Advice You - Business

Imagine that I handed you a clear plastic bag with 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle in it and asked you to put the puzzle together as quickly as possible. What would likely be the first thing you would ask for? Wh

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

at would you want in order to make the task more doable?

Would it help you in completing the activity if I also provided you a picture of the completed puzzle? Of course. Without the picture of what you ar

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

Examples of combination products may in

trying to create you have no point of reference. You don't know if those blue pieces with white on them are part of the sky or an ocean with white caps. Are the red pieces part of a flower or the side of a

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

barn?

Developing and implementing marketing and promotional activities like advertising, direct mail, a website, a brochure, or even networking without a marketing plan is like putting together a jigsaw p

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

zzle without the picture on the cover of the box. The marketing plan gives you a point of reference and direction for implementing your promotional activities. To successfully market your business you must

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

Combination pro

create the vision or the picture of the outcome, and then document that vision in an action plan format. Only then should you begin implementing promotional activities.

There is a tendency for business own

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

rs - those we are established as well as those who are just getting started -- to start trying to put together the puzzle without first taking the time to determine what the final picture should look like,

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

making sure they have all the pieces, and sorting out pieces that may belong to another puzzle. They want to start with developing or revising their website. Or they think a brochure or an ad is the silver

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

ullet that will bring in lots of business. They spend a lot of time and money then in the end they are disappointed with the results. The key to solving the marketing puzzle is to be sure you have each piec

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

e of the puzzle and that these pieces are assembled to create the outcome you desire:

Develop Your Vision: Describe your five to ten year vision for your company. This is a vision not a set of goal

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

- it should have emotion. Dream big. Remember if you shoot for the moon and miss you'll still be among the stars.

Identify Target Markets: Who uses the product? What are the needs, wants, challen

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

Following aspects would a

ges of the target market(s) you serve? Why do they buy? Where do they buy? Who are the decision makers? Who are the influencers?

Define Your Product: What products/services or product/service lines

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

do you offer? What problems do each product/service or product/service line meet? What are the features and benefits of each product/service or product/service line?

Identify Competitive Advantage

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

s: Who are your potential competitors? What is there value proposition? Where do you have an advantage over your competitors? Whey do they have an advantage over you?

Develop Market Position and B

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

and Identity: What is the picture you want your prospective customers to see when they think about your company and your products/services?

Formulate Your Message: You must: capture attention; iden

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

tify problems, needs and wants; describe the product; tell them the benefit and value they will receive; give your message credibility; and tell them what you want them to do next.

Formulate Your M

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

rketing Strategy: What strategies will you use to reach potential prospects initially and build visibility? How will you collect contact information? How will you build credibility? What wi

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

ll your continuous communication program be? How will you close sales?

Identify Promotional Tactics: What vehicles will you use to communicate to your target market?

Develop and Implement

.

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

Your Action Plan: What specific actions steps need to be taken when? Who is responsible for implementing the action steps and what will it cost? Put it down on paper.

Before you begin investing -

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

or invest any more - money in your promotional efforts be sure you take the time to define what you want your final picture to look like. Then you can begin solving the marketing puzzle one piece at a time

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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Ever since human civilization came into existence, there have been innumerable inventions. The wheel is one of the most important inventions that changed the fate of human civilization. Ironically, we still do not know the name of the person or group of persons who invented it.

We all have psychic abilities that we use daily, although most of us don't even realize that. The full study of this issue would take many books, and years of experience to grasp all the factors. Since we can't do that here, we can still focus on applying these skills to making informed business decisions. Those of us making constant business choices, effecting staff, ethics , health, and the botton line ,need all the data we can get our hands on. So these tidbits are designed to help you use your natural abitities, and to improve your business situation!

Ah, the land of ROI-ification. A land where e-mails are opened and links are clicked and phones ring by the minute. Is this utopia? Or arms-length reality? Once you apply these proven strategies, you just might find out.

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