Moving on up: HCP common goals – a deal with the devil or a blessing in disguise?

In an exclusive feature for Pharma Times, Harry Malcolm,  Principal Consultant at Rubica explores why – in an industry that says it is customer and patient centric – so many (70% or Pharma organisations we surveyed) still focus on sales, share and growth measures – counting the number of touchpoints (coverage and frequency) and use measures of potential impact (share of voice or intent to prescribe). Measures that ultimately aren’t customer or patient focused at all. 

“Pharma companies struggle to measure what they are really aiming for – their impact on patient quality of life etc so they measure what they can, and what’s easy – activity of individuals, but with no real understanding of that activity or whether it’s actually causing the desired results.

It’s also because in times gone by, getting in front of a doctor as often as possible, could drive sales because the HCP had freer hands in deciding which drugs to prescribe. This is still the case in some markets – where the power is still with individual prescribers over the payers – but in high governance markets or complicated healthcare systems like much of Europe, it’s often a wasted effort” says Rubica Partner, Paul Frith.

So how can Pharma readdress this focus? Harry offers real world examples of how some organisations have made the change and offers practical ideas on how others can do the same. Read the full article as featured exclusively in Pharma Times click here.