Advice You - Business

I ran into something very interesting today. I had an experienced sales person run into an unusual situation for himself.

He was s

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

elling a new product that he was not that familiar with and even though the company was a giant company his product knowledge was l

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

Examples of combination products may in

imited. He went on to tell me that he almost had the sale when the customer told him that he could have the sale if he could fax ov

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

er the names and phone numbers of about 5 present customers that are already doing business with the company. What the young man (

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

emember All of you out there are young to “The Specialist”) failed to realize was that what the potential client was saying was tha

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

Combination pro

t there was a trust issue. Somewhere throughout his relationship he did not win over the client’s trust.

I proceeded to explain to

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

this sales person that all the references in the world would not change the equation. First off all the good intentioned reference

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

seem to always say great things but usually qualify their reference with something like…”after the initial bumps in the road it ha

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

s been great working with the company”. Something like this or a variation. The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

Also u

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

nless you sell everybody the exact same product at exactly the same price you leave yourself wide open. How I told the salesperson

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

o handle the situation is a standard reply that I have successfully used for years. What I say is, “Mr. Jones obviously there is a

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

Following aspects would a

trust issue here and unfortunately due to confidentiality we are not allowed to give out that information…not to mention no one wan

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ts to be bothered all day by people calling for references. I know Mr. Jones you wouldn’t like it either”.

Having said that I go o

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

n to reiterate that since it is a trust issue why would he put himself in a position to ask the very person that he is skeptical of

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

to give him 5 references. I could easily have 5 friends waiting for his call to say nothing but how great the company is. I go on t

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

o show him how foolish it would be to base a financial decision on this. At this point I go on to re-summarize all the national acc

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ounts that are with the company and stress that none of these accounts would be there if the company did not deliver what they prom

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

sed. I then continue on with the remainder of the presentation and wrap up the sale.

By the way since I am “The Specialist” this p

.

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

roblem only occurred in my early years before I mastered sincerity (one of the 8 basics). As you develop in this great profession y

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ou will find out that 99% of all the objections you run into can be dealt with long before they become OBJECTIONS!

“The Specialist

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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As we all know, times are changing. It's not surprising today to read about how some of our rights are being taken away due to terrorism concerns. Whatever you want to do, think first. Want to carry a backpack? No, can't do that here. Want to light a cigarette in public? Can't do that.

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All of these types of third party distribution channels are immediately available to many companies and can be deployed for a fraction of the cost of a direct sales force. In addition to that, the cost can be very variable and can be absorbed by the actual sales revenue as it's produced, as opposed to being up front, fixed and unavoidable when you deploy a direct field sales team or inside sales team.

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