United for healthcare. Driven by outcomes #UnitePharma

I attended #eyeforpharma conference in Barcelona couple of weeks ago. Over 1000+ healthcare professionals from 70+ pharma companies, healthcare solution providers all came together for thought leadership and innovation in the healthcare industry. The theme for 2017 was “United for healthcare. Driven by outcomes” #UnitePharma.

We all know technology is disrupting every industry: what do Uber, Amazon or Netflix have in common? They are major disrupters in their industry and none of these brands are providing an entirely new product or service, but they are changing the customer experience. Now with digital we think of shopping, travel, hotel etc. in an entirely new way. Technology is changing the way customer interact with businesses across industries today. Customers today expect brands to be accessible at their fingertips. Pharma also needs to pace up with other industries and there is a need to re-evaluate their commercial model. Some of the speakers shed light on how Pharma companies are embracing change. Find below key highlights:

Commercial Transformation in Pharma - Paul Simms (chairman of eyeforpharma) mentioned the health economy is shifting from inputs (doing the minimum to get the sale) to outcomes (where one is rewarded for doing the maximum possible to help the patient). Sales teams must now be incentivized on the consumer relationship, and no longer just the medicine itself. GSK is demonstrating this by putting patient outcomes at the core of their marketing strategy and incentive plan for sales reps, and they are seeing positive results from this in terms of sales revenues. Colleen Schuller from GSK highlighted why there is a need to revise the traditional sales model in Pharma. She quoted a statement of Dr. Martin Makary (Professor of Surgery at John Hopkins University) “It’s bad for patients when pharma sales representatives are paid based on the number of drugs that they sell. Sales target makes sense in retail store, they make sense at car dealership, they don’t make sense in hospitals. In fact it’s a dangerous trend."

Sanofi's Peter Guenter mentioned he has noticed an acceleration in the pace of change over the last 3-4 years - changes so great they have made the industry question some of its fundamental practices. Guenter mentioned the existing 'transactional model' of pharma has to come to an end. Sanofi and other companies are now trying to move towards Integrated Care - with the ultimate goal of being able to show real world improvement in patient outcomes. Large pharma companies are collaborating with external tech companies aimed at creating a wrap-around service for patients, to help them become empowered.

Multi-channel Marketing - This has been a hot topic in Pharma Conferences from last few years and this year it was no different. QuintilesIMS projected if companies optimize their multi-channel marketing operations, the sales can increase by 20%. One of the key take away is create value by using cost-effective channels. To retain customers, you have to be agile, and support their needs and expectations across every channel. It’s no longer about providing information or service through single channel.

Andrew Ploszay from GSK talked about keeping Digital transformation close to the business goals. Stated a proper English breakfast holds the key to digital transformation 'The chicken is involved, the pig is committed'. We need to be committed towards digital. He emphasized Pharma needs to govern innovation so you have something that works sooner - it won't be perfect but you keep adapting. AJ shared four essentials of transformational change: 1. Enterprise-Led, 2. Channel Agnostic, 3. Clear, consistent targets & 4. Commercial focus.

Ian Talmage, from Bayer, shared his thought-provoking experience of being a patient of long-term illness and experiencing the very industry from the other side of the table. He has been in Pharma industry from 45 years. Ian predicted... Mobile Apps will see huge growth in future. Ian shared his wishlist as a patient: He (read patients) wants Good Outcomes, Trustworthy information to help understand the condition, Involvement in the treatment decision, Explanation as to treatment success or failure

Ryan Olohan from Google explained how the Pharma industry can utilize data linked to online user habits to help marketers better understand and communicate with their customers. One in 20 search today are healthcare related. He gave an example of google search peaks of the keyword "pharmacy opening hours" around 7:30 am in UK and how pharmacies can use this as an insight to modify their opening hours and make medicines more accessible to patients. Ryan reinforced that we shouldn't develop channels just because we can, gave example that there are 1.65 lac mobile apps and 36 of them account for half of the downloads.

Kevin Dolgin made a comparison between Tesla, and the pharma industry. He asks that instead of thinking about ‘digitizing pharma’, what would a ‘digital company that makes drugs’ look like? Let’s think like Elon Musk; if you’re a digital company that just happens to make cars, you start with the digital part not the wheels and motors. (read more on blog: Car maker Tesla has a few lessons for pharma on truly putting digital first) 

Dr Slawomir Chomik (Institute of Cardiology) provides HCP perspective on Multichannel Engagement. He shared his day schedule and highlighted that he is busy, have no time, struggling to give time to his patients, lot of administrative work and asked the audience “will this knowledge change the way you (pharma) interact with me?” He also mentioned pharma company websites are not the place where HCPs are usually looking for information.

What has made us successful in the past will not make us successful in future "Pharma companies must think about creating value beyond just the medicine for their patients. They need to think about how they add value at every step of the patient journey."