Advice You - Internet and Businesses Online

If you create an email newsletter in Microsoft Publisher, you have probably run into the same problem that I did - distributing the newsletter after creating it. Publisher allows you to send t

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

he file as an email message (File -> Send Email) but surprisingly doesn't allow you to send it to a distribution list.

This is fine if you only want to send it to a few people, or if yo

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

Examples of combination products may in

u don't have to worry about making everyone's email visible to everyone else in the group. But what if you send a business newsletter to clients? Or if you want to personalize each message (f

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 example, putting each persons name in the salutation as opposed to a generic one)?

Previously, the only options that I saw were to send it to every person individually (can become extremely

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

time consuming) or send it to the distribution list as a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy). BCC's are bad for two reasons - one, they tend to be automatically filtered out as spam, and two, they don't

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

Combination pro

allow for personalization.

Most people will tell you that if you are in this situation it is time to upgrade to professional email software. I personally like doing my newsletter design in Pu

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

blisher and would prefer to continue to use Publisher. I also like using Outlook distribution lists. I have a script that sends me the list of people that are signed up to my newsletter each

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

month in a format that simply copies and pastes into a working Outlook distribution list.

So I came up with a work-around that I now use for my newsletter:

Step 1: Create your Newsletter

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

in Publisher I use the term 'newsletter' but any Publisher file can be sent via email, so whatever your application you can put this strategy to work for you.

Step 2: Create your Distr

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

ibution List in Microsoft Outlook If you aren't familiar with Distribution Lists, there is a tutorial at http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=417511&seqNum=3

Step 3: Send you

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

r Newsletter to Yourself In Publisher, go to (File -> Send Email -> Send This Page as Message) and email it to your email account in Microsoft Outlook.

Step 4: "Forward" the Ne

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

Following aspects would a

wsletter to the Distribution List using a Mail Merge At this point, you have received your newsletter at your email account in Outlook and you no longer need Publisher. Essentially, the r

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

est of the process is just forwarding your newsletter to your Distribution List using a Mail Merge, something you can't do when sending via Publisher. This consists of several steps:

1. Save

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

your Distribution List in Rich Text Format by opening the List and choosing File -> Save As.
2. Open the list, delete any headings, and replace them with headings for the fields

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

in your distribution list, separating each heading with a tab. For example, if your distribution list contains first name, last name, and email address, you would want to list those headings i

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

n the order they appear, separating them with a tab.
3. Click Forward on the email that you sent yourself and delete the lines of text that show the recipient that it is a forward

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ed email.
4. Click in the body of the message, and choose Tools -> Letters and Mailings -> Mail Merge.
5. Choose E-mail Messages and hit Next.
6. Choose

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

Use the current document and hit Next.
7. Click Browse and select your Distribution List. Your list should appear, click OK and then click Next.

.

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

8. Use the More Items menu to insert any personalized messages. For example, you could greet each recipient personally by inserting their name at the top of the email. Click Next
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
i> when complete.
9. Edit your recipient list if you like. Otherwise, click Next to complete the merge.

That's it! Now you can now send your Publisher email as a Mail Merge!

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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Advice You - How to Use Mail Merge in Outlook to Send Personalized Publisher Newsletters to a Distribution List

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