Advice You - Business

I recently gave a presentation to a group of business and community leaders on how to select talent to grow their organization. Given the expense associated with recruiting top

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

performers and the high cost of making poor choices, you would think that those responsible for hiring would follow a systematic process that results in high quality hiring.

Y

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

t, I am continually amazed, when reviewing staffing practices, how frequently I find the lack of workforce planning, inconsistent procedures, ineffective interviewing, indecisio

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

or a quick decision based on gut feel rather than good data. On the other hand, here are twelve best practices for selecting top talent.

Don’t shoot from the hip.

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

/b> Have a well-thought-out recruitment and selection process in place. Prepare in advance for interviews. Take hiring seriously.

Identify the interview team. Ensure ev

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

ryone who will interview the candidate has been trained on interviewing techniques. Interviewing well is a learned skill.

Develop a role expectation or job description.

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

It’s important to have everyone on the same page about what is required. If one person thinks a certain personality type is needed while another thinks differently, then there w

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

ll be problems deciding whom is the best candidate.

Ask behavioral, open-ended questions. Use position requirements to guard against “would do” vs. “have done.” It’s usu

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

lly not very helpful to ask candidates “can you do x?” Most likely will say yes because they think they can. Remember, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. In

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

tead, ask something like, “Tell me how you handled dealing with x?”

Decide who will ask the candidate what questions. It’s usually best to divide the questions based on

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

nterviewer competency. For example, let finance people ask the finance questions.

Take notes and be consistent. I guarantee that you will either forget what the first in

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

erviewee said or mix his/her responses with subsequent interviewees if you don’t take notes. Ask each candidate the same questions so that you can compare answers and more accur

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

tely compare candidates.

Make the candidates feel comfortable. Sure, if you make the interview feel like an interrogation you’ll know how they respond to questioning un

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

er pressure but it’s unlikely they’ll tell you much revealing about themselves because they will be on the defensive.

Don’t talk more than 20% of the time. Allow enough

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

time in the interview for the candidate to ask questions. The number and caliber of their questions will tell you a lot about how they think.

Be aware of ‘selection bias er

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

ors. These include hiring a person because he is the freshest in your memory or he made a good first impression or he is or is not the picture of what you had in mind for th

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

position, e.g., male/female, color, height, school, country club, accent, dress, etc.

Avoid self-imaging hiring. It’s very tempting to pick someone because they think

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

r act like you. That doesn’t make the candidate a terrific choice…it depends on the match between the person and the position.

Don’t over inflate the company. For examp

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

e, if your company is struggling, don’t gloss it over. There really are people who would prefer to take on that type of challenge than to work for a mature predictable company.

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

Do extensive reference checking. Make sure the candidate has actually done what they say they have. Use prepared behavioral questions to verify “have done vs. will do.

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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