Pharmageddon: How To Survive It

By Reg Manser, creative director, Life Healthcare Communications

Is this the End of Days for the pharmaceutical industry? You would be forgiven for thinking so. The pharma press has always been full of dire warnings about the threats it is facing, but according to recent research, 3 out of 4 pharma companies now believe they are in the midst of a strategic crisis. Many in the industry think its very existence is threatened.

So let’s have a short preview of the end of the world, and what happens afterwards. Starting with the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse (whose names have been altered only slightly from Death, War, Famine and Conquest).

Horseman One: Patent Famine
The drying-up of the R&D pipeline is predicted to lead to mass starvation in the industry, or at the very least, to the export of jobs to low-cost markets. Already the epicentre of the industry is moving away from western Europe and the USA, towards India, China and other countries which unsportingly do things better and cheaper. In place of novel compounds we see the rise of generics, and the curse of biosimilars, which are little more than a tribute act to biologics. If innovation is the lifeblood of pharma, the vampires have struck, and it’s too late for a transfusion.

Horseman Two: Death of the Salesman
After years of salesforce inflation, the mega sales teams of big pharma companies have been culled and the survivors released into the wild. Bands of feral representatives roam the countryside like out-of-work extras from Mad Max, pestering passers-by for the price of a latte and sleeping in their burned-out company cars. They can’t even get decent healthcare, because no doctor will see them.

Horseman Three: Cost Cutting
The scythe in this instance is wielded by the NHS, which insists on paying as little as possible for its medicines. The DoH has achieved its aim of turning doctors into accountants, and turning clinical decisions over to the professional NHS bean-counters. The resulting vacuum has been filled by nurses (cheaper and more willing) and patients themselves (shallow knowledge base, deep pockets). NICE - or the National Institute of Cost Effectiveness, to disclose its true identity – though initially reviled in the UK, has become a beacon of rationality for healthcare systems across the world.

Horseman Four: War on Pharma
The pharma industry somehow manages to be elitist and paranoid at the same time. Pharma has always acted like the Millwall of the business world: no-one likes us, we don’t care. But things reached an all-time low when the brightest spokesmen from the press (Ben Goldacre) and the industry (Stephen Whitehead) joined in debating whether Big Pharma deserves the description Bad Pharma. I joined the industry when we were the good guys, so if we finally morph into Big Bad Pharma, I’m blowing the joint before it comes tumbling down.

In summary, we’re facing the greatest series of threats we’ve ever confronted. OK, I exaggerate a little, but they started it. When you’re facing an existential threat, the only way to survive is to evolve. Here are some of the ways we can guarantee ourselves a future in a post-apocalyptic world.

Riding out the Patent Crisis
The blockbuster model is dead. Big Pharma is evolving into smaller Pharma. Branded generics and biosimilars are here to stay, so we might as well accept the cuckoos in the nest. And the pharma power base is moving east, so we need to embrace the emerging markets. There is still scope for innovative, game-changing products, but the discovery process is less certain and more risky, therefore breakthroughs will truly be breakthroughs.

Sharing the Cost
Much as we hate the idea of compromising on the cost of healthcare, we all know it is a zero-sum game. Resources are finite, so we can either pretend that money is no object and engage in special pleading for our latest drug, or make a case based on value and help customers make the most of their budgets. Working smarter, offering more for less, just like other industries do.

After Sales Service
Culling bloated salesforces means that the representatives who remain are the good ones, who understand their customers and build good relationships with them. We can help by providing the tools they need – brand campaigns that treat the audience as adults, interactive sales aids that deliver the promise of Closed Loop Marketing. The inaccessibility of doctors to rep visits just means you have to use other channels to reach them, including digital and social media. It also means you change the customers you target – and we all like a challenge, don’t we?

Rebuilding Industry’s Image
We all acknowledge the need for transparency and down-to-earth honesty – not if all else fails, but as a first resort. Corporate Social Responsibility that goes beyond website Mission Statements and sponsoring the local Scout group. Treating the NHS as a partner not a sugar daddy. Wouldn’t it be good to be the good guys again? This isn’t just a matter or expediency, but basic common sense.

There is no doubt that the industry has to change. At the end of it, we may look a lot less like pharma, and a lot more like other industries. Is that such a terrible thing? We may be facing the end of the world as we know it. But if so, let’s get over it and make a better one.