Featured Opinions
The Difficulties of Living with Depression Don't End with the Illness Itself
This month Mary Assimakopoulos examines some of the insights gathered while surveying 2,000 patients suffering with this often misunderstood mental illness.
Implications of Massive Healthcare Consolidation
As payers and providers consolidate and use their market share to enhance negotiations with manufacturers, what can pharma do to protect their business and capture value for their products? This month, I explore the serious implications associated with this trend of healthcare consolidation.
Social Media - It’s all About the Principles, not the Tactics
Social media is ever-changing. In reality it’s the community ideals behind blogs, Facebook, podcasts, text messaging, micro-blogging and more, that are fundamental. The cool tools will evolve, change and disappear, but those ideals will always remain.
by Kevin Dolgin
This month Kevin Dolgin explains some of the oft-overlooked truths behind providing a service, and begins to explain how important this is for you if your company is making the shift to a 'beyond the pill' business model...
Addressing Psychological Barriers to Medication Adherence
In this first installment of the newly relaunched Adherence Arena, Katrina Firlik, MD, examines some of the psychological causes of non-adherence and tries to provide some explanation as to why getting a cavity filled might seem more appealing than taking your meds…
The Role of the Salesperson: How a Person Can Make or Break a Sale
by Ifti Ahmed
This month, Ifti Ahmed examines the role of the salesperson in a sales transaction, and explains why simply setting targets might not be enough to make that sale.
Comparing East vs West in Hep C Patient Understanding
In this month’s column we look at Hepatitis C and examine the differences (and similarities) between the causes of non-adherence in China and the US.
Real World Data Governance – "Caldicott 2"
In this installment we look at how the value of health information both to the patient and for medical research has been reflected in the recent Health & Social Care Act and discussed in The Review on Information Governance chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott published in April 2013.
How Better Patient Adherence Serves as a Competitive Differentiator
Rita Numerof examines the link between an increased focus on patient adherence, and improved results with industry payers.
Here’s a Novel Idea: Think for Yourself
by Graham Young
Graham Young asks, does no one want to develop the industry beyond the established model of the 1980s because someone more senior might say something that would hurt their feelings?
by Kevin Dolgin
Kevin Dolgin shines a light on the current industry trend of 'putting patients first' and asks, from a business perspective, is that really accurate?
The Role of Product: How Much of the Product is the Sales Person?
by Ifti Ahmed
Last month I proposed a simple framework to help the sales professional decide the area to prioritize for maximum return on effort (or investment). This month I focus on one of those areas, the product, examining to what extent the appeal of the product is influenced by the sales person.
Patient Compliance – Cracking that Big Nut!
In this month’s column we look at the issue of non-adherence, the risk of bias in adherence surveys and how a better understanding of true patient behavior is critical to improving compliance.
Using Big Data to Anticipate Where the Market Is Going
In last month’s column, I described some of the things that big data can’t do, in short, that’s it’s not a “silver bullet.” This month, I’ll talk about some of the things it can do.
Is Your C-Suite Improving or Hindering Your Company Growth? (Part 2)
Andree Bates asks the question that perhaps no one wants to consider – is your CEO building up your company …or dragging it down?
Last time we looked at the wider evolving landscape for health informatics and the relevance for the pharmaceutical business model. This article looks at the provenance of real world data (RWD) in the UK and the intrinsic challenges that need to be solved for its full potential to be realised.
Listen to ALL of Your Customers!
by Kevin Dolgin
Kevin Dolgin explains the importance of listening to all of your customer groups on the web, and explains why this is a practice you cannot afford to ignore.
by Jeff Elton
Jeff Elton examines the collaborative, risk-sharing relationships necessary between Big Pharma and Health Care Providers to successfully bring personalized treatments to market.
The Three Components of a Successful Sale
by Ifti Ahmed
A successful sale is the result of a range of factors, and it’s difficult to definitively list the actions that will guarantee a sale every time regardless of the situation. However, just because it is difficult to do, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
Driving Earlier Diagnosis: A Case Study in Psoriatic Arthritis
Following a survey of 1000 Psoriatic Arthritis patients, Mary Assimakopoulos shares some of the root causes behind a late diagnosis of this debilitating illness, and the patients’ own feelings towards their standard of care.
In Search of the Silver Bullet: The Illusion of Big Data
This month Rita Numerof looks at the shortcomings of big data, suggesting that far from being an all-encompassing cure, it’s simply one of many solutions to pharma’s growth problems.
Is Your C-Suite Improving or Hindering Your Company Growth? (Part 1)
Andree Bates asks the question that perhaps no one wants to consider – is your CEO building up your company …or dragging it down?
Steve Mott and Jane Juniper look at some of the potential real world data sources out there, as well as the impact this abundant resource can have on the pharmaceutical industry.
The Better We Are, The More They Hate Us
by Graham Young
Graham Young looks at today's experience when visiting the GP compared to that of yesteryear and asks - are we just too good for our own good?
by Marie Crespo
With stale sales practices still rife within the industry, it’s time for pharma sales organizations to have a health-check, argues Marie Crespo.