Our healthcare system is extremely complicated, with a lot of moving parts, but is nevertheless one of our most important economic drivers. Within this industry, a new product must face complex restrictions and the attention of a variety of different parties. Before a solution to the patient’s problem may be presented, it has to face a complex path from the scientist at one end to the sufferer at the other. Invariably, pharmaceutical consultants are critical to this journey, as they help all those involved to understand the situation, disseminate the information and make decisions.
A pharmaceutical company faces many challenges, quite apart from the manufacture of its products. The pharmaceutical consulting firm helps the company understand how it needs to educate the consumer. Most often, the pharmaceutical companies are at the cutting-edge of science and help to uncover solutions or possibilities previously unheard-of. If they have not paid sufficient attention to marketing, all the exploratory work may fail as the path through the regulators to the professionals may seem unclear. Marketing also insists that the product features and benefits are correctly communicated to the financiers, principally the insurance companies, who seem to have an ever-increasing role in the dissemination of care.
While regulators will ultimately determine if a pharmaceutical product may be made available and will confirm the associated claims, the pharmaceutical company must be able to market itself, its reputation and its products within the ultra-competitive and distracted healthcare industry. There are a lot of vested interests to take into account and some of these interests may promote older or generic medications, sometimes to the general detriment of the patient. Pharmaceutical companies must create a position within such a difficult marketplace, in order to push science and discovery and their own significant position forward.
Sometimes, the vested interests are very powerful and do not serve the ultimate client best. In popular opinion, healthcare reform is always controversial and the pharmaceutical company would do well to accurately and forcefully communicate its position. The harried physician must listen to many different interested parties before a decision can be made about the patient, including the views of other professionals, training and education, patient restrictions, formularies, best practices and traditions. Statistics tell us that 90% of the most frequently prescribed drugs are generics and thus it is difficult for pharmaceutical companies to ensure that they are being heard in the right place at the right time. Generally, pharma consulting firms play their part in helping to establish channels and best practices.
Many of the most striking advances in the dissemination of medicine in recent years have been a result of work by pharmaceutical companies. Previous generations would surely marvel at some of the cures available today. Much emphasis must be put on marketing “the word” to ensure that our health care continues to improve.
Alan Gillies is the Director of L2L Consulting, an elite pharmaceutical consultancy firm which specialises in Strategy Development and Implementation Excellence for prestigious multi-national organisations.
