FDC Ban - What's Right and What's Wrong?

MEDICINMANField Force Excellence
April 2016| www.medicinman.net
Since 2011
“HealthcareinIndianeedsacompleterevampbutithastobedonethrough
well-thought-out measures.The Indian Government needs to make Indian
Pharma a partner in delivering healthcare, not to mention a key driver of
“Make-in-India”.”
L
ike India, the Indian Pharma Industry is also as di-
verse as it can get. There are the world-beaters
- first rate companies Like Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr.
Reddy’s and Serum Institute in the top 10 as well as small,
bouquet companies like British Biologicals, Human Bio-
logicals Institute and Apex Laboratories, who have done
India proud.
The MNCs in India have contributed both to making
healthcare better and to grooming and developing in-
dustry professionals – companies like Pfizer, GSK, Eli Lilly,
Merck and MSD are virtually centres of learning and de-
velopment. Janssen Pharmaceuticals recently flagged off
a brilliant campaign in collaboration with Government of
India to develop new modalities to treat MDR TB.
Thus, to paint the entire industry with the same brush
whether it be through the FDC ban or the recent slew of
policy measures that have hit the industry like a tsunami
– is mindless, to put it mildly.
EDITORIAL: FDC Ban
PARTNER,
DON’T PUNISH

True, healthcare in India needs a complete re-
vamp – but it has to be done through well
thought out measures. Not in ham-handed ways
that do not make a distinction between the
good, bad and the ugly.
A ban on irrational combination of drugs was
long overdue but the execution was haphazard,
creating pandemonium for pharma, physicians
and patients. Salil Kallianpur, a founding-mem-
ber of MedicinMan editorial team, writes on the
topic as eloquently as he has always done (see
page 18). We plan a series of such articles on ur-
gent issues that affect Indian Healthcare.
The Indian government needs to make Indian
Pharma a partner in delivering healthcare, not to
mention a key driver of its “Make-in-India” pro-
gram. The Jannsen Pharmaceuticals anti-MDR
TB campaign amply demonstrates the scope for
such meaningful partnership.
MedicinMan plans to conduct a CEO Conclave to
discuss these and other burning issues and ar-
rive at insights for action that can lead to better
government–industry interaction and partner-
ship in the interest of the Nation’s health.
Do write in with your thoughts. - Anup Soans
Editorial
A ban on irrational combination
of drugs was long overdue but
the execution was haphazard,
creating pandemonium for
pharma, physicians and patients.
Connect with Anup on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter
Anup Soans is an Author,
Facilitator and the Editor of
MedicinMan.
Write in to him:
anupsoans@medicinman.net
Meet the Editor

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CONTENTS
MedicinMan Volume 6 Issue 4 | April 2016
Editor and Publisher
Anup Soans
CEO
Chhaya Sankath
Chief Mentor
K. Hariram
Editorial Board
Salil Kallianpur; Prof. Vivek Hattangadi; Shashin
Bodawala; Hanno Wolfram; Renie McClay
Executive Editor
Joshua Soans
Letters to the Editor: anupsoans@medicinman.net
1. Three Simple Ways to Step Up Your Role as a
Firstline Leader ..................................................6
Using Empathy, Focus and Presentation to earn the
confidence of your team and produce outstanding
results.
Vivek Hattangadi
2. What Makes a Brand Management Strategy
Successful? .......................................................11
What every Pharma Brand Manager needs to know
about crafting a successful Brand Strategy over the
lifecycle of a product.
Genesh Kuriakose
3. Application of Porter’s 5 to Pharma
Marketing ........................................................15
A tried-and-tested competition analysis framework,
applied seamlessly to pharma.
Pankaj Mehrotra
4.MarketandMoralsinPharma?.....................18
Free markets are by nature amoral. To get moral
(or ’just’) outcomes from an amoral market requires
a well-developed governance system - which India
presently lacks.
Salil Kallianpur
5. NOT Business as Usual ................................23
How the New Generation of Pharma Professionals
Will Embrace Change and Disruption.
Jay Mehta
We’ve changed the formatting of articles to make
the PDF more mobile-friendly.
Tell us what you think:
anupsoans@medicinman.net

PHARMINTECH 2016.
THE STRONG HEART OF ITALY’S PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
The international rendezvous dedicated to the pharmaceutical, parapharmaceutical and nutraceutical in-
dustry celebrates its 15th anniversary in excellent health.
The fifth edition will take place during the Pharma Week, from 13 to 15 April 2016, alongside Cosmofarma.
In this manner, the entire supply chain for the pharmaceutical world will converge into a unified rendezvous.
Anup Soans - Editor, MedicinMan will be present at Pharmintech as a representative of the Indian
Pharma Industry as well as to report on the proceedings.
Visit pharmintech.it for more

3 SIMPLE
WAYS TO STEP
UP YOUR ROLE AS
A FIRSTLINE
LEADER.
Using Empathy, Focus and Presentation
to earn the confidence of your team and
produce outstanding results.
6 | MedicinMan April 2016
W
alter Isaacson in his biography of
Steve Jobs describes the 3 Principle’s
that drove Apple Inc. – ‘The Apple
Philosophy’. These 3 Principle’s have influenced
me greatly.
»» Empathy
»» Focus
»» Presentation
How can these 3 Principles be used by the phar-
ma first-line leader (FLL)? Here is my interpreta-
tion.
The case histories are drawn from real-life epi-
sodes, although the names have been changed.
Empathy
Empathy is ‘the ability to understand and share
the feelings of another person’. For a leader, it
is to understand the medical representative’s
world fully and to let them know that you un-
derstand it.
If you are an empathic FLL, you will care for your
medical representatives. If they feel valued and
appreciated they will go beyond the call of duty.
Empathy fosters positive feelings, and is funda-
mental to effective leadership.
Vivek Hattangadi


A client of mine, Maheshbhai Patel, the MD of a
growing pharma company in the I.V. fluid segment,
observed that a newly joined lady receptionist had
come to office on her old, battered Luna, without
a helmet. Privately he asked her why she wasn’t
wearing a helmet. She innocently told him: “I come
from a lower middle-class family and will be the
only bread winner once I get my first salary. I can’t
afford it today. I will certainly buy one with my first
salary.”
During lunch, Maheshbhai’s chauffeur came to her
with three helmets and asked her to choose one
which fitted her best. “It’s for you from our MD. He
cares for everyone in this organization and wants
you to be safe.”
The same evening while returning, she met with an
accident. The helmet cracked but the girl was not
hurt seriously. When she related her experience, I
was moved and my respect towards Maheshbhai
soared.
This is empathy. Not surprisingly, the attrition rates
in this organization are very low.
Focus
Do you know the difference between the sun and
a laser beam? The sun is the all-powerful fountain-
head of energy. It delivers to planet earth billions
of kilowatts of energy every day. However, with a
cap, or an umbrella, medical representatives can
work in the sun. This is because the sun dissipates
its energy.
On the other hand, the laser is a weak source of
energy. Yet its applications are where power is re-
quired. A laser-beam can cut metal, diamonds and
even replace the surgeon’s knife. The principle of
the laser is simple. It amplifies and concentrates
light over and over again until it emerges into a
very powerful beam.
This is focus – the power of focus. A narrow focus
becomes a powerful driving force.

If you are an empathic FLL,
you will care for your medical
representatives. If they feel
valued and appreciated they will
go beyond the call of duty.
Vivek Hattangadi | 3 Simple Ways to Step Up Your Role as a Firstline Leader

For an FLL, focus means to eliminate the numerous
unimportant things, and invest time on important
tasks. You need to understand your priorities so
that important issues get precedence - rather than
end up doing a ‘fire-fighting’ job when important
tasks become urgent.
Learning to prioritize and then focusing on import-
ant issues is a skill which FLLs must develop.
Ram Negi, a recently promoted first-line manag-
er did exactly this. His focus was on the most im-
portant task - of developing and training his peo-
ple – not the urgent task of meeting numbers. At
times, when he missed the monthly numbers, he
got a mouthful from his bosses. He didn’t let mind-
less criticism detract him from his sharply focused
goal of developing people. Within a year, he never
missed numbers. He was the most relaxed first-line
leader on the sales-closing day. In less than two
years he was promoted to the next position. In the
expansion program which followed, four of his six
medical representatives were promoted. Ram Negi
today is the Vice President in his organization.
Presentation
“People do judge a book by its cover”. So also
medical representatives judge the strength of your
leadership based on the signals they receive when
interacting with you.
You as an FLL may have the best of the technical
competence, and communication of the highest
quality. However, if you present yourself in a slip-
shod manner, you may be perceived as an FLL with
poor leadership skills and competence. If you pres-
ent yourself in a professional manner, you will be
perceived to have the qualities of an excellent FLL.
Abhiman Gokhale, a FLL of a mid-size pharmaceu-
tical company used to be shoddily dressed, always
chewing betel nut and invariably unpunctual. De-
spite his good communication skills, a high degree
of technical competence and superb EI, his career
stagnated. Because of his appearance, he was nev-
er taken seriously or accepted as a leader .

A laser-beam can cut metal,
diamonds and even replace the
surgeon’s knife... This is focus –
the power of focus. A narrow
focus becomes a powerful
driving force.

The HR Chief asked him to do a self-assessment
and take stock of his strengths and shortcomings.
Abhiman understood his deficiencies and decided
to change. He gave up his low-quality habits and
requested for a transfer to a totally new zone where
he was not known.
In his new District, Abhiman Gokhale presented
himself as true professional and an ideal FLL. He
was promoted to second-line leader within two
years.
To sum up:
1. Have empathy for your people – make sure ev-
ery little thing you do helps to develop them.
2. Focus – forget about everything else except
the most important task.
3. Send the right signals so that you present
yourself as a strong leader. M

...if you present yourself in a
slipshod manner, you may be
perceived as a FLL with poor
leadership skills and competence.
If you present yourself in a
professional manner, you will be
perceived to have the qualities of
an excellent FLL.
Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma
Brand Management and Sales Training at The
Enablers. He is also visiting faculty at CIPM
Calcutta (Vidyasagar University) for their
MBA course in Pharmaceutical Management.
vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

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Field Force Excellence
CEORountableatFFE2016
(L-R) Darshan Patel, Partner, PwC; Krishna Singh, Founder-CEO, GlobalSpaceTechnologies;Vikas
Dandekar, Editor - Pharma & Healthcare at The Economic Times; YS Prabhakar, CEO Sutures In-
dia; CT Renganathan, Managing Director RPG LifeSciences; Ali Sleiman, General Manager India,
Merck Serono
Sankar Dass, COO & Director, CURATIO
Healthcare.
Sankar Dass has more than three de-
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he has built major brands like Omez,
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nusia and others.
Prior to his current role, he was the Vice
President in Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.
BrandStorm2016Keynote FFE2016Keynote
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Darshan is a Partner leading the Forensic Services
practice in Mumbai with substantial investigative
and forensic accounting experience in USA and
India.
He has been with the organization for over 22
years out of which, he spent 9 years as part of
the forensics practice in New York. He has over 14
years of work experience across practice areas of
Forensic accounting, Disputes & Litigation.

T
he biggest challenge facing healthcare
marketers is how to make their brand
sustainable when the brand manager has
limited control on employee attrition, doctor/
chemist/patient perception of medical sales pro-
fessionals, guidelines, and many more.
Today, brands are built either through prod-
uct innovation or creating product loyalty and
product “alliances” in the minds of doctors and
patients.
Product Innovation
For Indian pharmaceutical companies drug dis-
covery may be difficult but product innovation
in rational combinations and micro-macro nu-
trients is very well possible. Product innovation
can happen in any small organization by cre-
ating a knowledge-sharing platform because
most innovation happens when we understand
the minute failures in the currently available op-
tions.
Genesh Kuriakose

WHAT MAKES
A BRAND
MANAGEMENT
STRATEGY
SUCCESSFUL?
What every Pharma Brand Manager needs
to know about crafting a successful Brand
Strategy over the lifecycle of a product.

Genesh Kuriakose | What Makes a Brand Management Strategy Successful?
One example is the prevalence of Hyperhomocys-
teinemia (well known risk factor for vascular dis-
eases) in India. As per a recent report, Hyperhomo-
cysteinemia is prevalent in 92.85% of Indian men
and 81.60% of Indian women1
.
We can very well conclude that those Indian com-
panies who identified the potential of Hyperho-
mocysteinemia and its pharmacological treatment
(Methylcobalamin, L methylfolate and Pyridoxal 5
phosphate) have done their job in product inno-
vation. Yet another example is carica papaya leaf
extract for Thrombocytopenia.
ADA recommends medical nutrition therapy for
all patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes as part
of treatment plan2
. Indian food habits and nutri-
tional deficiencies are peculiar and specific, hence
addressing the deficiencies using the knowledge
sharing innovation platform could lead to a suc-
cessful product innovation.
Product Alliances
This is where brand managers and marketing
teams can contribute majorly. An organization can-
not rely solely on short-term brand management
plans. It needs both short-term and long-term
plans for business generation. In simple terms, a
short-term plan can be defined as any promotional
strategy to get immediate business, while a long-
term plan needs to focus on creating product al-
liances.
Humans tend to align to a certain routine. For
example, we generally prefer to go to our place
of work and come back by the same route even
though multiple routes are available. Similarly
brand alliances get the doctor to prescribe a prod-
uct by routinely associating it as a solution to a
disease problem.The steps to creating product alli-
ances is as follows:

Humans tend to align to a
certain routine... Similarly
brand alliances get the doctor to
prescribe a product by routinely
associating it as a solution to a
disease problem.

Identification of core value
Core value is not just a positioning line; it has to be
identified based on product and organization com-
petencies. Correctly identified core value should be
practiced in all process associated with the brand.
A living example of a core value practiced is“Think
Different”of Apple Inc.
Reflecting the core value
Creating a reflection of identified core value in the
customer’s mind without stating the same is the
stepping stone of brand building. The reflection is
cerated through the sales representative’s dressing
style, body language, literature, sample pack, prod-
uct pack, patient experience, distributor level, etc.
Reflecting the core value is like wearing a perfume
- wherever one goes the fragrance follows. Similar-
ly the product core value is expected to get reflect-
ed at every point of its movement.
Consistency
Consistency can happen only with standardization.
Standardization of colour, pattern, font, language,
etc is the basics of consistency and is considered as
the foundation of product alliance.
Brand Lifecycle Management3
Interestingly, 50% of recent launch successes was
from brand extensions. To build brands, pharma-
ceutical players need to proactively manage their
brand during various phases:
»» 0 to 4 years of launch – Generate prescription
momentum, establish credibility and compet-
itor edge
»» 4 to 8 years – Broaden the portfolio (line exten-
sion and newer indications)
»» Beyond 8 years – Product life cycle manage-
ment

What happens to the
patients for who a particular
combination that worked to
relieve cold and fever is suddenly
pulled off the market? Shouldn’t
consumers have a way of
lending their voice too?

Genesh Kuriakose is Technical Director -
Smarkus Solutions
In this competitive healthcare market, pharmaceu-
tical players need to think beyond disease manage-
ment and patient management. Strategies should
be formulated to enhance disease awareness, doc-
tor personal branding, and hospital product/ser-
vice branding and corporate branding.
Industry needs to move from a one-size-fits-all, ap-
proach to customized product offering by under-
standing the unattended areas in current disease
management.
Tomorrow’s business accomplishment depends on
creating a platform for product innovations and
branding techniques for product alliances. M
References
1. Kamdi SP, Palkar P. Prevalence of hyperhomocyste-
inemia in healthy Indian doctors. Bioinformation.
2013;9(4):193-196. doi:10.6026/97320630009193.
2. American Diabetes Association. Standards of
medical care in diabetes—2015. Diabetes Care.
2015;38(suppl 1):S1-S93
3. India pharma 2020: propelling access and accep-
tance realizing true potential, by Mckinskey

In this competitive healthcare
market pharmaceutical players
need to think beyond disease
management and patient
management. Strategies could be
formulated to enhance disease
awareness, doctor personal
branding, and hospital product/
service branding and corporate
branding

P
orter’s 5 forces, was a tool created by re-
nowned management thinker Michael
Porter to analyze the competitive advan-
tage, attractiveness and likely profitability of an
industry in 1979.
For more than 16 years, Porter’s Five Forces tool
has enabled managers to conduct a simple,
powerful and disciplined examination of a com-
pany’s competitive advantage by examining the
way in which an organization can compete ef-
fectively to strengthen its market position.
The tool structured the concept of competitive
advantage by defining the 5 parameters and
their impact on an organization’s performance
and profitability.
Porter’s 5 Forces encapsulates:
Analytical framework: The strategic implica-
tion of 5 competitive forces includes the analysis
of competitors, buyers, and suppliers; Identifi-
cation of strategic clusters and a framework to
forecast business evolution.
Action: Guidance for strategy formulation and
reacting to competitive moves.
Pankaj Mehrotra
APPLICATION
OF PORTER’S
5 TO PHARMA
MARKETING

A tried-and-tested competition analysis
framework, applied seamlessly to pharma.

Pankaj Mehrotra | Application of Porter’s 5 to Pharma Marketing
Review: Decisions taken by your organization/sub
units and reasons behind differences in their per-
formance and examine the competitor’s past and
present decisions in context of 5 forces.
5 important forces identified by Michael
Porter that determine competitive pow-
er in a business situation are:
1. Supplier Power: Factors influencing the suppli-
er power to control prices are: the number of sup-
pliers, the uniqueness of the product, the cost of
switching from one to another etc.
2. Buyer Power: Power of buyers to control prices
of products and services is driven by the number of
buyers, the market share of individual buyers, the
cost of switching from one to another supplier etc.
3. Competitive Rivalry: The ability of competitors
to offer equally priced products with similar effi-
cacy and quality impact the bargaining power of
both suppliers and buyers.
4.Threat of Substitution:The factors like availabil-
ity of substitutes like molecules/ products/brands,
their comparative effectiveness and safety profile,
current treatment protocol, emerging treatment
trends influences a supplier power.
5. Threat of New Entry: The ability of new com-
petitor to compete effectively is influenced by mar-
ket size; entry barriers like government policies,
technology, cost of entry, manufacturing and the
number of both supplier and buyers influences the
decision of others to enter a market.


Pankaj Mehrotra | Application of Porter’s 5 to Pharma Marketing
TheartofusingPorter5forcestodesign
competitive strategy in pharmaceutical
marketing lies in:
»» Factoring in the importance of Physicians and
their associations; distribution channels and
trade bodies
»» Role and place of molecules in the treatment
cycle
»» Identifying 3 or 4 main factors, quantifying
their impact
»» Identify resources like money, manpower and
their availability
»» Patents
»» R & D costs
Porter 5 forces is a comprehensive framework of
analytical techniques to help an organization sys-
tematically analyze the industry and predict the
industry’s future evolution, to understand its own
position versus competitors and use this analysis to
formulate a competitive strategy.
The competitive advantage is not limited to cost
leadership, CRM activities, coverage and geograph-
ical reach of an organization but encompasses the
entire value chain of an organization. A firm can
influence the balance of forces through strategic
moves in value chain to improve relative position
of its products and services. The more sustainable
the competitive advantage, the more difficult it is
for competitors to copy and neutralize the advan-
tage. Competitive advantage strengthens the abil-
ity of an organization to outperform over the rivals
in the competitive market. M

Pankaj Mehrotra is a Product
Group Manager at GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceuticals. His views are personal.

O
f late, the pharmaceutical industry has
been in the news for all the wrong rea-
sons. The government intervened to
bring in large groups of medicines under the
price cap to make them more affordable to the
sick. Companies were caught overcharging for
some medicines in violation of the prices set by
the national price regulator and more recently -
and infamously – fixed dose combinations (FDCs
or products containing two or more medicines
in a single dosage form) were banned en masse
by the government. All these decisions caused
observers to declare that the free market had all
but failed.
Salil Kallianpur
Free markets are by nature amoral. To
get moral (or ’just’) outcomes from an
amoral market requires a well-developed
governance system - which India presently
lacks.

MARKETS
MORALS
IN PHARMA
&

Salil Kallianpur | Markets and Morals in Pharma
Fixed Dose Combinations (FDCs) – con-
venient or deadly?
So what is it with FDCs and its appeal with doctors?
Recently, about a 1,000 of these products were
shown to be irrational, which means that they
could potentially harm patients who consumed
them. Commentators have pegged FDCs to consti-
tute nearly 50% of the $15 billion domestic Indian
pharma market.
It is impossible to believe that such a large market
can exist without consumer demand to match. And
this has happened for years – in some cases, over
30 years. But this doesn’t make it legitimate. What
is wrong is wrong and one should not defend it.
What one should definitely do though, is debate
how to make things better. Why were irrational
combinations approved? What systemic shortcom-
ings should be plugged to ensure that this doesn’t
happen again?What kind of punitive action should
be forthcoming?
Instead of debating such questions, the discussion
in the public domain has been completely moralis-
tic. Companies have been labeled greedy and cor-
rupt. They have been accused of caring nothing for
human lives and focusing only on making profits
instead. This is not to absolve companies at all, but
what seems to irk some commentators more is that
no laws were broken and so it is difficult to lay the
blame squarely on one party. To confound matters,
the courts immediately granted stay orders on the
ban. Some commentators have wondered if com-
panies bent the rules. Why else have state regula-
tors – who approved most of these products – not
stood up to defend their case? Instead of such con-
jecture, should we not seek to understand why this
was allowed for so many decades?

... the discussion [about FDCs]
in the public domain has
been completely moralistic.
Companies have been labeled
greedy and corrupt. Instead of
such conjecture, should we not
seek to understand why this was
allowed for so many decades?

What can we do better?
If FDCs were irrational, why were they authorized
in the first place? If the rules stipulated that licens-
es obtained from state regulators be validated by
the central regulator, why were there no checks in
the system to make sure that was done? Obvious-
ly, there isn’t an appropriate approval system that
seeks proper documentation. There is no prop-
er adverse event reporting (AER) system in place
that helps gather real-world evidence of the harm
caused by such medicines. Absent all these sys-
temic check-points, the government action seems
ham-handed and open to moralistic judgment.
This is probably why 40% of doctors disagreed with
the ban in an informal survey carried out by a lead-
ing business daily.
The governance system is severely underdevel-
oped in India. When a PIL was filed in the Supreme
Court of India, the judges threw the case out saying
something to the effect that they had bigger prior-
ities to work on! With this context, does a ban seem
like the best solution to the problem? The ban is
based on the fact that these FDC products aren’t
approved by the US-FDA. This is simply because
the single medicines used in creating the com-
binations are often under patent protection and
belonged to different companies. It would take
extraordinary effort for these companies to forge
deals to create such combination products. India
does not recognize these patents and therefore In-
dian companies can easily formulate combination
products.

The ban is based on the fact
that these FDC products aren’t
approved by the US-FDA. This
is simply because the single
medicines used in creating the
combinations are often under
patent protection and belonged
to different companies... India
does not recognize these
patents and therefore Indian
companies can easily formulate
combination products.

Sadly, what began as an exercise to help patients
reduce pill burden and increase compliance to
therapy ended up in an overambitious industry ef-
fort to create products, not all of which were sup-
ported by science.
It would be interesting to examine if patients
complained about problems with these products.
What happens to the patients when a particular
combination that worked to relieve cold and fever
is suddenly pulled off the market? Shouldn’t con-
sumers have a way of lending their voice too? Have
any commentators called for the formalization of
patient bodies that can have a place at the table
during such decisions?
Also, it is common knowledge that goods with
great demand that are banned by government
regulation, find their way to consumers through
a parallel marketplace that we commonly call the
‘black market’.The government knows this through
its strict regulation on alcohol, narcotics, gold and
other such goods. Sadly, it learns nothing.
Should companies be absolved?
Exploiting loopholes in the law is definitely not a
smart business decision. History has taught us that
such seemingly short-term benefits can turn out
to be medium-to-long-term disasters which have
often led to companies considered market leaders
to disappear. Why do executives not learn from
history then? Are they evil, scheming Scrooges as
they are made out to be? They only answer I can
think of is that corporate incentives are completely
misaligned. They are skewed towards profit cen-
tricity. While this in itself is not bad, it can encour-
age recklessness and avarice especially in a system
with a grossly underdeveloped governance infra-
structure. This is no excuse at all claim observers
and rightly so. What about internal ethics and gov-
ernance policies?

What happens to the
patients for who a particular
combination that worked to
relieve cold and fever is suddenly
pulled off the market? Shouldn’t
consumers have a way of
lending their voice too?

Corporatization and Free Markets
Overall, such behavior undermines the true na-
ture of free markets. Popular moralistic sentiment
mistakes corporate behavior as the epitome of the
evils of privatization and the subsequent failure of
free markets. The irony is that bans and punitive
government action and interference prove time
and time again that markets are NOT free at all.
It can be argued that the government is forced to
intervene because of reckless corporate behavior.
Irresponsible action by companies forces govern-
ment agencies to intervene. The key question is
who will stand up and take the responsibility to
break this vicious cycle? Until then, we will mis-
guidedly worry about markets becoming detached
from morals.

Salil Kallianpur is an executive in the
pharmaceutical industry currently working
for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. This
article is written in his personal capacity and
is not endorsed by his employers. The views
are personal.

I
nnovation has constantly transformed man-
kind, revolutionizing the way we live and
work. The industrial revolution gave the
world economy a new character. The internet
revolution in the nineties transcended horizons,
taking the world economy to the next level.
Today we stand at the cusp of another revolu-
tion called the disruption saga, encompassing
the internet, digital technologies and artificial
intelligence. This wave of disruption has em-
braced many sectors. Now it will revolutionize
healthcare.
The core business model of Indian pharmaceuti-
cal companies is gradually becoming irrelevant
in this digital age and needs renovation.
The earlier strategy worked while companies
reaped the benefits of developing new drugs
for various diseases, launching blockbuster ge-
nerics and to certain extent, new drug delivery
technologies. But this strategy is no longer go-
ing to fetch the same return on capital. Newer
models which focus on collaboration with vari-
ous stakeholders need to be established.
Jay Mehta
NOT Business as Usual:
How the New Generation
of Pharma Professionals
Will Embrace Change
and Disruption.


Jay Mehta | NOT Business as Usual
Today’s companies must leverage novel technol-
ogies to offer more personalized, patient-specific
medicines and find ways to serve the Indian mar-
ket. They will need new collaborations, fresh think-
ing, and all of the tools for furthering innovation.
Leveraging SMAC in Healthcare market-
ing: Emerging technologies for emerg-
ing markets
Next-gen technology is integrated marketing strat-
egy for healthcare. The paradigm shift from brand-
ed products to generics has demanded revolution-
ary changes in the marketing strategies adopted
by pharmaceutical organizations. Medical research
has also augmented dramatic changes in terms of
product innovations.
The pool of information assembled from the social
media and mHealth platforms will be significantly
vast and the real challenge will be to collate the
data and extract the key analytical findings. These
findings will be an enabler for ethical marketing.
Certain statistics about internet usage behavior of
doctors is interesting. 72% of doctors use internet
frequently. 26% of doctors go online during con-
sultations. 52% of doctors use multiple devices to
go online (Source: Via Media Health).
While few can deny the promise that a robust, con-
nected analytics infrastructure holds for identifying
high-risk patients, targeting preventative services,
and reducing hospitalizations and deadly infection
rates, getting to the point of performing meaning-
ful analytics is both difficult and expensive.
The strategy should focus on using data intelli-
gently to produce actionable insights, and taking
advantage of new storage and exchange opportu-
nities.
Next-gen technology is integrated
marketing strategy for healthcare.
The paradigm shift from
branded products to generics has
demanded revolutionary changes
in the marketing strategies adopted
by pharmaceutical organizations.


Newer tools include –
1. Analytics to map channel performance, mea-
surement of campaign effectiveness, customer
engagement metrics and unmet needs/ re-
quirements identification.
2. Strong Social Media presence by actively lis-
tening to and analyzing online behavior of
physicians and patients through exclusive por-
tals, blogs and social networking sites.
3. Capitalizing on ecommerce to enhance online
sales among manufacturers, wholesalers, dis-
tributors, re-sellers, vendors and consumers.
4. IT and emerging technologies such as SMAC
present opportunities for pharma companies
to engage with external stakeholders such
as patients, healthcare providers and gov-
ernments to develop products and services
designed to make the goal of ‘health for all’ a
reality.
5. Digital Services need to be tapped for execu-
tion of digital functions such as business rules,
security, authorization, workflows, and web
content management. Digital and social media
is also key to understanding customer behav-
ior and channel effectiveness by using appro-
priate measurement frameworks.
6. Discovering new ways to engage patients and
reach out to them is the next strategy. 94% of
pharma and life sciences CEOs said that cus-
tomers and clients influence their business
strategy. So an integrated social media strategy
should be on the cards.


By leveraging new age devices, pharma companies
can differentiate and create a competitive advan-
tage in a rapidly shifting market. First of all, effec-
tive utilization of social media tools for internal col-
laboration and knowledge cross over is must.
A multichannel approach:
In the current scenario, trade/ retail segment con-
tributes to 85 % of market value. As a result, much
less attention is paid to the hospital segment by
pharmaceutical marketing teams. A futuristic
study by IMS MIDAS predicts the share of hospitals
rising from 9 % to 28% in coming years. Many Indi-
an pharmaceutical companies are reworking their
strategy to explore the evolving hospital segment
as high potential markets. A recent count of 20,000
private hospitals and 500 corporate hospitals un-
derlines the opportunity.
Majority of the potential is in urban hospitals and
outpatient treatments and there is an increasing
preference for getting treated at sophisticated
hospitals for chronic diseases, and slew of health
checkup plans.
The influence of hospitals over physicians is in-
creasing it is important for Indian companies to
understand the dynamics and align sales strategies
accordingly.
Distinguishing from the traditional model, there
is a need to focus on providing integrated and
holistic solutions and not just products. Targeting
patients through education programs, targeting
paramedics and physicians with newer perspec-
tives on disease management and providing value
-added services through technology are some ave-
nues that can be explored.

By leveraging new age
devices, pharma companies
can differentiate and create a
competitive advantage in a rapidly
shifting market. First of all,
effective utilization of social media
tools for internal collaboration and
knowledge cross over is must.

Companies should invest time and resources to
develop relationships with stakeholders in high
-potential hospitals to ensure high recall and seek
entry. Brand building initiatives hold the key to
success in hospital marketing.
Conclusion:
There is a need for disruption in the approach and
thinking of Indian pharmaceutical businesses. A
platform should be given to the younger genera-
tion to capitalise their idea-pool and potential. For
this we need to nurture a mindset which paves the
way for fresh thinking and scale up of the ideas.
The time is perfect for our generation to drive the
change.
Indian pharma industry, however, has been slow in
catching up the trends in the new age India across
verticals like - marketing, manufacturing and sell-
ing. Those with first-mover advantage will evolve
into integrated healthcare organisations, and not
just traditional pharma companies. M

Jay Mehta is Sr. Product Executive, Marketing
at Fullife Healthcare. He handles brand man-
agement, strategy and planning for 3 brands
in Dermatology & General health portfolio.
He has an MBA in Pharmaceutical Marketing.

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