Shout it from the rooftops: Why communication is key

Suhasini Sharma, director of medical affairs at life science consulting company Sciformix Corporation explains how effective medical communication can pave the road to success in emerging markets.

Emerging economies are gaining increasing importance in growth strategies of global life science companies, shifting their focus away from developed markets which have experienced a steady drop in growth opportunities. With predictions they will account for 40 percent of the worldwide pharmaceutical market by 2020. Varied demographics, government health spending and regulatory environments in individual countries of the emerging markets require global pharmaceutical companies to both create and implement specific and custom strategies to succeed in these markets. Many innovator companies are customising their product portfolio to suit these markets, focusing on older drugs going off-patent and using a strategy of “differential pricing”, and locally targeted marketing and product communication.

As a result, both generic and innovator companies are finding that they need to support launches of multiple products in short timeframes yet they don’t have the people, processes, technologies or expertise do so. By utilising the services of a functional service provider (FSP) to undertake activities necessary to support local marketing/product promotion plans, they can have access to a ready pool of highly skilled and knowledgeable resources in a country such as India, which can be deployed in a timely and need-based manner, optimising costs and maximising impact.

Challenges in emerging markets

Regardless of the strategy adopted, marketing of healthcare products in less mature markets has unique challenges, including:

• Lack of effective local regulations and ethical guidelines pertaining to healthcare product promotion/dissemination of medical information
• Insufficient local resources
• Diseases and healthcare priorities that are different from the western world
• Variations in local medical standards of practice
• Language and cultural differences
• Varying levels of digitisation and access to internet/online resources

Companies have to develop strategies and programmes that address the unique environment of each country to ensure maximum uptake of their products and achieve clinical positioning that is not only credible and scientifically well-founded, but impactful and largely applicable across countries.

Medical communication

Medical Communication forms the backbone of pharmaceutical product promotion. When a new product is launched in the market, physician prescribers have to be informed and educated about its features, benefits, efficacy, safety profile and comparison with existing treatments. A host of print and digital material such as product monographs, brochures, leave-behind literature, CME slide decks and training modules are created so that the product knowledge can be widely and quickly distributed to the prescribing physicians.

Medical affairs support

Medical Affairs is a key function in pharmaceutical companies and provides scientific support to both internal and external customers for the development and marketing of the company’s products. Medical affairs activities that may be of particular importance in emerging markets are:

• Collection of local epidemiological and clinical practice data in different disease/therapy areas and creating disease registries
• Developing evidence-based practice guidelines for the local use for diseases/healthcare issues of local importance
• Providing continued medical education/information to healthcare professionals, including the use of e-learning resources and methodologies
• Building relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs) through clinical events, meetings and support for investigator initiated research activities and publications
• Designing and conducting patient awareness/support programmes

Publication writing

While it is widely regarded as essential to get research findings published in peer-reviewed international scientific publications, the pharmaceutical industry and researchers in the emerging countries also aspire to get published on international platforms. Organisations can require assistance with this kind of writing, especially if English is not their first language. Knowledge of international requirements and guidelines such as CONSORT for clinical trial reporting, and Good Publication Practices as well as ICMJE guidelines is essential for preparation of manuscripts for publication. Medical writers well-versed in these requirements can help authors and investigators get their work published in international journals.

Summary

Life science companies are affecting a model shift in their focus towards emerging markets given their growing economies and the steady decline of opportunities in the developed markets. Emerging markets present new challenges related to pharmaceutical promotion, hence, new medical communication strategies need to be developed matching each market’s unique structure. Outsourcing these activities and workflows to an experienced Functional Service Provider is an effective strategy which allows organisations to maintain uniformity of content and design across material at the corporate level while allowing their local affiliates to cater to local requirements.