Tag Archives: tools

‘Indian Pharma’s Apathy Towards Digital Marketing’ – A Misgiving Or Real?

Posted on by
Reply

As I gather from different sources, an increasing number of Indian pharma companies are increasingly embracing digitalization in their marketing operations, especially after the crippling experience during the Covid lockdown period. They realize the use of digital platforms would be a great enabler for them to reach a wider audience, promote their products, and engage with healthcare professionals more effectively, in any given situation. The depth, span, and speed of adaptation of this initiative is fast gathering momentum in the capable hands of astute marketers.

In this article, I shall explore this area to ferret out the fact, whether ‘The Indian pharma industry’s apathy towards Digital Marketing’ is a misgiving or still a reality. However, I would start with an important note about getting caught in some possible controversies due to occasional overenthusiasm in this space. 

Some possible reasons for a brouhaha or controversy:

There may be several reasons why a brouhaha or controversy could continue surrounding the use of digitalization in Indian pharma companies’ marketing operations. Some possible factors include:

  • Compliance and Regulatory Issues: Digital marketing practices must ensure full compliance with regulations set by regulatory bodies, such as the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and the Medical Council of India (MCI). Any violation of these regulations can lead to legal consequences and damage the reputation of the companies involved.
  • Misinformation, data Integrity and Misleading Claims: The widespread use of digital platforms can make it easier for misleading, breach of data integrity and false claims to be disseminated. Regulators and critics may raise concerns about the accuracy of information being shared and the potential impact on patient health. 
  • Privacy, cyberthreats and Data Security: The use of digital platforms involves the collection and storage of user data. Privacy concerns, including cyberthreats, can arise if pharmaceutical companies do not handle personal information responsibly or if patient data is compromised due to inadequate security measures. 
  • Unethical Practices: There have been instances where pharmaceutical companies have been accused of engaging in unethical practices in their marketing efforts. These may include off-label promotion (promoting a drug for an unapproved use), undue influence on healthcare professionals, or aggressive marketing tactics that prioritize sales over patient welfare. 

It is important to recognize that the specific reasons for the ongoing brouhaha on this topic may have further evolved. From this perspective, let me now focus on a few Indian examples where using digital tools and analytics could offer several advantages for domestic pharmaceutical companies, as available from different sources.  

Examples of some areas where Indian players are using digital tools:

Here are some recent examples of how Indian pharmaceutical companies have utilized digital tools and analytics in their marketing operations, as available in the public domain:

  • Enhanced Targeting: Aurobindo Pharma Limited has implemented data analytics to identify key customer segments for targeted marketing. By analyzing prescribing patterns and patient demographics, they tailor their marketing efforts to reach specific healthcare professionals and patient groups more effectively. 
  • Personalized Marketing: Biocon Limited has embraced digital tools to deliver personalized marketing content. Through their digital platforms, such as websites and mobile applications, they provide customized information about their products, disease education materials, and patient support resources.
  • Improved Marketing ROI: Lupin Limited has utilized digital analytics to measure the performance of their marketing campaigns. By tracking key metrics, such as website engagement, social media interactions, and email response rates, they can optimize their marketing spend and allocate resources to channels that yield higher returns. 
  • Efficient Resource Allocation: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has leveraged digital tools and analytics to optimize resource allocation. They analyze market data and customer behavior to identify regions and healthcare facilities with the highest growth potential, enabling them to allocate their sales resources strategically.
  • Real-time Market Insights: Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd utilizes digital tools and analytics to monitor real-time market insights. By leveraging social listening tools and data analytics platforms, they stay updated on market trends, competitor activities, and customer feedback, enabling them to adapt their marketing strategies accordingly.
  • Improved Customer Engagement: Cipla Ltd has focused on improving customer engagement through digital channels. They utilize social media platforms, online forums, and chatbots to interact with healthcare professionals and patients, providing information, answering queries, and offering support. 
  • Streamlined Communication: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd has implemented digital communication tools to streamline interactions with healthcare professionals. They utilize virtual meeting platforms, webinars, and online training sessions to engage with physicians, pharmacists, and other stakeholders more efficiently, eliminating geographical barriers.
  • Data-driven Decision Making: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Limited leverages data analytics for data-driven decision making. By analyzing sales data, market trends, and customer feedback, they gain insights that inform their strategic decisions regarding product launches, marketing campaigns, and market expansion. 

These examples demonstrate how Indian pharmaceutical companies have harnessed digital tools and analytics while recomposing notes in a pharma marketing playbook to enhance their business operations. However, please note that specific initiatives and strategies are still evolving, and the extent of adoption may vary among different companies. 

Conclusion:

From the above perspective, I reckon, Indian drug companies are increasingly embracing digital toolsand analytics to enhance their marketing efforts. With the advancement of technology and the growing importance of digital channels, pharmaceutical players in India are recognizing the need to adapt and leverage digital tools to stay competitive and effectively reach their target audience. Hence, any feeling about the ‘Indian pharma industry’s apathy towards Digital Marketing’ seems to be a misgiving to me.

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.

More Challenges For Brand Launch Success In The New Normal

Posted on by
Reply

The drug manufacturers’ life blood to drive business growth has always been successful new product launch. However, this task has always remained a tough challenge to crack, since last so many years for various reasons. According to McKinsey & Company: “About two-thirds of drug launches don’t meet expectations. Improving that record requires pharmaceutical companies to recognize the world has changed and adjust their marketing accordingly.” Several research studies have been carried out by now to gain actionable insight on this issue.

Existing challenges for successful drug launch got further amplified, as Covid-19 pandemic added a novel dimension in this space. It involves disruptive changes in many facets of customers’ new product-value expectations. Similar changes are witnessed in the product value delivery process, doctor-patient engagement, content development and delivery platforms, among others. This article will explore this area from successful new product launch perspective, in the days ahead.

Dismal outcome of many new drug launches – more for primary care:

According to a recent study, published by L.E.K Consulting on December 18, 2020: ‘About half of all products launched over the past 15 years have underperformed pre-launch consensus forecasts by more than 20%.’ This is quite in line with what McKinsey & Company found in 2014, as quoted in the beginning of this article.

However, in a relative yardstick, the primary care market has been the most vulnerable, which continues even during the ongoing pandemic. For example, according to an April 2020 Evaluate Vantage analysis, ‘Covid-19 adds a new danger to drug launches.’ The study emphasized, new drug launches, especially those targeting the primary care market, are particularly vulnerable as the pandemic continues. The key reason being, besides widespread disruptions in the health care system, sales teams will be physically unable to reach frontline physicians, as much as, and also the way they could do the same in the old normal. The studies underscore that a strong launch is critical to achieving maximum commercial potential, despite odds.

Some pivotal factors demand a greater focus than ever before:

After in-depth analysis of various studies in this area, some pivotal marketing factors appeared critical to me, in order to reduce success uncertainty while launching new products.

Alongside, unbreachable and agile supply chain alternatives also assumed a never before-frontline-importance in the new normal, unlike pre-Covid days. Another recent study, titled ‘Competitiveness During Covid-19 Pandemic: New Product Development and Supply Chain Agility’, published by ResearchGate in October 2020, vindicated the point.

As the title indicates, the above study examined the effect of new product development and supply chain agility to gain competitiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic and probably beyond. Thus, while developing and launching new products in the new normal, some pivotal factors, such as the following, appeared critical to me, in order to reduce success-uncertainty while launching new products:

  • Early planning for launch with a robust market access strategy, better sales forecasting with stretch goals – supported by state-of-the art forecasting tools and relevant learnings from the past.
  • Gaining actionable insight on changing customer needs, market dynamics and competitive threats in the new normal – by generating credible and contemporary data and leveraging the power of analytics – to offer differentiated stakeholder value.
  • Driving home patient-centric coeval product values that will delight customers – through flawless execution of stakeholder engagement strategies.
  • Working out virtual, innovative, personalized and impactful alternatives to some critical launch related physical events, such as, conferences, seminars, webinars and the likes, for doctors and other customers.
  • Developing creative and contemporary content and other marketing assets for significant online or omnichannel presence of new brands – supported by video clips and other tools, aiming at the target audience.
  • Differentiating the launch product clearly from those of the nearest competitors, where a focus on price-value relationship of the brand – from the patients’ perspective, could play a game changing role. As McKinsey & Company also highlighted, launching an undifferentiated product in an unestablished disease area carries a greater risk of failure.
  • Creating a robust and agile supply chain to navigate through unexpected market changes – as all experienced recently.

Delivering ‘patient-centric’ real value of the brand together, is critical:

Interestingly, L.E.K Consulting has also emphasized in its recent study that to drive and effectively deliver ‘patient-centric’ real value of new products, it is imperative for drug companies to execute the launch process flawlessly.

To make it happen on the ground – at the moment of truth, careful selection of a team of self-motivated people is necessary. This needs to be followed by intense training in all aspects of the specific launch, including effective use of modern digital tools and platforms – and above all – by creating a ‘can do’ team spirit to deliver the deliverables.

This requirement has been epitomized in the recent article, titled ‘Beyond the Storm: Launch excellence in the new normal,’ published by McKinsey & Company. Therein, the authors articulated, ‘Intangible though it may sound, great launches have a different feel from normal launches. There is a real sense that – we’re all in this together.’

Pharma’s current way of using digital platforms doesn’t satisfy many doctors: 

Over the last one year, as the pandemic brought all human activities virtually to a grinding halt, there has been a significant shift towards digital tools and online platforms, including in the way medical practitioners interact with drug companies. As recent surveys indicate, pharma customers don’t seem to be quite satisfied with the way many pharma players are currently making use of this technology.

This is happening even with those doctors who are open to virtual engagement and in favor of remote patient consultations. The issue needs to be resolved soon, particularly for new product launch successfully – using digital platforms, as reported in recent surveys.

The survey reports retraining of ‘sales reps to become digital orchestrators’:

One such recent survey, conducted by Indegene, which was also reported by Fierce Pharma on February 01, 2021, digital dissatisfaction of doctors with pharma companies, has jumped during the pandemic. The rates of dissatisfaction with pharma digital interactions, across media channels, ranged from 23% to almost 50% of physicians. Some of the key findings of the study include:

  • 49% of physicians are not happy with pharma’s social media engagements – perceived as less sophisticated when compared to expectations set by consumer companies.
  • Pharma is far from providing a satisfactory digital experience, as compared to other industries. The current dissatisfaction level where a higher percentage of doctors were dissatisfied, include marketing emails – 46%, telephone sales calls with sales reps – 42% and both webinars and websites – each at 39%.
  • In-person meetings dropped from 78% to 15% during the pandemic, but even now only 48% of doctors surveyed expect in-person engagements to continue in the post-COVID world.
  • Attendance at medical conferences also dropped from 66% to only 16% during the shutdowns and travel restrictions, but only 50% of HCPs now expect to resume in-person congresses after it’s safe to hold them.
  • The number of physicians engaged in remote sales visits increased from 11% to 47% during the pandemic, probably because there weren’t other alternatives available. Interestingly, one-third of physicians still plan to continue with virtual sales meetings even after the pandemic.
  • Most stakeholders are realizing, this is going to be the new normal, with senior pharma leadership also saying, ‘it’s never going to be the same as before.’
  • About 5 of the top 15 global pharma players are retraining their sales reps to become “digital orchestrators” and working to help them create clear and comprehensive digital communications for doctors.

Speedy resolution of these issues is likely making a substantial difference in improving pharma-to-physician interactions, particularly during new drug launches, in the days ahead.

Conclusion:

Success uncertainties in new product launches have always been a cause of concern for the drug industry, especially after having invested a substantial resource towards innovation and clinical developments. Interestingly, pharma players were mostly following ‘stick to the knitting’ dogma, as it were, in their launch planning. Despite the availability of sophisticated digital tools and analytics over the last several years, particularly in generating and accurate analysis of contemporary and credible data to gain insights, not much had changed radically. Suddenly Covid pandemic disrupted most market traditions, business processes, and the general belief on decision makers’ ‘gut feelings’ on customer behavior, market dynamics. Besides, the mindset of ‘doing better that what you have been always doing’, prevailed in many cases. In India, market research for most companies remained within the ambit of syndicated retail and prescription audit, despite frequent grumbling of many marketers on some critical findings of these reports.

The last one year has created more challenges in this area, although with a silver lining. A large number of drug companies have now stepped into the area of digital marketing – in varying degree, scale and resource deployment. This shift is expected to help reduce launch success uncertainties of new drugs. It will again, depend on how effectively the technology is leveraged by the cerebral power of astute markers.

Another article on pharma product launch, published by McKinsey & Company on December 15, 2020, also vindicated this point. It underlined: ‘As pharmaceutical companies reshape their commercial model to prepare for the uncertainties ahead, personalization and digital enablement will be crucial to launch success in the new environment.’

Amid these, as some surveys highlight, many doctors are not satisfied with the way digital technology is being currently used by pharma companies – to interact with them and cater to their information needs. With these ‘teething troubles’ being properly and promptly addressed, many drug companies, I reckon, will be able to remarkably reduce success uncertainties of new drug launches 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.

 

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

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.

Disruptive Impact of AI on Pharma Sales And Marketing

Posted on by
Reply

Artificial Intelligence (AI) that refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making, is poised to disrupt our world. Initially conceived as a technology that could mimic human intelligence, AI has evolved in ways that far exceed its original conception. This was articulated in the June 2018 Discussion Paper, titled ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ of NITI Aayog, India.

The paper further highlights: With intelligent machines enabling high-level cognitive processes like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making, coupled with advances in data collection and aggregation, analytics and computer processing power, AI’s capability has dramatically expanded. So is its game-changing utility in a growing number of fields to enhance productivity – dramatically.

I also expressed this need in my article, “Indian Pharma To Stay Ahead of The Technology Curve,” published in this Blog on May 22, 2017. Nevertheless, despite galloping progress of AI, a kind of ‘Ostrich Syndrome’ still prevails in some sections of the industry. This attitude, if continues, may catch many drug companies off-guard, with serious repercussions on business. In this article, I shall focus on the possible impact of AI on pharma business, specifically on pharma sales and marketing, instead of being prescriptive in my deliberation.

A disruptive impact on pharma value-chain:

Currently, only a few drug companies have embraced AI-driven technologies to transform pharma value-chain elements, across functional areas of the organization. However, in the next few years, effective adaptation of AI, in the true sense, will be the key success factors for any player – nurturing a burning desire to succeed, consistently. This was, again, an important conclusion of the 2019 FICCI Report titled, ‘Use of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics in pharmaceuticals.’

While explaining its rationale, the report emphasizes – catalyzed by an exciting range of new, disruptive technologies a paradigm shift is taking place, challenging the status quo with the traditional pharma business model. AI is in the process of disrupting this status quo, especially in the following two areas:

  • Increasing stakeholder pressure to reduce costs and demonstrate greater value of drugs,
  • Evolving swing from treatment to prevention, and patient-centric treatments.

Prompts a critical need to re-imagine the future:

These inevitable shifts prompt a critical need to re-imagine the future, for each drug manufacturer. However, the good news is, some of them, predominantly the global ones, have started making sizeable investments on AI. On a deeper scrutiny, the FICCI paper finds that applications of AI are mostly taking place in the new drug discovery and the supply chain area.

Besides individual company initiatives in the R&D area, important collaborative arrangements on AI with academia, have also been announced, such as, ‘Machine Learning for Pharmaceutical Discovery and Synthesis Consortium (MLPDS). This is a collaboration between the pharma/ biotech industries and the departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

MLPDS is expected to facilitate the design of useful software for the automation of small molecule discovery and synthesis. As on July 02, 2019, reportedly, ‘33 Pharma Companies Using Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery.’That said,let me hasten to add that some companies are also testing the water, with all seriousness, in pharma sales and marketing functions. So, the AI wave is fast catching up, driving the drug industry to chart uncharted frontiers. In this scenario, would there be any scope of survival for laggards?

Should it happen faster in pharma sales and marketing, as well?

In my view, the answer is an emphatic ‘Yes.’ This is primarily because, the disruptive impact of AI won’t be any less in pharma sales and marketing. It will, therefore, be prudent for these professionals, not just to understand how AI works in their respective functions, but also the ways to effectively use various AI platforms and applications, to transform the traditional processes, fundamentally.

Moreover, when stakeholders, including patients, doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies and even governments, are directly or indirectly using a host of AI-enabled tools and applications for better outcomes, does pharma have any other option?

Areas in which the impact could be transformative:

The recent publication titled, ‘Boosting Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing with Artificial Intelligence’ of ZS, analyzed this issue quite well. It emphasized, those functions in the drug industry where there exists a significant reliance on human functions, such as expertise and reasoning, the impact of AI can be transformative.

Sales and marketing are two such focus areas, besides other functions. Companies that use AI to orchestrate a cohesive customer experience, will drive stronger differentiation, better customer access and higher sales impact, the report highlighted. Thus, creating specific opportunities and requisite empowerment, are necessary for deserving people, to foster machine learning and human integration in sales and marketing. This, in turn, will help them gain insight into how to unleash the power and value of AI for achieving business excellence.

Some early adopters of AI in sales and marketing:

Recent reports indicate that some global pharma majors have started using AI in sales and marketing. Let me illustrate this point with two examples – Pfizer and Novartis.

In May 2017, Pfizer Australia, reportedly, adopted AI-powered digital analyst tool for sales and marketing decision making.This ‘What-if Simulator’, allows Pfizer to test and optimize a range of scenarios based on internal and external data sets. It helps simulate the impact of sales and marketing strategies, investigate assumptions and hypothesis difficult to test in the real world, and compare the outcome of various what-if scenarios in order to understand what’s contributing to business results. According to Pfizer, ‘the software will also help to understand deterministic and non-deterministic factors presented in its business operations, as well as see how variables within different questions impact one another’.

Another recent media report titled, ‘Novartis puts AI on the job to help reps say the right things to the right doctors,’ appeared in Fierce Pharma on January 09, 2019. It also confirms the keen interest of pharma in this area. Called “virtual assistant,”this application helps salespeople to make sure when they visit a specific doctor that they are talking about exactly what that doctor is absolutely interested in. “When you turn up at the right time with the right things to say, they’re more interested and put more value in it, and our people like the fact that AI is running in the background helping them plan their day,” Novartis official further elaborated.

Accept the dictum – ‘there is always enough room for improvement’:

Following this dictum, is the starting point for pharma marketers to seriously accept AI as a game changer in this industry, regardless of how successful the company is – in doing what they do, following the traditional business models. The core purpose of a drug company is to make sure that patients get what they want, in those disease areas where the company represents.

If a brand strategy is prepared based on research data collected a few months back, there could probably be a flaw in your strategy. This is because any recent offering to patients by a competitor, may have considerably changed what the patients want now. If a strategy is not based on virtually real-time information on what exactly the customers are looking for now, the result could be far from satisfactory.

The elements which are critical in creating ‘great brands,’ were nicely captured in the May 13, 2019 issue of Customer THINK on ‘AI in Digital Marketing.’ It articulated, ‘Great brands will be those that can think creatively, design effectively, and execute flawlessly to deliver seamless experiences woven together by machines and humans.  Using this approach, marketers and their marketing machines will stay gainfully employed.’ Thus, creative application of AI by astute pharma marketers will help achieving this goal.

Will AI ultimately replace pharma sales and marketing people?

This is a lurking fear in the minds of many. A related article appeared in the pharmaphorum on July 02, 2019, also wrote about a similar apprehension. The paper is titled, ‘Will AI make pharma marketers obsolete?’ It said: ‘Artificial intelligence, is sometimes seen as either a panacea or a destroyer – the fix for all humanity’s problems, or the apocalyptic scourge that will turn on us.’

I too reckon, AI can never replace people in pharma sales and marketing operations. This is because, there are two distinct elements in both these functions. One, the creative power of a professional that creates, develops, hones, and executes new ideas, strategies. It even decides how effectively AI can be used. The second element is the technological power behind AI. This can carry out a host of different very important, but routine and repetitive tasks – with a great amount of precision and virtually flawless. As the key sales and marketing professionals will need both, the AI can’t completelyreplace people in these two critical operational areas.

Some uses of AI in sales and marketing:

Eularis, in its ‘Blog, Comment & Insight’ of January 15, 2018, deliberated on this area. Just to give a feel of possible use of AI in different very important, but routine and repetitive tasks – with a great amount of precision, I am summarizing some of those points, as follows:

  • ‘Identification and Mapping’ of’ Key Opinion Leader (and up-and-coming Key Opinion Leader), which is constantly changing. Alongside, it can help scan and analyze all relevant journal articles, coming out each week, besides the same for ongoing clinical trials in the chosen field – flagging how changes and new additions can impact the KOL database.
  • Disease specific patient identification and physician targeting, especially in rare disease areas.
  • Helps identify individual preferences for content, channels and timing of information, that leads to allowing personalization at scale, and ensuring every customer is receiving what they want, when they want, and in the channel they want.
  • Facilitates utilizing the power of big data, AI tools and apps to identify which patients will cease adherence and how this can be addressed, thereby minimizing the loss of business for non-adherence.
  • Helps create custom messaging for sales reps to use for individual physicians based on what that physician needs at that particular moment in time.

Conclusion:

Use of AI-based technology in the pharma industry, basically means automated algorithms with the capability to perform all those tasks that are now being done mostly with heavy dependence on human intelligence. Thus, its possible use spans across almost all functional domains – from drug discovery, clinical development, supply chain and right up to sales and marketing.

Although, it is still challenging to figure out to what extent AI will transform the industry, one gets a strong signal that it is not just another ‘buzz word’ or a new kid on the block. The technology is surely spreading its roots across the health care space, pharma being an integral part of it. Which is why, according to ‘Executive Insight’ (Volume XX, Issue 60) of  L.E.K. Consulting, ‘all of the largest 10 pharmaceutical companies are investing in AI, and developments in applications are occurring across the spectrum of pharma business.’

In fine, to fathom the disruptive impact of AI on pharma business, I shall conclude by quoting from March 18, 2019issue of Healthcare Weekly. After a thorough analysis, the paper acknowledged thatAI is already redefining biotech and pharma. It concluded by stating, ‘ten years from now, pharma will simply look at artificial intelligence as a basic, every day, technology. The only question is how long pharma executive will wait till they jump on the wagon and leverage AI to improve their operational efficiency, outcomes and profits.’

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.

Pharma: Experts’ Handholding is Pivotal in Digital Marketing Transition Phase

Posted on by
Reply

“Pilman – A Tapan Ray Website on Helathcare” completes 10 years, today. 

Inspired by some of my dear friends, I created this website on January 14, 2009. Since then, reasonably well-researched articles, penned by me, on various aspects of health care, and the pharma industry, appeared in this blog – on every Monday morning of every week – uninterrupted – not even once. It did not just happen, I took a vow to make it happen with the same zeal, consistency and frequency, in the first 10 years of its launch – come what may. 

During this period, I have been humbled by tens of thousands of my dear readers, from all over the world, who went through these articles –  spending their valuable time. Today, with all humility, I bow my head before each of my readers to make it happen. After Ten years – a time has now come for me to decide what next. Thank you so much, from the very core of my heart.

Talking about digital marketing in pharma is virtually a fad now. It sounds so modern, sleek and is a great attention getter, especially in the tradition bound pharma industry. Advertisements of umpteen number of training programs are spilling all over. Even those who never worked with digital marketing in pharma, or possess any basic theoretical knowledge in this technology, are jumping into the fray. Some trainers claim to impart subject knowledge in the pharma domain, while others assert facilitating quick implementation of digital marketing by pharma executives.

Thus, the question that follows, why is the sudden interest in digital marketing for pharma by such trainers? What is happening in reality after these trainings? Is one blind man trying to help another blind man in this area, or it is a competition for sheer eyeball grabbing? Some friends in the industry do say, the common thread of ‘imparting training’ of this nature on digital marketing – outside any pharma company, is possibly the intent of ‘making a quick buck, while the sun shines.’

To me, this sounds too blunt a statement, as I reckon, expression of such a view will be unfair to formally qualified digital experts with proven experience of success in the pharma domain. Some of them also offer handholding young marketing professionals, with reasonable accountability, as they gradually transition from the traditional pharma to an integrated digital marketing model. In this article, I shall focus on this area by affirming, while digital softwares, tools and their applications aren’t anything new in pharma, making an integrated digital marketing process work effectively, is indeed a new necessity in the industry.

Digital tools and applications aren’t new in pharma: 

As I said, digital tools and applications aren’t new in pharma. For example, many Indian companies have already implemented likes of ‘Enterprise resource planning (ERP)’. This is basically an integrated business process management software that enables the organization to run their business processes, including finance, accounting, supply chain, sales, manufacturing and human resources, in an integrated environment. Some companies have also introduced field-staff reporting in digital format and online. Nevertheless, digital marketing in pharma being a new necessity, let me elaborate below what is digital marketing, and what it is not.

What is digital marketing and what it is not:

As defined by The Financial Times Lexicon, digital marketing is:

  • Marketing of products or services using digital channels to reach consumers. The key objective is to promote brands through various forms of digital media.
  • Digital marketing extends beyond internet marketing to include channels that do not require the use of the internet. It includes mobile phones, social media marketing, display advertising, search engine marketing, and any other form of digital media. 

And what digital marketing is not:

  • Digital marketing is not just yet another channel for marketing It requires a new approach to marketing and a new understanding of customer behavior.  

Pharma’s transitioning to integrated digital marketing is critical:

There isn’t any doubt today that transitioning into an integrated digital marketing for pharma is critical.

The paper titled, ‘Time for Pharma to Dive into Digital – New Medicine for a New World,’ published by AT Kearney advises drug companies to act now or get left behind. The paper makes some interesting observations to drive home this point, some of which are as follows:

  • Digital is changing the way healthcare is delivered, as pharma customers transitioning fast into the digital world.
  • Effective customer engagement in cyberspace with digital tools will increase customer reach, lower costs, improve sales, and enable greater value creation.
  • Necessary technologies are readily available for digital customer management in a cost-effective way.
  • Regulation, while not fully resolved, is becoming clearer.
  • Reduced effectiveness of traditional promotional expenditure makes the transition to digital marketing both critical and timely.
  • Digital disruption has rejuvenated many businesses. It is time for pharma to do the same.

In reality, many traditional pharma companies are still apprehensive:

Digital marketing sounds great. There isn’t an iota of doubt, either, that this new ball game help achieve many business goals with precision, in the complexity of pharma sales and marketing. When conceptualized and implemented creatively with hands-on involvement of both digital and pharma domain experts, its benefits could be exponential, instead of being incremental. All strategic business communication can be accurately targeted and delivered to precise stakeholders for better, faster and quality engagement, yielding desired outcomes.

Nevertheless, the reality is, as I sense through my direct interaction with pharma friends, many of them are still apprehensive of imbibing an integrated digital marketing, going whole hog. They carry ‘a fear of failure’, if… the initiative doesn’t work, for various reasons. Moreover, any possibility that they may even lose what they currently have for such disruptive measures, makes them quite edgy, as well.

Is the apprehension totally unfounded?

As I fathom, the answer is no. They have a genuine reason to think so, because they carry the can and prefer to avoid any kind of possible risk in the performance of their respective business. They may not be totally happy with the traditional model with decline productivity. But are not also willing to make any unfamiliar drastic change by replacing the traditional marketing model by a cohesive digital one, spanning across the organization.

Nether, do they want to take any such decisions where the requirement of employee competency for success will call for a drastic overhaul, which is understandable. Be that as it may, their feelings and the associated views can’t be brushed aside, either, – as they have been at the helm of pharma business with envious track records, since long.

Precise process, timing and the end-goal of digital marketing needs clarity: 

Interestingly, they all understand and agree that the transition from traditional to digital pharma marketing is inevitable. But they are not very sure about when should this transition commence for the India pharma business. Also, what are the sequential steps for the organization to move in this direction with least risk and chaos.

Many of them are also not quite clear of the end-goal of this process, which I think should go beyond offering just good drugs with unique features and benefits, to creating a unique full-service patient experience, with cutting-edge and ethical sales and marketing practices.

When to commence and where to start?

The following two pertinent questions that often arise need to be deliberated before a digital marketing initiative is undertaken by a pharma company:

  • When does a company to commence digital marketing?
  • Where to start with minimal risk exposure?

When to commence it?

Now – is the obvious answer. This is because, as I wrote in my article of June 11, with increasing number of pharma stakeholders using and interacting in the digital space, ‘consumerism’ is fast becoming a strong prime mover, even in the pharma industry. In tandem, patients’ longing for better participative treatment experience, at affordable cost, is turning into a major disruptive force in the healthcare space.Pharma players in the country, require to be on the same page, soon, to deliver sustainable results, before it’s too late.

Where does the transition from traditional to digital marketing start?

The answer will depend on marketing practices followed in a particular company, which digital experts will study and come out with an organization-specific action plan. Whosoever is the initiator of the project, the company CEO should be the final decision maker, with his total involvement in the project, for multiple reasons.

However, in my view, for those who are risk averse, it will be prudent to demonstrate that important marketing strategy when executed on integrated digital platforms, pay handsome dividend. Thus, I reckon, instead of replacing all traditional practices with a totally new and harmonized digital model, in one go, it may be better to add new marketing activities on digital platforms – having the potential to add significant value to the business, for example:

  • Capture and analyze useful information from various sources and functions within the organization, as inputs for marketing strategy formulation, by using state of the art digital tools and analytics.
  • Select those areas of sales and marketing where switching over to digital mode will add speed to the operation and the decision-making process. In any case there should be a parallel run of the traditional process and the digital one, for a pre-fixed time frame, to tighten the loose knots, if any.
  • Trying out social media under expert guidance. When used in innovative ways, it helps immensely to actively engage with targeted stakeholders, including patients, for getting a positive digital ‘word of mouth,’ besides important feedbacks.
  • Using mobile-friendly, well-targeted emails or text messages with useful, well-researched content eliciting response, either as feedbacks on selected business activities or on any other area useful for the business operation.

When ready for digital transformation across all functions of the organization, the CEO should solicit help of well-qualified professional digital experts, preferably from within the organization. If adequate resources are not available internally, experts in digital technology with a proven track record of success may be engaged from outside, equipped with high-quality pharma domain knowledge.

Conclusion:

As I said, digital interventions are not new in pharma. However, a well-harmonized digital marketing is. There could be many starting points for the transition from traditional to digital marketing. However, I reckon, low-risk initiatives to this direction – having the potential to add significant value to the business, would be prudent to start with.

Thereafter, the new and robust digital marketing platform – well-coordinated with all functions, need to necessarily undergo parallel pilot runs. The objective is to resolve the glitches in the new digital system, if any, minimizing business risks. The awareness and the need of digital marketing should preferably generate and be felt from within the organization. The trigger factor may be many, including the professional digital experts recently recruited or the CEO himself, who will decide how to cascade it down the line for effective implementation.

The name of the game is making the concept of digital marketing work effectively in the marketplace – separating the men from the boys, in the midst of cut-throat competition within the pharma industry. To take this giant leap, mere lip-services of external general advisors won’t be enough, and may not work, at all. This process requires a new approach to drug marketing digitally, involving a thorough understanding of patients’ and other stakeholders’ behavior. More importantly, in the transition phase of its implementation, handholding by high quality professional digital experts, ably supported by pharma domain experts, is pivotal for success.

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.

Indian Pharma To Stay Ahead of The Technology Curve

Posted on by
Reply

In the ever-changing business environment, many industrial sectors have now started leveraging different cutting-edge technological platforms to improve overall strategic and operational effectiveness, keeping a sharp focus on better stakeholder engagement for greater customer satisfaction.

These companies have accepted the inevitability of a paradigm shift in the algorithm of the traditional business process. It has dawned on them that it may not be possible to be in the pole position by tweaking the existing process with multiple incremental changes – a time is just right now to take a quantum leap in this direction. Placing the company ahead of the technology curve to acquire the critical X-factor in outperforming the competition is going to be the new mantra. This is likely to happen even in the sales and marketing domains, much sooner than one can possibly imagine, as the marketplace becomes increasingly tougher.

Moving closer to this direction, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based digital tools, I reckon, is likely to be one of the key game changers. The term AI was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is usually defined as the science of making computers do things that require intelligence when done by humans. AI helps to ferret out critical answers to many real-life issues and gain a competitive edge in business management, by creating and then effectively analyzing a huge pool of real life data.

AI is the fulcrum of business operations for several leading companies of the world, such as, Apple, Amazon and Uber. It has already started replacing human intelligence in a number key business operations in various industries. As a widely-known Indian business leader recently said, anything that can go digital will go digital. This wave is unstoppable in this modern era.

In this article, I shall restrict the scope of discussion to the application of AI in pharma sales and marketing.

A recent illustration from India:

The application of AI via a digital tool, called Chatbot – the short form of ‘Chat Robot’, is one of the ways in this direction. It is a complex computer program that simulates human conversation, or chat, through auditory or textual methods. Various industries have now started developing the Chatbot dialog application systems for a specialized purpose of human communication, including a variety of customer interaction, information acquisition and providing a range of customized services to the target group.

To illustrate the above point, let me draw upon a recent example from the banking sector of India. On March 05, 2017, a leading bank in India announced the launch of an AI-driven Chatbot named Eva, coined from the words Electronic Virtual Assistant (EVA), to add more value to their services for greater customer satisfaction.

According to reports, Eva is India’s first AI driven banking Chatbot that can answer millions of customer queries on its own, across multiple channels, immediately. It assimilates knowledge from thousands of sources and provide answers in a simple to understand language format in under 0.4 seconds. This is a good example of taking a quantum leap in improving operational efficiency by delighting the new generation of customers. “Within the first few days of its launch, Eva has answered over 100,000 queries from thousands of customers from 17 countries across the globe” – the bank reportedly claimed.

To do routine services more efficiently with a customer-centric approach, this AI-based  Bank OnChat combines a disruptive technology platform for a human-like conversation, powered by AI, and the Bank’s deep domain expertise and long acquired insight of banking related customers. Earlier this year, for a similar customer-oriented initiative using AI and Robotics technologies, the same bank launched an interactive  humanoid called Intelligent Robotic Assistant or IRA.

Although, these are just illustrations in the Indian context, an important question that surfaces: if these can happen in the banking industry, why not in the pharma sector of India?

Resisting changes versus finding innovative means to overcome challenges:

Coming back to the pharma industry, we all are aware that this knowledge sector, over the last four and a half decades in India, has been navigating through umpteen challenges, none of which has been easy, by any measure.

Nevertheless, as compared to the past, I notice a palpable difference today. Significantly more number of shrill voices with fierce resistance to changes are now outnumbering the out of box mindset, desire and efforts to still thrive, by overcoming those critical challenges. Since the formative years of the Indian pharma industry, it has been successfully overcoming the challenges of change, which are unavoidable though.

Such kind of indomitable ‘animal spirit’ within many leaders of the Indian pharma industry, created today’s national pharma behemoths like, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cadila, Dr. Reddy’s, Alkem and many others. They are thriving despite continuation of immensely challenging business environment and tough socioeconomic demand in the country. By the way, the second richest person in India is from the Indian pharma industry and grew from a scratch, during this very period.

Making creative changes help, moaning doesn’t:

While facing the newer sets of challenges today, many industry greenhorns, I reckon, need to spend more quality time to effectively overcome these turbulences – provided of course they possess the requisite mindset, knowledge and other wherewithal.

Acquiring new insight through modern technological platforms, such as AI, will pay a rich dividend. Better customer engagement and relationship management with new genres of AI tools, furnishing stimulating and modern web-based content with personalized access, would help achieve the desired strategic goals in the changing paradigm – but just moaning won’t, surely.

A few global pharma players are now fathoming the scope and depth of this area, most others are still not sure about its usefulness for customer engagement and interactions, and commensurate real-life data requirements for AI related analytics.

A predictable pattern of a series of unpredictable challenges and developments:

According to Eularis, integrating AI based analytics with a pharma product offerings can provide substantial benefits including, among others, the following:

  • Identification of both tangible and intangible enhanced value proposition
  • Enhanced competitor differentiation
  • Optimal resource allocation for maximum market share gain, revenue and profit
  • Ability to see which levers to pull to maximize growth
  • Customizing sales and marketing messaging for greater customer engagement
  • Automation of sales and marketing messages and channels.

In my view, while moving in this direction, AI based analytics are now far more reliable than any human analysis of the humongous volume of different kinds of data. Doing so is sometimes beyond the capacity of any conventional computers that a marketing professional generally uses for this purpose. The prime requirement, therefore, is not just huge volume of data per se, but good quality of a decent volume of data, that a state of the art analytics would be able to meaningfully deliver to meet specific requirements of pharma marketers for creating a cutting-edge marketing strategy.

This will be an absolute necessity in the complexity of an evolving new paradigm in the cyberspace. In a similar context, as I wrote even earlier, any such technology-driven changes would usually follow a predictable pattern of a series of unpredictable challenges and developments in the business environment, which has already commenced in the pharma industry.

The Market:

According to an April 2013 article, published by the McKinsey  Global Institute, applying big-data strategies to better inform decision making could generate up to US$100 billion in value annually only across the US health care system, by optimizing innovation, improving the efficiency of research and clinical trials, and building new tools for physicians, consumers, insurers, and regulators to meeting the promise of more individualized approaches.

Mandatory generic prescriptions won’t make pharma marketing less important:

Even if the much talked about mandatory prescription in generic names comes to fruition, the new paradigm won’t make pharma marketing less important. This would, however, be more about providing patient-centric, credible and tangible disease management or treatment solutions or both, rather than just selling a drug giving a trade name to it.

Thus, the need for interaction with physicians by the pharma players, besides some additional new target groups, would continue to remain important. Nonetheless, the message – mostly its form, substantive content, the targeting process and the usage of various tools for delivery of the same, would undergo substantive modifications. These changes would generally be prompted by fresh thinking, together with a fresh pair of eyes and mind, in the prevailing business environment, at any given point of time, well supported by data and tested with state of art analytics. The depth and gravity of environmental changes may also hasten the process of digital transformation of pharma sales and marketing, in various ways.

Those who are still trying harder to milk the traditional prescription demand generation process to the extent possible, despite its lesser and lesser yield, would need to introspect now, if they are able to. The time, and the prevailing pharma business environment probably demands jettisoning the conventional mindset faster, and search for the best-suited and most innovative modern tools to hit the bull’s eye. The young pharma professionals with a ‘can do’ spirit to effectively navigate through the strong headwind, are likely to emerge as early winners – provided of course their seniors and diehard ‘trainers’ don’t block their required elbow space.

‘Virtual Representatives’:

Deploying ‘Virtual Representatives (VR)’, well- supported by analytics for key target customers that QuintilesIMS is recommending, could be one among several other important examples in this area. VRs are appropriately equipped to take any doctor’s call online, for any product or related information, at any time the physicians find convenient – during or after their busy practicing hours.

The ‘push-pull’ balance between the doctors and the pharma players for such engagements can also be appropriately configured, and that too at a fraction of the current cost incurred to for similar purpose. This process and the technology used will be quite close to Chatbot, that has recently been introduced by an Indian bank, as illustrated above.

In conclusion:

Despite the rapidly changing business environment, pressing socioeconomic demands and a national dream for ‘Digital India’, the pharma industry hasn’t demonstrated any significant appetite for a change in the process of doing the business in the country. Individual players, by and large, have remained mostly consistent in strictly adhering to much tried processes and tools, though in their multiple permutations and combinations, especially in the domain of sales and marketing.

Other industries, like banking – also facing different types of tough challenges, are making efforts to stay ahead of the technology curve for operational excellence and greater consumer satisfaction. Fast scaling up of digital applications, such as Chatbots, Humanoids and the likes, vindicate this point.

Notwithstanding the availability of a large gamut of cutting-edge technological platforms, such as those based on AI, most players within the pharma industry continue to be rather slow in adopting these important and innovative resources. Could it be due to dearth of requisite talent, especially in pharma sales and marketing leadership within the industry? Well, many may argue so – some may also feel otherwise. Nevertheless, finding the right answer for a slow response of pharma in this domain still remains elusive.

That said, amid a gradually shifting paradigm, Indian pharma companies may wish to consider imbibing innovative technological interventions, such as, AI-based digital applications in sales and marketing. This has a great potential to successfully sail through many uncertainties, not just the latest one. It would also help changing the traditional ball game with a flexible, multitasking and contemporary one – right from conceptualizing – to charting out a customer-centric sales and marketing strategy – and then its immaculate execution, catapulting the company to a new and fascinating growth orbit altogether. Thus, staying ahead of the technology curve by the Indian pharma players, assumes critical importance for a long-term business sustainability, more than ever before.

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.

Pharma Sales Communication: Would ‘Cafeteria Approach’ Be More Productive Today?

Posted on by
Reply

For sales communication, quality of access of pharma Medical Representatives (MRs) to many important and busy doctors has been steadily declining over the past several years, all over the world, and India is no exception.

This is mainly because the number of patients coming to these busy practitioners is fast increasing and the doctors are trying to see all these patients within the same limited time that was available to them in even earlier days. In tandem, their other obligations of various kinds, personal or otherwise, are also overcrowding the same highly squeezed time space.

In a situation like this, increasing number of MRs, which has almost doubled in the past decade, is now fiercely competing with each other to get a share of lesser and lesser available time of the busy doctors.

Added to this, a gross mismatch between the inflow of doctors with similar prescription potential and ever increasing inflow of patients, is making the situation even worse.

According to a study done by CMI Communication Media Research, about half of physicians restrict visits from MRs in one-way or another.

Thus the critical question that needs to be answered now, from purely pharma sales and marketing perspective is:

How to make sales communication effective to such busy medical practitioners in this extremely challenging scenario?

Pharma players are trying to respond:

This pressing issue has prompted many pharma companies, across the globe, to reevaluate their traditional sales communication models, which are becoming increasingly expensive as a result of diminishing commensurate returns from the MR calls.

Some drug companies have also introduced interesting digital interventions, though within the same traditional pharma sales communication process, to add speed and novelty, especially in sales administration and its execution processes.

Experimentations are visible even in India:

In India too, pharma companies are trying with several different approaches, in various combinations to make the prescription generation process through sales communication more productive.

Some pharma players also tried to push up the overall sales productivity through additional rural market coverage. In this regard, a 2012 report of ‘IMS Consulting’ states, acknowledging the seriousness around rural consumers, many drug companies in India are now expanding their sales operation to Tier IV cities and below. Quite a few of them even succeeded in their endeavor to create profitable business models around the hinterland and rural geographies.

These pharma players believe that extra-urban geographies require different approaches, though with the same traditional sales communication models. These approaches include, different product portfolio, distribution-mix, pricing/packaging and promotional tools, considering majority of the doctors are not as busy as their counterparts in the metro cities and large towns.

Initial strategic changes:

The above ‘IMS Consulting’ paper also highlights a few of the initial changes in the following lines:

  • Business Unit Structure (SBU): To bring more accountability, manage evolving business needs and use equity of organization for reaching to the middle of the accessible pyramid.
  • Therapy Focus Promotion: Generally seen where a portfolio is specialized, therapy focused, and scripts are driven through chosen few doctors; generally in chronic segment.
  • Channel Management: Mostly adopted in OTC /OTX business; mature products with wider portfolio width.
  • Hospital Task Force: Exclusively to manage hospital business.
  • Specialty Driven Sales Model: Applicable in scenarios where portfolio is built around 2 or 3 specialties.
  • Task Force: Generally adopted for niche products in urban areas, such as fertility clinics or for new launches where the focus is on select top rung physicians only.
  • Out-Sourced Sales Force: Generally used for expansion in extra-urban geographies or with companies for whom medico marketing is secondary (such as OTC or Consumer Healthcare companies).

Pharma MNCs took greater strides:

In addition, to increase sales revenue further, many innovator pharma MNCs engaged themselves in co-promotion of their patented products, besides out-licensing. A few of them pushed further ahead by adopting newer innovative promotional models like Patient Activation Teams, Therapy Specialists, or creating patient awareness through mass media.

Brand value augmentation offering a mix of tangibles and intangibles:

Realizing quickly that patients are increasingly becoming strong stakeholders in the business, some of the pharma MNCs also started engaging the customers by extending disease management services to patients administering their products.

This is indeed a clever way of augmenting the brand perception, through a mix of well-differentiated tangible and intangible product related value offerings.

These pharma MNCs engage even the patients by providing a basket of services at their home. Typical services include:

  • Counseling
  • Starter kits
  • Diagnostic tests
  • Medical insurance
  • Personalized visits
  • Exercising equipment
  • Emergency help
  • Physiotherapy sessions
  • Call centers for chronic disease management

Related doctors are reported about the status of the patients and the patients do not require paying anything extra for availing these services from the MNC pharma companies.

Despite all these, declining productivity of the traditional pharma sales communication models continue, predominantly from the extremely busy and very high value medical practitioners/experts/specialists, as mentioned above.

Communication preferences of busy doctors need to be factored-in:

From the above facts, it appears that pharma sales communication is usually tailored to focus on customer/market types and characteristics, rather than emerging unique customer preferences towards medium of sales communication and also differentiated message requirements for specific brands.

Should status quo be maintained?

Probably not, as many still believe that MR’s quality of access to doctors for productive sales communication would continue to remain a critical issue and become increasingly complex.

Even in this changing scenario, pharma companies, by and large, have kept the basic communication medium and traditional process of messaging unchanged, except some digital tweaking here or there. Some of these innovative means and user-friendly digital interfaces, at times, may attract quality attention to sales communication for top of mind brand recall by the doctors.

Is it enough? Again, probably not, as there is an urgent need to exploring various other medium and new ways of delivering strong and effective tailor-made brand messages, based on hard data of painstaking research.

e-marketing started taking roots, though in bits and pieces:

In 2013, facing this challenge of change, Pfizer reportedly started using digital drug representatives to market medicines, leaving the decision in doctors’ hands as to whether they would want to see them.

Prior to that, in 2011, a paper published in the WSJ titled, “Drug Makers Replace Reps With Digital Tools” stated that pharmaceutical companies in the United States are downsizing their sales force with increasing usage of iPad applications and other digital tools for interacting with doctors.

Lot many other fascinating experimentations with pharma e-marketing have now commenced in several places of the world, many with considerable initial success.

However, most of these efforts seem to be swinging from one end of ‘face-to-face’ sales communication with doctors, to the other end of ‘cyber space driven’ need-based product value sharing with customers through digital toolkits.

Two key questions:

All these experimentations and developments with various pharma sales communication models would probably prompt the following two key questions:

  • Whether or not traditional sales approach would continue to be as relevant as opposed to digitally customized sales applications?
  • Whether or not MRs would continue to remain as relevant in all areas of pharma prescription generation process, in the years ahead?

Not an ‘Either/Or’ situation:

According to AffinityMonitor™ 2014 Research Report, pharmaceutical and biotech companies have today at their disposal more than a dozen of promotional channels to include in their strategy, including traditional methods, like detailing and speaker programs, and digital ones, including email, microsites and videos.

The report states, every doctor engages with these channels in his or her own unique manner. Some physicians want to interact with MRs; others restrict MR details and instead get information from their peers. One doctor might regularly use a mobile application for product information, often during a patient consultation. Conversely, another physician, who might work in the same practice, would rarely wish to surf the Web for information. And some doctors simply won’t engage with any sales communication no matter what the channels are.

Thus, ‘one size fits all’ type of sales communication, delivered even by the best of MRs, is not likely to be productive in the changing macro environment.

Many facets of communication preferences:

Today, there are many facets of doctors’ choices and preferences to brand value communication medium.

As AffinityMonitor 2014 Research Report states, based on the availability of time and interest, each doctor engages with these channels in his or her own unique manner. For example, some doctors may want to interact with the MRs, while some others may restrict MR’s product details. A few others may prefer getting information from their peers, instead

Since doctors’ engagement with pharma brands is critical for the drug companies, it has now become absolutely imperative for them to know individual affinities of the doctors in this regard, or what channels and processes each physician would typically prefer to get engaged with a brand, directly or indirectly.

Pharma companies should, therefore, gather this particular information doctor-wise, to customize both the medium and the message for effective brand value communication, accordingly.

A shift to ‘Cafeteria Approach’:

Taking all the above research inputs into consideration, it appears, when many busy physicians’ doors appear closed to traditional pharma sales communication, drug companies should have the keys to unlock them with ‘Cafeteria Approach’ of sales communication, purely based on customer research. This approach would offer the ‘difficult to meet doctors’ a variety of choices regarding both the medium and also the message, that would best suit their temperaments, needs, time and interests, as discussed above.

It is important to repeat, to ensure productive outcome of the ‘Cafeteria Approach’, customized sales communication strategy for each important and otherwise busy doctor should purely be based on contemporary customer research.

Sales force remains the top channel out of several others:

According to AffinityMonitor Research Study, though MR’s quality access to busy doctors has declined steadily over the past decade, the sales force still remains the top channel for physician engagement, closely followed by ‘Digital’ ones.

Overall, around 47 percent of all Health-Care Providers (HCPs) consider ‘face-to-face’ promotion as one of the top three channels, which includes about 80,000 physicians, who favor the sales force as their second or third-strongest channel.

Of the 514,000 HCPs examined in AffinityMonitor Research Study, 162,000 show the strong affinity for ‘face-to-face’ promotion, 118,000 for digital push and 65,000 for digital pull or personal remote channels.

Increasing just ‘Sales Force Effectiveness’ not enough:

Thus, generally speaking, even the best of global sales force excellence programs could at best increase the MR productivity primarily for these 47 percent of doctors.

Brand sales communication reach and effectiveness to a large number of rests of the doctors would, therefore, call for innovative thinking and willingness to chart the uncharted frontiers.

Conclusion:

The decline in pharmaceutical MR’s quality of access to physicians for sales communication is now well documented. For example, in 2008, 23 percent of US doctors had restrictions on MRs, but that number rose to 49 percent in 2014, according to AffinityMonitor Research Study.

Therefore, the knowledge of whether a doctor would like to engage with traditional sales communication method by seeing a MR, or would just prefer to get his/her required information through any digital medium, is critical for success in the new ball game of generating increasing number prescriptions for any pharma brand.

Majority of the doctors’ choices would, in all probability, involve MRs, while a notable number of other choices may probably be independent of MRs.

In any case, that’s not going to be the main issue, as MRs are not going to disappear – not in any foreseeable future and would continue to remain a critical part of the overall pharmaceutical selling process, all over the world.

However, closely following the emerging trend, I reckon, ‘Cafeteria Approach’ is worth considering for effective customized brand communication, ensuring productive sales outcome.

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.

 

 

Would e-Marketing Replace Medical Representatives?

Posted on by
Reply

Many people within the pharmaceutical industry cannot simply visualize a drug marketing environment without Medical Representatives (MRs) detailing their products to doctors for ever increasing prescription support. This much traditional sales force, for face to face interaction and transaction with the customers, is considered virtually indispensable and has formed the backbone for organic growth of the global pharma industry since decades.

It has emerged this way because, pharmaceutical industry sells drugs predominantly through doctors’ prescriptions, where MRs play a pivotal role to influence them directly or indirectly in various ways.

Therefore, for greater success through effective increase in customer focus, as compared to competition, pharma companies are engaged in expanding the size of their respective field-forces on an ongoing basis, though in varying numbers. However, over a period of time, this process has become very expensive, costing on an average around 17 to 20 percent, if not more, of the total expenditure of a company.

As a result, many companies have now started experiencing that their business return on ever increasing number of MRs is not commensurate to investments made on them, mainly in terms of productivity growth per headcount.

This overall scenario has now prompted many pharma players, across the world, to take a hard look at the evolving drug marketing scenario and expeditiously address the consequent issues, as I shall deliberate in this article.

MRs historical role:

Most of the pharma players use their MRs to implement predominantly the following time-tested strategic game plans to generate more and more prescriptions for their respective brands:

  • Detailing product features and benefits
  • Distributing free samples and gifts
  • Developing Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) for identified products
  • Arranging product oriented seminars, conferences and Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs
  • Monitoring doctors prescriptions and incentivizing them in various company specific ways
  • Giving necessary feedbacks to their respective companies

Productive ‘doctor calls’ becoming increasingly difficult:

According to an article titled “Are Sales Reps Necessary?” published in ‘The Pharma Marketing News’, the following details, besides others, were captured in the United States:

  • MRs’ average only 2 quality details per day (quality details include discussion of features, benefits, and data).
  • Only 43 percent of MRs ever gets past the receptionist
  • Only 7 percent of pharma rep visits last more than 2 minutes
  • Only 6 percent of physicians think representatives are very fair balanced
  • The physician remembers only 8 percent of MR calls

Optimal MR productivity – the key issues:

The issue of desired MR productivity is thus becoming a cause of great concern globally for the pharma players. This is mainly because, while the number of patients is fast increasing, the doctors are trying to see all these patients within their limited available time. As a result, each patient is getting lesser doctors’ time, even though the doctors are trying to provide optimal patient care in each patient visit.

In tandem, other obligations of various kinds, personal or otherwise, also overcrowd physicians’ time. In a situation like this, increasing number of MRs, which has almost doubled in the past decade, is now fiercely competing with each other to get a share of lesser and lesser available time of the doctors. Added to this, inflow of new doctors not being in line with the increasing inflow of patients, is making the situation even worse.

According to another study of CMI Communication Media Research, about half of physicians restrict visits from MRs in one-way or another. It reported, about half of cancer specialists (oncologists) are now saying that they would interact only on new products with MRs, while 47 percent of them indicated email as a preference to MR calls.

Surveys found that the oncologists are the most restrictive specialists, with only 19 percent allowing MRs without restrictions. Moreover, 20 percent of them would not see MRs at all and another 40 percent either require prior appointments or limit visits to particular hours of the day/week.

Downsizing sales force with e-marketing:

A paper published in the WSJ titled, “Drug Makers Replace Reps With Digital Tools” states that pharmaceutical companies in the United States are downsizing their sales force with increasing usage of iPad apps and other digital tools for interacting with doctors.

Such widespread layoffs do signal to many that digital tools and technology have started replacing the MRs, at least in the United States, may be in a limited way to begin with.

Building relationship:

However, other group of industry watchers believe that eliminating MRs from the pharma marketing process could lead to a serious set back in the doctor-pharma company face to face relationship that is very important for success While rebutting this point, the pro e-marketing proponents  raise a counter question: Does such relationship now exist with most MRs so far as the high value target doctors are concerned?

e-marketing gradually taking roots:

Many fascinating experiments with e-marketing have now started in several places of the world with considerable success, in tandem with germination of even bolder and brighter ideas in this area. However, the above report mentioned the following:

  • AstraZeneca tracks what doctors view on the website and uses that information to tailor marketing content for the doctor during subsequent interactions. The company had reportedly said in 2010, that it plans to eliminate 10,400 jobs by 2014, including thousands of sales positions in Western markets amounting to around 16 percent of its work force. This step was to help the company saving around US$1.9 billion a year by 2014.
  • When German drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH launched the cardiovascular drug Pradaxa in the US, it reportedly put together a digital-marketing package to target doctors, including organizing webcasts for leading physicians to speak to other physicians about the drug, with considerable success.
  • Novo Nordisk in 2010 launched a website and iPad/iPhone application called ‘Coags Uncomplicated’, which offers tools to help doctors diagnose bleeding disorders. The site and app include a plug for Novo Nordisk’s drug NovoSeven, which helps stop bleeding related to acquired hemophilia. It has several other applications available on iTunes, including one that helps doctors calculating blood-sugar levels.
  • Some other companies offering iPhone and iPad based apps for doctors include among others, Sanofi, Merck, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Eli Lilly.

Advantages of e-marketing:

As I had indicated earlier in my blog post, ‘e-marketing’ would help creating customized, more impressive, self-guided by doctors and more focused presentations with significant reduction in the detailing cost/ product with improved productivity.

Moreover, ‘e-marketing’ would:

  • Make expensive printed promotional aids redundant
  • Eliminate time required and cost involved to deliver such material
  • Have the flexibility of change at any time
  • Ordering of just required samples online would help eliminating wastage

Fast increasingly number of doctors using Internet enabled computers/tablets and smart phones for professional purposes, especially in the urban areas, would facilitate this process.

Conclusion:

Keeping in mind this changing scenario, mindset and behavior of the doctors, as lesser and lesser time is available with the high value target customers for interaction with the MRs, the pharma players would require to take afresh a hard look at their own strategic marketing vision and principles to zero-in on the most effective mix. This approach, I reckon, is applicable more to the domestic players in India.

For high value target customers a combo-strategy would probably be more effective now. In this strategic game plan, MRs would continue to remain as the basic fabric of a drug marketing process, though in reduced numbers and augmented by increasing focus on new technologies/applications through iPad, smart phones, various Internet enabled tools, social networking sites and real time analytics. Formidable differential marketing thrust that would be created through skillful execution of this combo-strategy, is expected to be more effective in making both top and bottom line performance of a pharma player sustainably impressive to the stakeholders.

The name of the game is, therefore, impactfully delivering the core tangible and intangible product values to the doctors for desired outcome in their prescriptions decision making process, keeping in pace with the changing demand of time with a long-term ability to innovate.

That said, would e-marketing then replace MRs to a considerable extent in the years ahead?

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.