already started in India, with varying degree at different places, though, depending on the nature of intensity and spread of the infection. However, the number of Coronavirus infected cases continues to maintain a steep ascending trend. As on June 21, 2020 morning, the recorded Coronavirus cases in the country reached 411,727 with 13,277 deaths.

The unlocking process of critical pharma industry activities has also started rolling. However, the new beginning has to be in sync with the fast-evolving changes in the pharma ecosystem. Many processes and deliverables, including formulation and implementation of an effective strategy for the same, will no longer be a replica of the traditional ones, as it were.

Similarly, to find game-changing opportunities in the pharma sales and marketing space, the marketers will need a change in their current mindset and having a fresh pair of eyes. This will be essential for an unbiased and effective mapping of end-to-end customer journey to enhance their unique brand experience. In tandem, it will help create key brand differentiators with cutting edges, for business excellence in the new 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.

Time For Predictive Rather Than Reactive Pharma Strategy

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

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

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

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

Traditional ‘safe sailing’ is no longer an option:

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

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

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

Making an overall reactive strategic approach proactive in nature: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting back to predictive strategic path from a reactive one:

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

  • Can we offer a version of our products and/or services through an online channel? Going online is the closest equivalent to low-hanging fruit in the current environment.
  • Can we use our existing infrastructure to produce products and/or offer services that are in demand?  Many organizations have allocated infrastructure to produce goods and services to support the fight against COVID-19, but some strategic companies would think beyond the crisis to future changes in consumer needs.
  • How can we rapidly increase our capacity to produce and distribute on-demand products and/or services?  Turning to partnerships with other companies can boost capacity in a crunch situation, such as today.

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

Conclusion:

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

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

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

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

By: Tapan J. Ray

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.

Does ‘Patient-Centricity’ Now Sound Like A Cliché?

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Today, many pharma companies claim ‘patient-centricity’ as one of their primary focus areas in business. Many industry experts, as well, have been advocating so, over a period of time. A number of research studies, published during the last several years, also recommended that ‘patient centricity’ should be the key focus area for long-term sustainability of any pharma business, across the world, including India. In the fast unfolding scenario of date, this is absolutely essential to keep pace with the changing needs and aspirations of a new generation of well-informed patients.

Currently, one can easily spot inclusion ‘patient-centricity’ even in the corporate vision and mission statements of many drug companies, especially those with global footprints. But the question arises, how efficient is its implementation in the field?

In this article, I shall try to fathom whether patients are in sync with pharma’s claim of moving towards this goal, or the term ‘patient centricity’ just sounds like a cliché, at least, as of now. Let me start by giving a brief perspective of the subject to illustrate the point, why it represents a fundamental shift in the healthcare space.

‘Patient-centricity’ – a fundamental shift in healthcare space:

As I discussed in my article, titled ‘Increasing Consumerism: A Prime Mover For Change in Healthcare’: ‘Patients’ longing for better participative treatment experience at an affordable cost, has started gathering momentum as a major disrupting force in the healthcare space of India, as well.

This is a fundamental shift in the healthcare space, especially in terms of patients’ behavior, needs, aspirations and expectations while charting across any end-to-end treatment process. This change is taking place over the last couple of decades, pushing many pharma players to adopt a ‘patient-centric’ approach for greater sustainability in the business.

‘Patient-centricity’ has started occupying the center stage in the successful pharma business, as patients are becoming more and more informative. The reasons for this change are many. I have already discussed many of these, along with suggestions on corrective measures, in my various articles, published in this blog on the subject.

What’s happening on the ground?

Drug manufacturers’ various strategic communications aimed at stakeholders, signal that the ball has started rolling. According to a report, well-known pharma majors, such as Novartis, GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutical, UCB, LEO Pharma, among others, are actively participating in conversation on ‘patient-centricity.’ Apace with, a number of research studies also point towards a clear dichotomy, and a glaring disparity between drug companies’ claims and people’s perception of ‘patient-centricity’ in real life. Let me first touch upon the glaring dichotomy in this area.

A glaring dichotomy exists:

That more organizations are becoming more ‘patient-centric’, will get captured by the increasing trust of patients – both on the individual companies and also the pharma industry, in general. But today, what we witness is a clear dichotomy between the claims of many pharma companies of being ‘patient-centric’ and the declining patients’ trust, along with dented reputation and image of the industry, in general.

Declining public trust towards pharma industry is also evident from increasing consumerism in the healthcare space, besides stringent policy and price regulatory measures being taken by various governments, across the world. It also significantly increases their cost of advocacy with governments, through their own trade associations. Either patients pay for such avoidable costs indirectly, by paying higher drug price, or the pharma players absorb its impact with reduced margin, which is also avoidable.

This gets reinforced by another measure of disparity. It also points to the widening gap between drug companies’ claim on becoming ‘patient-centric’ – together with their employee perceptions on the same, and the reality as experienced by patients. Let me illustrate this point below by quoting from another recent research study.

Measuring disparity between the claim and reality:

Interestingly, the August 2018 annual benchmarking survey carried out by the Aurora Project, also finds a disparity in perception and reality related to the much often-used terminology – ‘patient-centricity’. Aurora Project is a non-profit group, founded by eyeforpharma and Excellerate. It is made up of more than 200 health sector leaders from around the world, with an objective ‘to move ‘patient-centricity’ from words to actions and outcomes’.

The study was conducted between July and November 2018. It covered 1,282 respondents, which include patients, HCPs and employees from biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Expert perspectives were obtained from senior managers working with 10 of the world’s leading pharma companies, and views from specialists in behavior change and organizational psychology.

The respondents were asked to score the degree of ‘patient-centricity’ in pharma across 10 metrics, and patients consistently rated companies lower than industry employees. Some of the important findings that came out clearly while measuring the disparity between pharma’s claim and the reality, are as follows:

  • In total, 72 percent of employees agreed with the statement “my company communicates with care and compassion, transparent and unbiased information on diseases, treatment options and available resources”.

- Whereas only 32 percent of patients agreed with the equivalent statement.

  • More than half (53 percent) of the employee participants said they were “actively looking for what to do and how to teach” patient centricity.

- Whereas only 22 percent said they knew “exactly what to do

- And 16 percent said they “didn’t know what to do or how to teach it”.

  • Only 36 percent of the patients surveyed indicate that they have “quite a bit” or “a lot” of trust in the pharmaceutical industry overall.

The survey brought to the fore, while people believe in the importance of pharma delivering on its ‘patient-centered’ mission, most are not confident in pharma’s ability to deliver.

Most companies focus sharper on meeting short-term goals than ‘patient-centricity’:

That most companies focus sharper on achieving short term goals than ‘Patient-centricity’, as also captured unambiguously in the above survey, as it noted:

  • 90 percent of survey participants employed by biopharmaceutical and medical device companies agree that a long-term focus is key to the success of patient- centric efforts. However, the need for a long-term view is sometimes at odds with business realities, and 53 percent agree that their companies are mostly concerned about results this quarter (9 percent) or this year (44 percent).

Thus, there is a clear need for not just of ‘patient-centricity’, but also an appetite for it among those best placed to make it happen. Therefore, the question to ponder for pharma companies is: How best to be ‘patient-centric’? While trying to ferret out a robust answer to this question, many domain experts suggest that ‘patient centricity’ demands a fundamental shift in the cultural mindset of the organization.

Demands a fundamental shift in corporate cultural mindset:

As I pointed out in several of my articles in the past, the need for creating an appropriate ‘patient-centric’ corporate cultural mindset is to reverse the organizational pyramid. This means transforming the business from being product focused to patient focused.

That ‘patient-centricity’ demands a shift in the corporate cultural mindset within the pharmaceutical industry, was also emphasized in the article published in the Journal of Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science (TIRS) onMarch 28, 2017, titled ‘Patient Centricity and Pharmaceutical Companies: Is It Feasible?’

Elaborating this point further, the paper said that at the highest level, it involves listening to and partnering with the patient, and understanding the patient perspective, rather than simply inserting patient views into the established process. Aided by the top management, the answers to the following questions on ‘patient-centricity’ should be crystal clear to all employees:

  • Why are we doing this?
  • How should we do it?
  • What are the results we aim to achieve?

Conclusion:

Quoting the December 2012 NHS document, the essence of ‘patient-centricity’ may be expressed as – ‘making “no decision about me, without me” a reality, all along the patient pathway: in primary care, before a diagnosis, at referral and after a diagnosis.’ This is applicable to all in the healthcare space, equally, including the pharma industry. There doesn’t seem to be any alternative to it, either. Which is why, ‘patient-centricity’ is emerging as a ‘take it or perish’ type of a situation for all pharma players. It may not happen immediately, but eventually it would certainly form the bedrock of pharmaceutical business.

Probably due to this reason, ‘patient-centricity’ has become a new a new buzz word to demonstrate how a pharma player is keeping pace with time. Consequently, more and more companies are joining this chorus of informing the stakeholders that ‘I am game’. Be that as it may, the core concept of ‘patient centricity’ is still not yet getting properly translated into better patient outcomes, through actionable strategies on the ground.

There are several studies on the measurement of ‘patient centricity’. The Aurora Project, as discussed above, is one such. It clearly brings out that there is still a significant gap between words and actions of many drug companies on ‘patient-centricity’. Consequently, a large number of patients are still unable to reap the consequential benefits of ‘patient centricity’, the way it is publicized by several companies. Despite this, the terminology continues to be overused, sans proper application of mind to translate the pharma’s good intent into reality.

By: Tapan J. Ray    

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

Millennial Generation Doctors And Patients: Changing Mindset, Aspirations, And Expectations

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The term ‘Millennial Generation’ normally refers to the generation, born from 1980 onward, brought up using digital technology and mass media. According to ‘Millennial Mindset’ – a website dedicated to helping businesses understand millennial employees and new ways of working, the key attributes of this generation are broadly considered as follows:

  1. Technology Driven:
  2. Socially Conscious
  3. Collaborative

The millennial mindset:

The publication also indicates that the overall mindset of the millennial generation is also vastly different from the previous generations, which can fall into four categories:

  1. Personal freedom, Non-hierarchical, Interdependent, Connected, Networked, Sharing
  2. Instant gratification, Wide Knowledge, Test and learn, Fast paced, Always on, Innovative
  3. Fairness, Narcissistic, Purpose driven
  4. Balance, Eco-friendly and Experience focused

Seeks different professional ecosystem:

In the professional arena too, this new generation’s expectations from the professional ecosystem are often seen to be distinctly different, as they are generally seen to be:

  • Willing to make a meaningful professional contribution, mostly through self-learning
  • Seek maintaining a reasonable balance between work and personal life
  • Prefer flexible work environment, unwilling to be rigidly bound by convention, tradition, or set rules
  • Impatient for fast both personal and organizational growth, often on the global canvas

The ‘Millennial Generation’ in India:

The millennium generation with a different mindset, aspirations and value system, already constitutes a major chunk of the Indian demography. According to the 2011 Census, out of estimated 1.2 billion population, around 701 million Indians (60 percent) are under 30 years of age, which also very often referred to as ‘demographic dividend’ of India.

Currently, a large number of Indians belonging to the millennial generation are entering into the work stream of both national and International companies operating in the country.

The challenge in healthcare arena:

In the healthcare sphere too, we now come across a fast increasing number of technology savvy and digitally inclined patients and doctors of this generation. Accurately gauging, and then meeting with their changing expectations has indeed been a challenging task for the pharma companies, and the related service providers.

Their expectations from the brands and other services, as provided by the pharma companies, don’t seem to be quite the same as before, either, so are the individually preferred communication formats, the way of processing, and quickly cross-verifying the product and other healthcare information. Before arriving at any decision, they were found to keenly observe the way brands are marketed, their intrinsic value, type and the quality of interface for engagement with them by the companies, whenever required.

Thus, from the pharma business perspective, qualitatively different strategic approaches, to both the millennial doctors and patients, would be of increasing importance and an ongoing exercise. The goal posts would also keep moving continuously. Achieving proficiency in this area with military precision, I reckon, would differentiate the men from the boys, in pursuit of business performance excellence.

In this article, I shall primarily discuss on the changing mindset and needs of the patients and doctors of the ‘millennial generation’.

A. Treating millennial patients differently:

Around 81 percent of millennial doctors, against 57 percent of older generation doctors think that millennial patients require a different relationship with their doctors than non-millennial patients. About 66 percent of millennial doctors actually act upon this and change their approach, as the survey reported.

The difference:

The key differences on millennial doctors’ treating millennial patients, are mainly in the following areas:

  • Expects more, doesn’t get swayed away: Millennial doctors are more likely to advise the millennial patients to do additional research on their own for discussion. 71 percent of millennial doctors believe it’s helpful for patients to do online research before their appointment. However, they don’t get swayed by requests from more-informed patients, as only 23 percent of millennial doctors say they are influenced by patient requests when it comes to prescribing a treatment, whereas 41 percent of non-millennial doctors report finding those requests influential.
  • Gets into the details: The millennial doctors are more likely to simplify and streamline explanations for older patients, whereas non- millennial doctors were more likely to simplify explanations for millennial patients too, treating them exactly the same way.
  • Relies on digital resources: Millennial doctors rely mostly on using digital resources for treating millennial patients, but only around 56.5 percent of them do so for non-millennial patients.

B. Treating millennial doctors differently:

For effective business engagement and ensure commensurate financial outcomes, pharma companies will first require to know and deeply understand the changing mindset, expectations, and aspirations of the millennial doctors, then work out tailor-made strategic approaches, accordingly, to achieve the set objectives.

Top 3 expectations from the pharma industry:

According to a June 2016 special survey report on Healthcare Marketing to Millennials, released by inVentive Health agencies, the top 3 expectations of millennial and non-millennial doctors from the pharma industry, are as follows:

Rank Millennial Doctors % Rank Non- Millennial Doctors %
1. Unbranded Disease Information 67 1. Unbranded Disease Information 58
2. Discussion Guides 48 2. Latest Specific News 46
3. Adherence Support 40 3. Healthy Life Style Information 42

Pharma players, therefore, can provide customized offerings and services, in various innovative platforms, based on these top 3 different expectations of millennial and non-millennial doctors, to achieve much needed critical competitive edge for a sustainable business performance.

Brand communication process needs a relook:

The above report also noted a number of the interesting trends related to the millennial doctors. I am quoting below just a few of those:

  • Only 16 percent of millennial doctors found pharma promotional materials to be influential when considering a new treatment compared to 48 percent of non-millennial doctors who do.
  • 79 percent of them refer to information from pharmaceutical companies only after they’ve found that information elsewhere.
  • 65 percent of these doctors indicated, they did not trust information from pharmaceutical companies to be fair and balanced, while only 48 percent of their older peers shared that sentiment.
  • 50 percent found educational experiences that are driven by their peers to be the most relevant for learning and considering about new treatments, against 18 percent of non-millennial physicians.
  • 52 percent of them, when learning about new treatment options, favor peers as their conversation partners.
  • They are much more likely to rely on a third-party website for requisite product or treatment information
  • 60 percent of millennial doctors are more likely to see a pharma rep, if they offer important programs for their patients, compared to only 47 percent of non-millennial doctors. This also reflects greater patient centric values of the millennial doctors.
  • However, an overwhelming 81percent of millennial doctors believe that any type of ‘Direct To Consumer (DTC)’ promotion makes their job harder, because patients ask for medications they don’t need.
  • 41 percent of millennial doctors prefer a two-way and an in-person interaction, against just 11 percent of them with online reps. Here, it should be noted that this has to be an ‘interaction’, not just predominantly a monologue, even while using an iPad or any other android tablets.

Redesigning processes to meet changing expectations and needs:

Thus, to create requisite value, and ensure effective engagement with millennial doctors, the pharma companies may consider exploring the possibility of specifically designing their entire chain of interface with Millennials, right from promotional outreach to adherence tools, and from medical communications to detailing, as the survey report highlights. I shall mention below just a few of those as examples:

Communication platforms:

For personal, more dynamic and effective engagement, non-personal digital platforms – driving towards personal interactions with company reps, together with facilitating collaboration between their professional peer groups, came out as of immense importance to them.

Adherence and outcomes:

There is a need for the pharma companies to move the strategic engagement needle more towards patient outcomes. This is mainly because, medication adherence is a large part of the patient outcome equation. It involves a wide range of partnerships, such as, between patients and physicians, and also the physicians and pharma players. This particular need can be best met by offering exactly the type of collaborative approach that millennial doctors favor.

Medical communication:

Redesigning the core narrative of medical communication around a disease state and product, engaging the wisdom and enthusiasm of scientific, clinical, and educational leaders primarily to serve a well-articulated noble cause, are likely to fetch desired results, allaying the general distrust of millennial doctors on the pharma companies, in general.

Medical representative:

Earning the trust of the millennial doctors by respecting, accepting, and appealing to their value systems, is of utmost importance for the medical reps. To achieve this, drug companies would require to equip their reps with tools and programs that offer value in terms of patient support and adherence, while demonstrating compelling outcomes with a positive patient experience, and greater efficiency in treatment decisions.

Building reputation:

The “Purpose Generation” – that’s how millennials are often referred to. In that sense, to build a long lasting business reputation among them, pharma companies need to be in sync with this new generation.

Weaving a trusting relationship with them involves meeting all those needs that these doctors value, such as, adherence solutions, innovative patient support programs, and creating shared value for communities. This would mean, for many drug companies, charting an almost uncharted frontier, where there aren’t many footsteps to follow.

Need to induct younger generation to top leadership positions faster:

To capture these changes with precision, and designing effective engagement strategies for millennial patients and doctors accordingly, an open, innovative and virtually contemporary mindset with a pair of fresh eyes, are essential. As against this, even today, many ‘Baby Boomers’ (born approximately between 1946 and 1956), who have already earned the status of senior citizens, meticulously nursing a not so flexible mind with traditional views, still keep clutching on to the key top leadership positions in the pharma industry, both global and local.

This prevailing trend encompasses even those who are occupying just ornamental corporate leadership positions, mostly for PR purpose, besides being the public face of the organization, sans any significant and direct operational or financial responsibilities. Nevertheless, by pulling all available corporate levers and tricks, they hang-on to the job. In that way, these senior citizens delay the process of change in the key leadership positions with younger generation of professionals, who understand not just the growing Millennials much better, but also the ever changing market dynamics, and intricate customer behavior, to lead the organization to a greater height of all round success.

I hasten to add, a few of the younger global head honcho have now started articulating a different vision altogether, which is so relevant by being a community benefit oriented and patient centric, in true sense. These icons include the outgoing GSK chief Sir Andrew Witty, who explains how ‘Big Pharma’ can help the poor and still make money, and the Allergan CEO Brent Saunders promising to keep drug prices affordable. Being rather small in number, these sane voices get easily drowned in the din of other global head honchos, curling their lips at any other view point of less self-serving in nature. Quite understandably, their local or surrounding poodles, toe exactly the same line, often displaying more gusto, as many believe.

Conclusion:

The triumph of outdated colonial mindset within the drug industry appears to be all pervasive, even today. It keeps striving hard to implement the self-serving corporate agenda, behind the façade of ‘Patient Centricity’. When the demography is changing at a faster pace in many important countries, such as India, a sizeable number of the critical decision makers don’t seem to understand, and can’t possibly fathom with finesse and precision, the changing mindset, aspirations and expectations of the millennial generation doctors and patients.

Expectedly, this approach is increasingly proving to be self-defeating, if not demeaning to many. It’s affecting the long term corporate performance, continually inviting the ire of the stakeholders, including Governments in various countries.

From this perspective, as the above survey results unravel, the millennial doctors and patients, with their changing mindset, aspirations, expectations and demands, look forward to an environment that matches up with the unique characteristics and values of their own generation.

To excel in this evolving scenario, especially in India – with one of the youngest demographic profiles, proper understanding of the nuances that’s driving this change, by the top echelon of the pharma management, is of utmost importance. Only then, can any strategic alignment of corporate business interests with the expectations of fast growing Millennials take shape, bridging the ongoing trust deficit of the stakeholders, as the pharma industry moves ahead with an accelerated pace.

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.

 

The Stakeholder-Mix Has Changed, But Pharma Marketing Has Not

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“We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for profit. Profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they never fail to appear.”

In 1952, George Wilhelm Herman Emanuel Merck, the then President of Merck & Co of the United States said this. He was then aptly quoted on the front cover of the ‘Time Magazine’, epitomizing his clear vision for the company: “Medicine is for people, not for the profits”.

The globally acclaimed Management Guru – Peter F. Drucker had also clearly articulated in his management classics that, “Profit is not the purpose of business and the concept of profit maximization is not only meaningless, but dangerous.” He further said, “There is only one valid purpose of a business, and that is to create a customer” 

As this is an ongoing process, in the pharma perspective, it may be construed as ensuring access to new drugs for an increasing number of patients.

It really worked: 

In those days, driven by such visionary leadership, the pharma used to be one of the most respected industries and Merck topped the list of the most admired corporations in America. It is clear that pharma leadership at that time wanted to make ‘inclusive growth’, both in the letter and spirit, as an integral part of the organizational progress, moving with time.

Thus, it worked. The sales and marketing growth of the global drug industry at that time was not lackluster, either, in any way. The R&D pipeline of the drug companies used to be also rich, with regular flow of breakthrough new products too. 

Straying away from ‘inclusive’ to ‘self-serving’ strategies:

Much water has flown down the bridges, since then, so is the change in the public and other stakeholders’ perception about the pharma industry, in general. 

Sharply in contrast with George W. Merck’s (Merck & Co) vision in 1952 that “Medicine is for people, not for the profits”, in December 2013 the global CEO of Bayer reportedly proclaimed in public that: “Bayer didn’t develop its cancer drug, Nexavar (sorafenib) for India but for Western Patients that can afford it.” 

It appears that the focus of the pharma industry on ‘inclusive growth’ seems to have strayed away to ‘self-serving growth’, with the passage of time. As a result, a large majority of the new stakeholders started harboring a strong negative feeling about the same industry that continues its active engagement with the very same business of developing new drugs that save many precious lives. 

Granted that the business environment has changed since then, with increasing complexities. Nonetheless, there does not seem to be any justifiable reason for straying away from ‘inclusive growth’ strategies.                                         

As are regularly being reported, both in the global and local media, mindless arrogance on fixing exorbitant high new drug prices severely limiting their access, unabated malpractices in drug marketing and escaping with hefty fines, releasing only favorable clinical trial data, just to mention a few, are giving the industry image a strong tail spin.

Stakeholders changed, but pharma marketing did not:

Keeping the same strategic direction and pace, overall pharma brand marketing strategy also continued to be increasingly ‘self-serving’, and tradition bound. Success, and more success in building relationship with the doctors, whatever may be the means, is still considered as the magic wand for business excellence, with any pharma brand. Thus, since over decades, building and strengthening the relationship with doctors, continue to remain the primary fulcrum for conceptualizing pharma marketing strategies. 

It does not seem to have not dawned yet for the pharma marketers, that over a period of time, the market is undergoing a metamorphosis, with several key changes, and some of these would be quite disruptive in the traditional pharma marketing ball game. Consequently, the above key the fulcrum of pharma marketing is also gradually shifting, slowly but surely.

In this article, I shall deliberate only on this area.

A new marketing paradigm:

The key customer in the pharma business is no longer just the doctors. That was the bygone paradigm. The pharma stakeholders’ mix is no longer the same as what it used to be. 

The evolving new paradigm constitutes multitude of important stakeholders, requiring a comprehensive multi-stakeholder approach in modern day’s pharma marketing game plan.

Patients, governments, policy influencers, health insurance providers, hospital administrators, social media, and many others, have now started playing and increasing role in determining the consumption pattern of pharma brands, and their acceptability. More importantly, these not so influential stakeholders of the past, are gradually becoming instrumental in building overall pharma business environment too. This necessitates customized engagement strategy for each of these stakeholders, with high precision and relevance.

Changing mindset is critical: 

An effective response to this challenge of change, calls for a radical change in the marketing mindset of the top pharma marketers. The most basic of which, is a strong will to move away from the age old ‘one size fits all’ and ‘self-serving’ initiatives with some tweaking here or there, to a radically different ‘inclusive marketing’ approach.  In this game, both the types and the individual customer concerned, would occupy the center stage for any meaningful interactions on the brands and associated diseases, besides many other areas of relevance.

Multi-stakeholder – Multi-channel approach:

For a multi-stakeholder customized engagement, innovative use of multiple channels would play a crucial role, more than ever before.

Availability of state of the art digital tools, would facilitate crafting of comprehensive marketing strategies, accordingly. For example, for the doctors, some companies are moving towards e-detailing.

As I discussed in my article in this Blog titled, “e-detailing: The Future of Pharmaceutical Sales?” on September 13 2013, this modern way of interaction with the doctors is fast evolving. E-detailing is highly customized, very interactive, more effective, quite flexible, and at the same time cost-efficient too. Live analytics that e-detailing would provide instantly, could be of immense use while strategizing the game plans of pharmaceutical marketing.

A feel of the changing wind direction:

A relatively new book titled, “Good Pharma: How Marketing Creates Value in Pharma”, published in March 2014, and written by Marcel Corstjens, and Edouard Demeire, well captures some of the key changes in the pharma industry with a number interesting examples. 

The above book seems to somewhat respond to Ben Goldacre’s bestselling book ‘‘Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients’, which I discussed in this blog on October 15, 2012.  It made some important observations in many areas of pharma business. I am quoting below just a few of those incoming changes to give a feel on the urgent need of recasting the marketing models of the pharma industry:

On emerging markets’ like India:

“Emerging markets should not be seen as low-hanging fruits. Their prevalence of diseases may not be the same, the stakeholders may be very different. In addition, the healthcare infrastructure is often not very sophisticated, and these markets can be rather volatile and difficult to predict. It’s not a sure bet; you have to invest. … Companies need to commit seriously to building a heavily localized approach that is substantiated by a global reputation.” This is perhaps not happening in India, to a large extent, as I reckon.

On personalized Health Care (PHC): 

The new drugs brought to market by the pharma companies are not just expensive, but often work only for small segments of the patient population. In India this situation mostly leads to very high out of pocket expenditure, which often is wasted for the drug not working on the patient. Thus, the regulators and payers in the developing countries are setting the threshold for higher reimbursement. The authors observed that PHC is now being put forward as the industry’s best bet for satisfying stricter effectiveness criteria, not only by developing new drugs, but also by investing in the magical trio of the future: “drug-biomarker-diagnostic. In that case, pharma marketing would need to undergo a significant change, starting from now.

On ‘Category captains’:

The book also says, “The most financially successful companies in the past 20 years has been Novo-Nordisk. They have specialized in diabetes, they’re extremely good at that. Roche specializes in oncology. The larger the company, the more ‘captive’ areas they can have. The success of Novo-Nordisk, a relatively small company, proves firms of all sizes have a chance to compete, as long as they stick closely to their strengths. When this happens in a much larger scale, pharma marketing would also be quite different and more focused.

Many pharma companies are still avoiding to change, successfully. For example, as announced on May 31, 2016, Intercept Pharma of the United States announced its new liver disease drug with a hefty price tag of US$ 70,000 a year. According to the report, the company said, prices are justified by a drug’s level of innovation and cost savings for the healthcare system. This justification has now become very typical in the pharmaceutical world, which has been facing barrage of criticisms, including from Capitol Hill, about too-high drug prices.

However, as we move on, the writing on the wall seems to be very clear on the sustainability of health care business, the world over.

Conclusion:

Finally, the question arises, would the traditional approach still be good enough to achieve the desired sales and marketing objectives, any longer?

No, probably not, I reckon. With changed mindsets, ‘getting under the skin’ of each stakeholder, separately, would assume key importance. It would play a key role, while devising each component of any cutting-edge pharma sales and marketing strategy, tactic, and task.

The shift from the old paradigm, signals towards a total recast of pharma marketing to make it more ‘inclusive’, and not just ‘self-serving’. Newly crafted commensurate grand marketing plans and their effective implementation should satisfy the needs and wants of all stakeholders, simultaneously. Singular focus on building, or further strengthen the relationship with prescribing doctors, won’t be adequate enough, anymore.

Thus, the name of the new pharma ballgame would again be ‘inclusive marketing for inclusive growth’.

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.