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July 11, 2007
Clean Databases Play Critical Role in Pharma Marketing and Sales
Pharmaceutical companies are constantly collecting data and leveraging information to market their products. Companies need to have comprehensive databases that can organize all this data in place to maximize brands' potential. New technology and advancements in database functionalities have made data storage and information sharing much more efficient and cost-effective. However, even with the greatest advancements on the database front, one key principle still holds true: data needs to be regularly cleaned to ensure it is relevant and can be leveraged effectively.
Having stagnant and inaccurate data can cause pharmaceutical companies to waste their resources. As the Data Warehouse Institute found, bad data costs enterprises more than $6 billion a year. The article, "Sales Management: Cleaning House" in the June 2007 Pharmaceutical Executive, provided an example of a pharmaceutical company experiencing significant waste for not having clean data in its database systems. If 36,000 out of a 100,000 physician database, for example, were spoiled contacts and the company launched a promotional campaign in which each promotional piece cost $3, the company would essentially be wasting $108,000 of its marketing budget. This and other examples show the importance of cleaning and validating the data collected and utilized in pharmaceutical databases.
Pharmaceutical companies that invest money to keep their databases accurate and current are better positioned to launch cost-effective campaigns and to experience greater returns on their efforts. Understanding the critical role databases play in the pharmaceutical marketing and sales arena alone justifies the investment and effort needed to keep the data clean and relevant.
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Posted by Amanda Zuniga at 06:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2007
Whither authorized generics?
I just had an interesting conversation with Fred Gebhart over at Drug Topics magazine about authorized generics. The issue is as hot as ever, and no one -- not the government, not branded pharmaceuticals and not the generics makers -- have made the shouting match any easier to parse. I won't steal Fred's thunder and rehash the issue, but the debate is an interesting one from my perspective as an analyst of pharma business strategies.
The anti-authorized generics camp, led by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), argue that authorized generics restrict competition and ultimately limit the number of low-cost generics available to consumers. PhRMA, the branded pharmaceuticals group, has claimed in the past that authorized generics actually increase competition and lower drug costs for the general public.
Both sides back up their arguments with racks of data and compelling numbers. So who's right?
Sorry folks, but I can't tell you. We'll hopefully know a bit more -- hopefully -- when the FTC releases its findings on the topic. From where I stand, however, I do know that the use of authorized generics provides a viable strategy for brand companies looking to extend the lives of their drugs. In one survey we conducted, 46% of studied companies were exploring the use of authorized generics as a tool for their end-life products. These companies tend to implement an authorized generics strategy within two years of patent expiration (they wait to launch the authorized generic, of course, until their patent has expired). In this context, these companies are looking to hang on to a bit of market share as their patents expire. Whether the practice drives competition and benefits consumers is something, it seems, we'll have to wait to find out.
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Posted by Eric Bolesh at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)