Pharma companies that used large field forces for multiple divisions, selling the same me-too products to create a resounding Share-of-the-Voice in the market are beginning to Stare-at-the-Diminishing-Returns for investments on traditional sales and marketing strategies, if they can be called strategies at all in the first place.
Most pharma companies and professionals like Black & Yellow cabs, continue to hope against hope, that somehow they will be able to continue to hold on to their businesses and jobs till their shares are sold and EMIs are paid. After that, who cares?
The answer to pharma and healthcare’s challenges will need a combination of profound domain knowledge and experience combined with digital skills to engage Rx customers meaningfully.
Is Pharma’s business model like McDonald’s? Doing things over & over again without innovation?
McDonald’s is famous for its Hamburger University, a training facility at the McDonald’s Corporation global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. It instructs high-potential restaurant managers in restaurant management.
More than 5,000 students attend Hamburger University each year and over 275,000 people have graduated with a degree in Hamburgerology.
Sound familiar? Pharma’s training has been on similar lines – hire people continuously and put them through the grind of mugging up essentials of drugs for diseases that the particular company sells.
While the McDonald’s model is ideal for its business of replication, it has outlived its utility in healthcare and drug companies are in danger of being reduced to mere suppliers of drugs to new digital platform businesses unless they learn to innovate.
Pharmaceutical companies must contend with challenges from supply chain lapses (theft, diversion, S.O.P. deviations, product recalls, reverse logistics etc.) counterfeiting and stringent regulations. These challenges get compounded when dealing across the states and country business operations, besides that not only impact tangible profits but also the intangible brand credibility. In this context, there is also a credible increase in public awareness about the genuineness of medicine (in particular medicine that require cold chain) and their predictability of clinical outcomes.
Providing visibility and full traceability becomes a paramount importance to both the Industry and the Govt. – A fool proof solution not only brings transparency in the system, but can also be a key differentiator, and undoubtedly can create immense opportunities for a competitive advantage.
How had Indian Pharma responded to the challenges brought on by the Covid19 crisis and the inability to connect with doctors and other Rx influencers?
Is it back to business-as-usual or have some companies learned from their mistakes and become digital savvy?
How will Indian Pharma cope with the possibility of another lockdown and meeting restrictions looming in view of the rising Omicron wave?