New pharma code & guidelines [ edit ]

legal regulation of pharmaceutical economic activity.legal basis of management and marketing in pharmacy

Pharmaceutical marketing, sometimes called medico-marketing or pharma marketing in some countries, is the business of advertising or otherwise promoting the sale of pharmaceuticals or drugs. • Many countries have measures in place to limit advertising by pharmaceutical companies. • Pharmaceutical company spending on marketing far exceeds that spent on research.[1][2] In Canada, $1.7 billion was spent in 2004 to market drugs to physicians; in the United States, $21 billion was spent in 2002.[3] In 2005 money spent on pharmaceutical marketing in the US was estimated at $29.9 billion with one estimate as high as $57 billion.[2] When the US numbers are broken down, 56% was free samples, 25% was detailing of physicians, 12.5% was direct to user advertising, 4% on hospital detailing, and 2% on journal ads.[3]There is some evidence that marketing practices can negatively affect both patients and the health care profession.[4]

New pharma code & guidelines[edit] • The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released updates to its voluntary Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals on July 10. The new guidelines take effect January 2009."[7] • In addition to prohibiting small gifts and reminder items such as pens, notepads, staplers, clipboards, pill boxes, etc.,[7] the revised Code: • Prohibits company sales representatives from providing restaurant meals to healthcare professionals, but allows them to provide occasional meals in healthcare professionals’ offices in conjunction with informational presentations"[7] • programs. [8]

Includes more detailed standards regarding the independence of continuing medical education.[7] • Provides additional guidance and restrictions for speaking and consulting arrangements with healthcare professionals.[7] • However, the Good Works Health government-approved platform offers physicians and other health care professionals the opportunity to direct donations to charities of their choice in

Free samples[edit] • Free samples have been shown to affect physician prescribing behaviour. Physicians with access to free samples are more likely to prescribe brand name medication over equivalent generic medications.[2] Other studies found that free samples decreased the likelihood that physicians would follow standard of care practices.[2] • Receiving pharmaceutical samples does not reduce prescription costs. Even after receiving samples, sample recipients remain disproportionately burdened by prescription costs.[9]

Pharmaceutical representatives[edit] • Currently, there are approximately 81,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives in the United States[10] pursuing some 830,000 pharmaceutical prescribers. A pharmaceutical representative will often try to see a given physician every few weeks. Representatives often have a call list of about 200-300 physicians with 120-180 targets that should be visited in 1-2 or 3 week cycle. • Because of the large size of the pharmaceutical sales force, the organization, management, and measurement of effectiveness of the sales force are significant business challenges. Management tasks are usually broken down into the areas of physician targeting, sales force size and structure, sales force optimization, call planning, and sales forces effectiveness. A few pharmaceutical companies have realized that training sales representatives on high science alone is not enough, especially when most products are similar in quality. Thus, training sales representatives on relationship selling techniques in addition to medical science and product knowledge, can make a difference in sales force effectiveness. Specialist physicians are relying more and more on specialty sales reps for product information, because they are more knowledgeable than primary care reps. • .

Marketers attempt to identify the set of physicians most likely to prescribe a given drug. Historically, this was done by measuring the number of total prescriptions (TRx) and new prescriptions (NRx) per week that each physician writes. This information is collected by commercial vendors. The physicians are then "deciled" into ten groups based on their writing patterns. Higher deciles are more aggressively targeted. Some pharmaceutical companies use additional information such as:

Marketers must decide on the appropriate size of a sales force needed to sell a particular portfolio of drugs to the target market. Factors influencing this decision are the optimal reach (how many physicians to see) and frequency (how often to see them) for each individual physician, how many patients suffer from that disease state, how many sales representatives to devote to office and group practice and how many to devote to hospital accounts if needed. To aid this decision, customers are broken down into different classes according to their prescription behavior, patient population, and of course, their business potential. • profitability of a prescription (script), • accessibility of the physician, • tendency of the physician to use the pharmaceutical company's drugs, • effect of managed care formularies on the ability of the physician to prescribe a drug, • the adoption sequence of the physician (that is, how readily the physician adopts new drugs in place of older treatments), and • the tendency of the physician to use a wide palette of drugs • influence that physicians have on their colleagues

The United States has 81,000 pharmaceutical representatives or 1 for every 7.9 physicians.[2] The number and persistence of pharmaceutical representatives has placed a burden on the time of physicians.[11] "As the number of reps went up, the amount of time an average rep spent with doctors went down—so far down, that tactical scaling has spawned a strategic crisis. Physicians no longer spend much time with sales reps, nor do they see this as a serious problem."

Data for drugs prescribed in a hospital are not usually available at the physician level. Advanced analytic techniques are used to value physicians in a hospital setting.[citation needed] • Physicians are perhaps the most important component in sales. They write the prescriptions that determine which drugs will be used by people. Influencing the physician is the key to pharmaceutical sales. Historically, this was done by a large pharmaceutical sales force. A medium-sized pharmaceutical company might have a sales force of 1000 representatives.[citation needed] The largest companies have tens of thousands of representatives around the world. Sales representatives called upon physicians regularly, providing clinical information, approved journal articles, and free drug samples. This is still the approach today; however, economic pressures on the industry are causing pharmaceutical companies to rethink the traditional sales process to physicians. The industry has seen a large scale adoption of Pharma CRM systems that works on laptops and more recentlytablets. The new age pharmaceutical representative is armed with key data at his fingertips and tools to maximize the time spent with physicians.

Peer influence[edit] • Key opinion leadersKey opinion leaders (KOL), or "thought leaders", are respected individuals, such as prominent medical school faculty, who influence physicians through their professional status. Pharmaceutical companies generally engage key opinion leaders early in the drug development process to provide advocacy and key marketing feedback.[12] Some pharmaceutical companies identify key opinion leaders through direct inquiry of physicians (primary research). Recently, pharmaceutical companies have begun to use social network analysis to uncover thought leaders; because it does not introduce respondent bias, which is commonly found in primary research; it can identify and map out the entire scientific community

This program is ideal for students interested in learning the business and management side of health care and the pharmaceutical industry. It provides strong focus on the basic sciences, combining biological and pharmaceutical science coursework with marketing and general management studies. The program prepares students for a variety of careers, including pharmaceutical sales; health care and health information management; food, drug and medical device industry regulatory oversight; and pharmacy distribution systems development and implementation. Graduates are also prepared to continue their education in post-graduate programs that could include business, science, or regulatory affairs masters degrees.[2]

This program is ideal for students interested in learning the business and management side of health care and the pharmaceutical industry. It provides strong focus on the basic sciences, combining biological and pharmaceutical science coursework with marketing and general management studies. The program prepares students for a variety of careers, including pharmaceutical sales; health care and health information management; food, drug and medical device industry regulatory science, or regulatory affairs masters degrees.[2]

oversight; and pharmacy distribution systems development and implementation. Graduates are also prepared to continue their education in post-graduate programs that could include business,

Properly planning and designing your pharmacy starts with a blueprint and encompasses everything from store layout and aisle placement to marketing and advertising. Not only are you designing for the here and now, you are also looking down the road to anticipated trends and services, as well as to your pharmacy’s future growth. There is no end to this process. As technology evolves and more modern-day conveniences emerge, competition among pharmacies

increases. Customers want it all: a pharmacy that can handle their prescriptions and over-the-counter (OTC) needs at an affordable cost, while providing a welcoming store environment. - See more at: http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Sav-Mor-Pharmacy-Marketing-From-the-Inside-Out#sthash.YFaEAtIu.dpuf

The Sav-Mor in Tuscola, Illinois, recently moved into a new 6000-square-foot store that provides increased convenience. “We moved from a downtown setting with little parking and no possibility of a drive-thru window,” Falk said. “The building was 100 years old and in constant need of costly repairs. Our new location is a free- - See more at: http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/Sav-Mor-Pharmacy-Marketing-From-the-Inside-Out#sthash.YFaEAtIu.dpuf

Includes new provisions requiring companies to ensure their representatives are sufficiently trained about applicable laws, regulations, and industry codes of practice and ethics.[7] • Provides that each company will state its intentions to abide by the Code and that company CEOs and compliance officers will certify each year that they have processes in place to comply.[7] • exchange for participation in pharmaceutical promotional/educational

New pharma code & guidelines [ edit ]