Most Popular Columnists 2014
Throughout 2014, our columnists offered in-depth analysis of the broader issues affecting pharma. They asked difficult questions, ranging from how to become truly patient-centric, to how the industry can beat technology giants like Apple and Google in the bid to own the health space.
Here are the highlights:
1. Mark Yates
Five years on from the Brazilian Generics Drug Act, is there still an opportunity for branded originator drugs? The Generics Drug Act was supposed to address quality concerns associated with "similares" drugs, and following the Act, any drug registered as a “similares” have to meet the same bioequivalence standards as generic drugs. “The only key difference today between similares and generic drugs is that similares have a commercial or brand, while generics are only referred to by the name of the molecule,” Yates writes, and considers whether consumers are willing to pay for a branded drug.
2. David Laws
“Customers have taken control of our companies destinies. Customers are transforming our industries. And customer loyalty – or lack thereof—has become increasingly important to executives and investors alike,” Laws writes in his column “What’s it going to take to ‘rethink pharma’?” He argues that even though pharma is not used to caring about customer feedback, it is now starting to feel the “winds of change,” and it begins to understand that a “patient centric revolution is taking place across healthcare.”
3. Emma D'Arcy
In “We are all patient-centric now, aren’t we?” the columnist interviews executives at Novo Nordisk and Sanofi to highlight three key things to consider when seeking to be patient-centric. First principle to remember is “nothing about us without us.” As D’Arcy puts it: ”True patient centricity comes when a company brings patients into all their development and educational planning meetings.” Second thing to consider is that “collaboration counts.” After all, as D’Arcy writes, “companies that collaborate transparently earn trust with patients.” Finally, and most importantly, always put “people over profits.”
“[Pharma’s] commercial model needs to be responsive to customer demands for evidence demonstrating product economic and clinical value. […] It must also address the challenges of getting the product adopted in the market place. Just because an insurer of a PBM is willing to pay for a product doesn’t guarantee that a provider will be willing to include it in their formulary or on a more restrictive care path,” our columnist writes in “Is your commercial operation ready for Healthcare 2.0?” Read more to find out what is the key to creating a commercial model focused on value and delivery.
Pharma is in trouble, argues Dr. Bates in her column “No more lip service – Just do it.” The industry is being “out-innovated” by technology giants, e.g. Apple and Google, who are interested in entering healthcare with wearable technology to be worth in excess of US$500 billion in the next five years. Why is pharma losing? “Google and Apple are not simply cutting jobs and costs and shifting their people to India [like pharma is doing]. They are looking at the health market and saying ‘well, health wearables alone are US$500 billion, let’s get that!’ They are thinking proactively, not reactively.” Read more to find out how pharma can shift from being a drug company to being a health company.
6. Jeff Elton
In his column “Value innovation realized through services,” Jeff Elton discusses the exciting emergence of a truly global health services solutions market. “We are firmly in a new era […] where ‘value’ drives decisions. [This] Value Era requires more than innovating around the therapeutics alone. [Now] products will be considered part of a solution or system. […] This represents a broader canvas for innovation, where algorithms, clinical decision support tools, active remote monitoring, and patient engagement platforms may all be within scope of a company’s specific ‘solution’,” he writes. He further proposes advice for companies that want to be considered “Value Innovators,” pointing out that such organizations will be an analytics-driven, service syndicator, “creating beneficial sets of partners most appropriate for different patient populations treated by different provider and regional systems.”
7. Kevin Dolgin
Our columnist asks: to what degree are companies that launch a “program here, a program there” truly patient-centric? He proposes a magazine-like quiz, which will help you answer this question regarding your own organization. Why should you do it? “These days it’s all about which companies have a coherent patient-oriented strategy,” Dolgin argues. “”I see enormous differences and only a few truly innovative companies in this respect.” Which category does your company fall into?