2009 Pharmaceutical Industry Priorities, Concerns and Opportunities

As we all begin to think about, prepare and plan for 2009, I thought that it made sense to take an “informational temperature” of the pharmaceutical industry—what are the top priorities, concerns and opportunities as we position ourselves for a new year.

This was not a formal, statistically projectable study. Rather, it was based on my firm belief that if you ask any handful of smart, qualified people a question, you will get an awfully good idea of what is really happening out there. I have found that my LinkedIn network is a very conducive tool for conducting these dialogs, so if you are interested in participating in mini dialogs every few weeks and in seeing what your peers and industry counterparts have to say, feel free to pop me a LinkedIn invitation. I believe you will find the following insights interesting, however, because this questioning was not conducted within the context of a formal research study, there are likely industry functions that are underrepresented.

Without further ado, the following are the Top 10 priorities, opportunities and concerns for the manufacturing, operational and development areas of the pharmaceutical industry in 2009 (the list is presented in David Letterman style descending order).

#10
Availability of patient populations to support the growing number of clinical trials, coupled with regulatory pressures forcing companies to undertake more clinical trials.

#9
The cost of capital is anticipated to rise in 2009 warranting a close look at how to improve operational efficiencies.

#8
Navigating increasing cost pressures on western manufacturers due to increased Indian and Chinese manufacturing input. Competitive impacts from fast growing international regions such as India are increasing and from new virtual companies aggressively formulating generics as patents erode

#7
Managing and preventing (as much as possible) Intellectual Property rights violations in markets like China are a real concern. As the U.S. and European markets become more and more active in China, knock-offs will have to be increasingly contended with.

#6
The uncertainty of the current regulatory environment is a factor on the industry’s mind. In addition, responding effectively to increased regulatory demands is a priority.

#5
Working to develop serialization/pedigree programs and technologies to improve supply chain security.

#4
Determining how to fill the pipeline with innovative new products within an industry environment that is sometimes more focused on M&A activity and other financial moves rather than supporting true innovation.

#3
Adopting Quality by Design (QbD) principles to assure a more risk-based approach to pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

#2
Adopting LEAN planning/production principles, increasing efficiencies in manufacturing/production

#1
(This is a BIGGY—nearly universally at the top of the list of all who participated in this dialog—no surprise to anyone given the events of 2008)

Maintaining quality, cGMP compliance and supply chain integrity amongst all supply chain participants particularly when working with partners in developing regions such as China and/or India. The industry is working to redefine the risk/reward ratio of outsourcing to partners in developing nations--if the risk is sizeable, the reward must also be sizeable.

“It is my personal opinion that an adequate strategic vision of the outsourcing dynamics is going to be one of the major challenges for the next future; nowadays the balance between owned manufacturing facilities versus the TPM facilities is rapidly going to the latter, increasing the need of continuous support to the cGMP standards compliance management of the externalized network; this could be a demanding exercise, requiring focused resources able to well judge the business demand versus the compliance expectations, streamlining the effort required to maintain the highest level of control without drifting the related costs.”

-Compliance/External Audits Director, Leading Pharmaceutical Company

Information Consumption Preferences--Another Marketing Segment?

I think we can agree, marketing used to be a whole lot easier. We have all heard the story. There used to be three television networks, a few local radio stations and newspapers, and a handful of national magazines. From a marketing and media standpoint, the landscape was pretty simple—a marketer could reach 90% of America with media placements within a few media vehicles. Now, there are hundreds of cable television stations, thousands of magazines, satellite radio, millions of web sites….

There are strong parallels within the B2B marketing and media landscape.

Thousands of B2B industry publications, thousands more websites, new conferences popping up, webinars, podcasts…. B2B information sources are segmented very narrowly by industry, industry segment, job function and other classifications.

Crossties, a bi-monthly publication of The Railway Tie Association, is a quality publication I am sure. However, this is a great example of how specific the B2B world has become. An entire magazine, website and association dedicated to the needs of producers and users of rail ties. Wow! I am not criticizing at all, I am sure that the rail tie industry has very specific issues and concerns, as does specific areas and functions within the pharmaceutical industry. But, I think you get the point.

Our customers are difficult enough to reach because they are consuming information from sources very specific to their needs and preferences. I hope to avoid tomatoes being thrown at me, but I have challenging news. In addition to the fact that our customers have broken themselves into narrow interest and job function classifications, I believe there is a fairly new segmentation we need to consider as marketers—information consumption preferences.

What I mean is that I am seeing the pharmaceutical industry segment themselves further by the manner in which they prefer to receive and consume information—print, digital, audio, video, in-person and so forth. Many industry professionals strongly prefer information in print, many rely heavily on digital information sources, many are heavy users of podcasts and other audio pieces, yet others love to receive insights and information in a video format. In short, our customers want information that is not only targeted to their needs, but is provided in their preferred information format. What they want and how they want it.

How do we reach our target audience effectively when our customers and prospects have segmented themselves into fairly narrow functional classifications and now information consumption classifications? Very thoughtfully is my short answer.

My next several posts will focus on integrated media ideas, research on the topic and other thoughts to consider. My purpose is not to make our jobs even more challenging (so, please, no tomato throwing), rather to continue to explore the rapidly changing world of sales and marketing.