Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Summer Traning Report
A Summer Traning Report
A Summer Traning Report
ON
ACADEMIC YEAR
2009-2011
Abhishek Kaushik-090
Page No.
Certificate I
Acknowledgment II
Executive summary IV
CHAPTER 6 SUGGESTIONS
CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 8 LIMITATIONS
CHAPTER 9 BIBLIOGRAHY
INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a very basic necessity of today’s market, where ever we see marketing strategies
seems to command over all other activities of business and market. Likewise Pharmaceutical
business is not an exception in any way; in pharma field companies have device a lot of
marketing strategies to capture their share of market. The ways in which pharmaceutical
companies promote or market their products are:
Advertisement
Personal selling
Sales promotion
Publicity
Among the all personal selling in most useful nature because all other have different kind
limitations attached to it, it could be both legal as well as economical.
Advertising is one of the common mean of promoting any product but with regards to
medicines some legality are attached to it, according to Drugs and Magic Remedies
(Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 only OTC or medicines of common diseases and non-
prescription drug can be Advertise. As far as Publicity and Sales promotion is concerned they
have a limited scope. So only option left with these pharma firms is to go for Personal selling.
PERSONAL SELLING
It can be defined as
follows:
PERSONAL SELLING IS
ORAL
COMMUNICATION WITH POTENTIAL BUYERS OF A PRODUCT WITH THE
INTENTION OF MAKING A SALE. THE PERSONAL SELLING MAY FOCUS
INITIALLY ON DEVELOPING A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE POTENTIAL BUYER,
BUT WILL ALWAYS ULTIMATELY END WITH AN ATTEMPT TO "CLOSE THE
SALE"
Personal selling is one of the oldest forms of promotion. It involves the use of a sales force to
support a push strategy (encouraging intermediaries to buy the product) or a pull strategy
(where the role of the sales force may be limited to supporting retailers and providing after-sales
service).
What are the main roles of the sales force?
(2) Communicating - with existing and potential customers about the product range
(3) Selling - contact with the customer, answering questions and trying to close the sale
(4) Servicing - providing support and service to the customer in the period up to delivery and
also post-sale
(5) Information gathering - obtaining information about the market to feedback into the
marketing planning process
(6) Allocating - in times of product shortage, the sales force may have the power to decide how
available stocks are allocated
What are the advantages of using personal selling as a means of promotion?
• Personal selling is a face-to-face activity; customers therefore obtain a relatively high degree of
personal attention
• The sales message can be customized to meet the needs of the customer
• The two-way nature of the sales process allows the sales team to respond directly and promptly
to customer questions and concerns
• Personal selling is a good way of getting across large amounts of technical or other complex
product information
• The face-to-face sales meeting gives the sales force chance to demonstrate the product
• Frequent meetings between sales force and customer provide an opportunity to build good
long-term relationships
Given that there are many advantages to personal selling, why do more businesses not maintain a
direct sales force?
The main disadvantage of personal selling is the cost of employing a sales force. Sales people are
expensive. In addition to the basic pay package, a business needs to provide incentives to achieve
sales (typically this is based on commission and/or bonus arrangements) and the equipment to
make sales calls (car, travel and subsistence costs, mobile phone etc).
In addition, a sales person can only call on one customer at a time. This is not a cost-effective
way of reaching a large audience.
Personal selling in pharmaceutical field is a face to face contact with prospect customer
(Doctor), in which a Medical Representative of a company introduce his company product (i.e.
Medicine) to the Doctor and try to convince the Doctor., to buy his argument, information and
finding which he or she conveys. It is to bring the right product into contact with the right
customer and to make certain that ownership transfer takes place. It is a communication of the
facts necessary for making a buying decision, or it can utilize the psychology of persuasion to
encourage the formation of a buying decision. To promote prescription products to Doctors
through personal selling, use of supporting aids is required and “detailing charts” are widely and
commonly used tools. Almost every company designs these detailing charts and thus, field force
of pharmaceutical companies are armored with the detailing charts to take on the task of
promoting company’s products. Apart from detailing chart, leave behind literature (LBL) and
newsletters are provided by the companies to Doctors.
AIDAS Theory of Pharma Selling
• Securing Attention
• Gaining Interest
• Kindling Desire
• Inducing Action
• Building Satisfaction
Implicit in this theory is the notion that the Doctor goes through these five stages consciously, so
the sales presentation must lead the Doctor through them in the right sequence if a sale is to
result.
Securing Attention
• The first few minutes of the interview are crucial. The MR has to have a reason, or an
excuse, for conducting the interview. If the MR previously has made an appointment, this
phase presents no problem, but experienced MR's say that even with an appointment, a
MR must possess considerable mental alertness, and be a skilled conversationalist, to
survive the start of the interview.
• The Doctor's guard is naturally up, since he or she realizes that the caller is bent on
selling something.
• Favorable first impressions are assured by, among other things proper attire, neatness,
friendliness and a genuine smile.
• Skilled MR's often decide upon conversation openers just before the interview so that
those chosen are as timely as possible.
• Generally it is advantageous if the opening remarks are about the Doctor (people like to
talk and hear, about themselves) or if they are favorable comments about the Doctor's
business.
• A good conversation opener causes the Doctor to relax and sets the stage for the total
presentation. Conversation openers that cannot be readily tied in with the remainder of
the presentation should be avoided, for once the conversation starts to wander, great skill
is required to return to the main theme.
Gaining Interest
• The second goal is to intensify the Doctor's attention so that it evolves into strong
interest. Many techniques are used to gain interest. Some MR's develop a contagious
enthusiasm for the product. When the product is technical, flip charts, or other visual aids
serve the same purpose.
• Throughout the interest phase, the hope is to search out the selling appeal that is most
likely being effective.
• Sometimes, the Doctor drops hints, which the MR then uses in selecting the best
approach. To encourage hints by the Doctors, some MR's devise stratagems to elicit
revealing questions.
• Others, ask the Doctor questions designed to clarify attitudes and feelings towards the
product. The more experienced the MR, the more he or she has learned from interviews
with similar Doctors.
• But even experienced sales personnel do considerable probing, usually, the questions-
and-answer variety, before identifying the strongest appeal. In addition, Doctor’s interests
are affected by basic motivations, closeness of the interview subject to current problems,
its timeliness, and their mood - receptive, skeptical, or hostile, and the MR must take all
these into account in selecting the appeal to emphasize.
Kindling Desire
• The third goal is to kindle the Doctor's desire to the ready-to- buy / prescribe point.
• The MR must keep the conversation running along the main line towards the sale. The
development of sales obstacles, the Doctor's objections, external interruptions, and
digressive remarks can sidetrack the presentation during the phase.
• External interruptions cause breaks in the presentation, and when conversation resumes,
good MR's summarize what has been said earlier before continuing.
• Digressive remarks generally should be disposed of tactfully, with finesse, but sometimes
distracting digression is best handled bluntly, for example, "well, that's all very
interesting, but to get back to the subject ... "
Inducing Actions
• If the presentation has been perfect, the Doctor is ready to act - that is, to prescribe.
• Experienced MR's rarely try for a dose until they are positive that the Doctor is fully
convinced of the merits of the proposition. Thus, it is up to the MR to sense when the
time is right
• The trial close, the close on a minor point, and the trick close are used to test the Doctor's
reactions. Some MR never ask for a definite "yes" or "no" for fear of getting a "no", from
which they think there is no retreat But it is better to ask for the order / prescription
straight-forwardly. Most Doctors find it is easier to slide away from hints than from frank
requests for an order / prescription.
Building Satisfaction
• After the Doctor has given the order / prescription, the MR should reassure the Doctor
that the decision was correct. The Doctor should be left with the impression that the MR
merely helped in deciding.
• Building satisfaction means thanking the Doctor for the order / prescription, and
attending to such matters as making certain that the order / prescription is filled as
written, and following up on promises made.
• The order / prescription is the climax of the selling situation, so the possibility of an
anticlimax should be avoided - Doctor sometimes un-sell themselves and the MR should
not linger too long.
WHAT IS PHARMACEUTICAL DETALING?
Detailing is a method of introducing a product (Bike, Car, purifier, Medicine, etc) to a prospect
customer with help of Detailing folder and visual aid. In this a representative of a company
elaborates about the features, benefits, usage and advantages of the product. By doing this
representative try to involve and motivate the customer to try their product. This is kind of
personal selling in which representative come in direct contact with the prospect customer. Like
normal Detailing process Pharma-detailing is also a method of direct selling. But there is a basic
difference between both kinds of detailing, in Pharmaceutical Detailing
First of all we need to understand that here we are not promoting some common
use commodity, we are promoting medicines. So ,
Facts and finding should be more accurate and true
Information should be more accurate as product is not a mere common
commodity
The representative is more professional and should be more qualified
Prospect customer is much more knowledge full
Customer is more demanding
Has to be treated in different way than normal customers
Question arise by him or her are more specific and are research based.
PROMOTION EFFORTS IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY:
Promotion efforts in pharmaceutical industry are typical, as it is not directed to the end user but
the influencer – the physician. Promotion of pharmaceutical products can traditionally be done
with four techniques viz, personal selling, advertising, sales promotion and publicity. Out of
these four techniques, only personal selling is the most effective and primarily used techniques
of promoting pharmaceutical products. Other techniques are used but they are used during
special circumstances and are used to achieve short-term objectives of the company rather than
long-term objectives. Thus, advertising, publicity and sales promotion is used secondary to
support the main technique, personal selling. Advertising of prescription drugs is permitted in
United States with prior approval and permission of FDA but in India advertising is restricted
according to Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and can be
used only to promote OTC (Over The Counter) drugs that are used for minor ailments and not
for prescription drugs. Thus, to promote prescription products to Doctors through personal
selling, use of supporting aids is required and “detailing charts” are widely and commonly used
tools. Almost every company designs these detailing charts and thus, field force of
pharmaceutical companies are armored with the detailing charts to take on the task of promoting
company’s products. Apart from detailing chart, leave behind literature (LBL) and newsletters
are provided by the companies to Doctors. Till now we have seen what process a Medical
representative follow inside a Doctor chamber and about pharmaceutical detailing, but there are
many more things which need our attention to have a grip on the topic. Any MR need to be
equipped with:
4. Newsletters
Among these Detailing folder or visual aid is most important tool with pharmaceutical
companies, as it contains all the relevant information about drug like symptoms of diseases,
usage of medicine, dosage and its form, relevant facts, related findings, image with packing
picture. This detailing folder is a chief driver of the conversation between the Doctor and MR, it
not only provide points to the representative that he need to convey to Doctor, but at the same
time it presents the picture of the concern drug in front of Doctor for better analysis. Any
detailing folder along with visual aid is most important factor affecting the quality of interaction.
Yes, communication skill is the most influencing quality of interaction but without a properly
designed detailing folder it is of no use. And this will going to be matter of focus of my research
as detailing folder contain those information which a MR conveys, a Doctor understand,
differentiate products of one company to other, and provide an edge over the competitor.
DETAILING FOLDER
The detail piece could be pharma's most powerful sales tool. Used to assist in
communicating a product's features and benefits to physicians, the detail piece is a sales aid that
reps carry along on their sales calls—and an opportunity for marketers to influence physicians'
prescribing behavior. Yet, the development of this critical sales tool often is handled with less
rigor than one might expect. Only one out of every three sales reps actually uses the detail piece
during a physician meeting. Often, sales teams don't use the piece because they don't have
confidence in the work done by marketing in developing it. Marketing counters that reps simply
don't know how to use it. This disconnect causes a considerable loss of energy, creates a vicious
cycle of blame, and places the performance of the brand—and therefore the company—at great
risk.
For sales reps to believe in the value of the detail piece, they need to see evidence that it's
working. Currently, neither marketing nor sales tests the detail piece rigorously enough prior to
introduction. While the typical brand invests more than $100 million in annual sales-force
support, it spends less than $2 million on average to determine whether the detail piece is driving
prescriptions. Some companies altogether fail to test the effectiveness of the detail piece during
development because of limited budgets or time constraints. (Most pharma companies operate on
a pre-determined promotion cycle that only allows for new detail pieces anywhere from two to
four times per year.) Instead, companies often will settle for qualitative feedback among the
same, small physician panel. This approach not only lacks statistical rigor, but also could lead to
biased results that are not representative of the marketplace.
.
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCT DETAILING: AN ART COUPLED WITH SCIENCE
Once the companies select right candidates for the job of medical representative (MR), virtually
every company provides them with induction training. This induction training, basically, is used
to train newly selected medical representatives of the company. The training program includes
various aspects of pharmaceutical promotion. It involves contribution of various departments of
the company such as medical department, marketing department, Product Management Team
(popularly known as PMT) and training department. Of these departments, role of PMT is
important. Training includes imparting knowledge in the areas of anatomy, physiology and
pharmacology. During this training program medical representatives also face the simulated
conditions, which resemble the actual marketing scenario. Medical representatives are asked to
detail in front of people from training department who act as Doctors. Medical representatives
are asked to “crammer” the detailing “story” provided to them by the marketing, PMT and
training departments. In the process, it so happens that medical representative crammer the
“story” in such a way that when he goes to fieldwork, he starts explaining to Doctor about the
disease including etiology, epidemiology and mode of action of drug!!! So frequently it happens
that medical representative of some companies start detailing with explaining, “What is diabetes
or hypertension and how it happens” to a diabetologist or a cardiologist respectively!!! This may
be detrimental to the company as Doctor is irked by medical representative of that company and
feel offended. End result is losing of sales for the company as sometimes Doctors’ stop
prescribing product for that company. Thus detailing of pharmaceutical products is
an art coupled with science and medical representative must know which tune to play to which
Doctor.
As we have seen that pharmaceutical marketing is distinct, the main aim of pharmaceutical
marketing or, for instance, any marketing activity is to inform customer about the product, more
specifically the brand, and manage to “hook” or register the brand in customers’ minds. This
could be achieved only with the help of promotion. In pharmaceutical market with a clutter of
products, it is virtually impossible for a Doctor or physician to remember all brands. This could
be substantiated by looking at number of brands available in the market for the same molecule or
drug. To register a brand in customers’ minds, recourse adopted by the companies is personal
selling, the most essential and vital aspect of pharmaceutical marketing. In pharmaceutical
marketing, it is difficult to convince your customer i.e. Doctors to try the product as many “me
too” products are available and number of representatives visiting physicians is increasing day
by day. Then how can a company fair better in registering the brand in customers’ minds? The
idea of a product or brand has to be based on some “theme” or “story” associated with brand as it
becomes easy for the physician to relate brand with a particular theme or story. This is easy to
achieve for company as training medical representative becomes easier, which ultimately arouses
interest in medical representatives during training and can easily relate brand with a story. This
will eventually be reflected in the marketplace- in Doctors’ chamber- which is real battlefield for
the medical representative.
Instead, companies should focus on developing “detailing theme” as this detailing theme can be
modified according to the specialty of Doctor, time available in Doctor’s chamber, rapport with
Doctor. Detailing theme helps to tailor the detailing of product according to the needs of the
customer i.e. Doctors. Detailing theme should be based on broad objectives; the pictorial
depiction in detailing chart should be in synchronization with the message to be conveyed to the
Doctor. Thus, it becomes easy for medical representative to remember the theme of detailing
rather than entire detailing story. It is easy for company representative to identify a
brand with a theme than “cram” the entire “story”. Once medical representative is explained
about what each pictorial or graph in detailing chart indicates pertaining to a product, he can
tailor the detailing according to the situation he is faced with. According to the specialization of
Doctors and time available in Doctors’ chamber, he can detail the product. Extending
knowledge about detailing theme would reduce or minimize blunders like explaining about
disease condition to specialist Doctors as mentioned. This would save time, resources and efforts
of the company. Detailing theme also avoids the monotonous repetition of “detailing story” by
medical representative every time he meets Doctor. As against detailing story, “detailing theme”
would add creativity each time MR visits Doctor and Doctor would also be interested in listening
to MR. All the departments of pharmaceutical companies involved in training of MRs should try
to evolve “detailing theme” that would help MRs to be specific and would spare Doctors from
monotonous and repetitive “crammed” story every time MR visits Doctor. Further, it is evident
that in electronic media when products are advertised, they are linked with some theme and thus,
the recall value of the brand is more with theme attached to brand. Same concept could be
extended to pharmaceutical brands when promoting products personally in Doctors chamber.
CONCLUSION:
Robert Jacobson, a professor of marketing at the University of Washington Business School and
colleagues at Columbia University in New York found that in fact, the visits could be
counterproductive.
Doctors rely more heavily on medical journal reports on drugs, he said, and on practice
guidelines issued by various professional groups.
“Many physicians are skeptical of or hold negative attitudes toward sales representatives,” said
Jacobson, whose findings are published in the December issue of Management Science.
“Physicians recognize that information presented is biased toward the promoted drug and is
unlikely to be objective or even accurate,” he added in a statement.
“Thus, physicians often discount information received from a sales representative. As physicians
have access to alternative sources of information, which are more highly regarded, it is no
wonder that the salesperson’s influence is minimal.”
For the study the researchers analyzed data for three widely prescribed drugs.
They assessed the effects of the numbers of sales calls and free samples on how many new
prescriptions each of the 74,000 Doctors wrote.
For one top-selling drug, which was not named, it would take three additional visits by a
pharmaceutical sales representative to induce one new prescription, Jacobson’s study found.
It would take 26 additional free samples to induce the average Doctor to write one new
prescription, they determined.
If you believe that the pharmaceutical companies do not understand this issue, then you are naive
and just fell off the turnip truck. What this study does not measure is the long term multiplier
effect?
Given the profit margin in trade name pharmaceuticals, small changes multiply profits. Influence
rarely shows dramatic effects. Rather the effects are subtle in the short turn, but significant in the
long run.
The pharmaceutical companies understand the influence that their reps have. They are fighting
for market share and trying to hit the occasional home run. Repeated exposure to their drug does
influence us over time.
Perhaps some physicians are more resistant to influence than others. Some physicians read the
literature more carefully, and make their decisions independently. But Abraham Lincoln said it
best many years ago –
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot
fool all the people all the time.
The pharmaceutical companies just want to fool some of the physicians some of the time and
more recently some of the patients much of the time (DTC advertising). They understand that
detailing is imperfect – but they also understand that it does influence. That is why I refuse to
meet with drug reps.
So I am not convinced that this study is titled correctly. Drug reps do influence physicians. The
magnitude is not the issue. The authors collected interesting data, but their interpretation is
(IMHO) faulty
Up till now we have read and learned many facts related to pharma marketing and more
specifically about pharma detailing. But all the above facts are of marketing nature, now we will
look in to the topic as from medical point of view. From our previous reading we came to know
that these detailing folders are design by PMT department of company and member of this team
constitutes mainly pharmacist and management professionals.
PMT dept should keep in mind Doctor while designing Detailing folder. To elaborate this we
give our self a situation in which a MR is detailing its product to a Doctor. This MR has all the
quality which are important, in 10 minute conversation between them, create a good impression
over Doctor, but at the same time it has put Doctor in a state of confusion as to how distinguish
between product of present MR to that of other which has same salt(chemical entity). Now this is
the real task of any firm PMT team to create a distinct identity in front of a Doctor
In a current scenario is a single Doctor is being visited by more than 15 MR in a day and many
of them have medicine of same salt with different brand names. Even every MR meet a Doctor
try to convenience him to prescribe their product and all this put a Doctor in deep confusion, as
to prescribe medicine of which company every clam to be best. This is a point of research as
what according to Doctor will be the most appealing information furnished by any MR.
PHARMACOLOGY: It is a branch of science which study the property of drug and its
action on body. It has two main branches :
1. Pharmacokinetics: it is the study of drug absorption, distribution,
metabolism and excretion.
2. Pharmcodynamics: it is the study of physiological effect of drug on
body.
Now as being a pharmacist we know that pharmacological factors of any salt will remain same
weather it is given in any form. A amoxicillin tablet of Wockhardt and of any Y company will
perform same function for which is intended to, so how will a Doctor evaluate a drug of same
salt by just brand name or name of a company. If it is happening like this is a very dangerous
trend. Because it will lead to only a cat fight between the companies. Being pharmacy graduate
and management professional we need to scoop out our nish, after this long discussion on topic
we can clearly see that biopharmaceutical factor which is off gave importance to drug efficiency
do not play any role in Detailing Information. Now we have to evaluate that how much weight
age to Doctors give to it.
OBJECTIVE
From our long discussion in introduction part we have came up to point where we can coin our
study objectives. These objective are very precise and to the point. Which ultimately help us by
keeping us on track for a sharp pointed research.
We know that Detailing information could be most important source for a Doctor to get precise
information about the product, but unfortunately it do seem to be in the trusted array of Doctor in
gaining information due to various reasons. Due to this reason we need to evaluate the detailed
information.
To peep in to the view of medical practitioners as to them how much importance dose
biopharmaceutical factor carry.
This objective deal with finding the place of biopharmaceutical factor among the other important
factors like Pharmacological, etc.
It is to ask about the best possible collection of information which is required by Doctor in
treating the patient with various biological response characters.
To find what number of representative they meet which provide them needless
information.
This objective is not directly related to the topic but it will tell about the extent of useless
information is pushed to the Doctor desk which is of no help to the end user i.e. the patient.
To find according to them which information is most important for a Doctor to prescribe
brand of particular medicine.
INDUSTRY PROFILE
India's pharmaceutical industry is now the third largest in the world in terms of volume and 14th
in terms of value. According to data published by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry
of Chemicals and Fertilizers, total turnover of India's pharmaceuticals industry between
September 2008 and September 2009 was US$ 21.04 billion. Of this the domestic market was
worth US$ 12.3 billion.
According to a detailed research by Angel Broking in October 2009, by 2015, India is expected
to rank among the top 10 global pharmaceutical markets. The industry is typically growing at
around 1.5-1.6 times the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
Moreover, according to an Ernst & Young and industry body study released in September 2009,
the increasing populations of the higher-income group in the country will, by 2015, open a
potential US$ 8 billion market for multinational companies selling costly drugs. Besides, the
report said the domestic pharma market is likely to touch US$ 20 billion by 2015, making India a
lucrative destination for clinical trials for global giants.
Exports
Export of pharmaceutical products from India increased from US$ 6.23 billion in 2006-07 to
US$ 7.74 billion in 2007-08 and to US$ 7.81 billion in 2008-09—a combined annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 21.25 per cent, according to Minister of State for Commerce, Jyotiraditya M Scindia.
Pharmaceutical exports from the country have recorded growth rates of 21.61 per cent, 14.37 per
cent and 28.54 cent, respectively, in the three consecutive years of 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-
09.
Pharmaceutical exports during April-December 2009 were worth US$ 6.3 billion, according to
the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Growth
The domestic pharma market will outshine the global market, growing at a compounded annual
rate of 12-15 per cent as against a global average of 4-7 per cent during 2008-2013; according to
a study by market research firm IMS, released in October 2009.
According to detailed research by Angel Broking in October 2009, socio-economic factors such
as rising income levels, increasing affordability, gradual penetration of health insurance and the
rise in chronic diseases would see the Indian formulation market touch US$ 13.7 billion by 2013,
at a CAGR of 12.2 per cent over the period from fiscal year 2008 to 2013.
According to the research, the domestic formulation industry had registered a CAGR of 14 per
cent during FY2003-08 from around US$ 3.9 billion to US$ 7.7 billion, outpacing the global
pharma industry growth rate of 7 per cent.
According to a report published by RNCOS in April 2010, called 'Booming Pharma Sector in
India', the industry is projected to continue growing at a CAGR of around 13 per cent during FY
2011-FY 2013. The formulations industry is expected to prosper parallel to the pharmaceutical
industry. It is expected that the domestic formulations market in India will grow at an annual rate
of around 17 per cent in FY 2010, owing to increasing middle class population and rapid
urbanization.
Pharmaceutical Retail
According to a report titled 'India Retail Research 2009' released in August 2009, pharmacy
retail is growing at the rate of 20-25 per cent annually and the organized pharma retail market
size has the potential to grow to US$ 9 billion by the year 2011.
The size of India's pharmacy retail market is estimated at US$ 4.5 billion, which is dominated by
12-15 big players.
Medicine retail chain Guardian Life care plans to double the number of its stores to 400 over the
next two years with an investment of US$ 21.7 million.
According to the latest research published by RNCOS, titled 'Indian Diagnostic Market Analysis'
in January 2010, the Indian diagnostic services are projected to grow at a CAGR of more than 20
per cent during 2010-2012.
Furthermore, according to Hari Bhatia, Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Jubilant Organosys,
the contract research and manufacturing (CRAM) sector is growing at 15 per cent to 20 per cent.
Generics
Indian generic drug makers received half a dozen more approvals from the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) in 2009, over the previous year. Dr Reddy's Laboratories received the
highest number of tentative and final approvals in 2009 at 32, followed by Aurobindo at 26 and
Wockhardt at 23.
According to Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr Srikant Kumar Jena,
India tops the world in exporting generic medicines worth of US$ 11 billion and currently, the
Indian pharmaceutical industry is one of the worlds largest and most developed.
Moreover, the Department of Pharmaceuticals is working with the vision to make India one of
the top five global pharmaceutical innovation hubs by 2020.
With their drug pipelines drying up and more blockbuster drugs going off-patent, MNCs are
looking at alliances for drug co-development, buying or licensing out innovative molecules
which can further be developed into finished drugs.
Government Initiative
100 per cent FDI is allowed under the automatic route in the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector
including those involving use of recombinant technology.
According to the Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr Srikant Kumar Jena,
the Department of Pharmaceuticals has prepared a “Pharma Vision 2020” for making India one
of the leading destinations for end-to-end drug discovery and innovation and for that purpose
provides requisite support by way of world class infrastructure, internationally competitive
scientific manpower for pharma R&D, venture fund for research in the public and private
domain and such other measures.
Investment
The drugs and pharmaceuticals sector has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth
US$ 1.67 billion between April 2000 and February 2010.
The total plan outlay for the Department of Pharmaceuticals for 2009-10 is US$ 36.5
million.
Road Ahead
According to a new report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in April 2010, India will
join the league of top 10 global pharmaceuticals markets in terms of sales by 2020 with the total
value reaching USD 50 billion by then.
Self-reliance displayed by the production of 70% of bulk drugs and almost the
entire requirement of formulations within the country.
Low cost of production.
Low R&D costs.
Innovative Scientific Manpower.
Excellent and world-class national laboratories specialising in process
development and development of cost effective technologies.
Increasing balance of trade in pharma sector.
An efficient and cost effective source for procuring generic drugs especially
the drugs going off patent in the next few years.
An excellent centre for clinical trials in view of the diversity in population.
Annual Turnover Rs. 226 b Growth rate 5.2% Exports Rs. 141 b
Future projections Rs. 1200 b (by McKinsey) by 2010
Share of World Pharma market 1.0% in value 8% in volume terms
Global ranking 13th in value terms 4th in volume terms
Number of Generic Brands over 60,000 in 60 therapeutic categories
Number of units - 10,000 out of which approximately 300 in organized sector
OTC market Rs. 35 b growth 18-20%
Alternative medicine - Herbal / Ayurvedic market Rs. 38 b
Per capita drug expenditure Rs. 220 per annum
Indian Pharma Industry SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Cost Competitiveness
Well-developed industry with strong manufacturing base
Well-established network of laboratories and R&D infrastructure
Access to pool of highly trained scientists, both in India and abroad
Strong marketing and distribution network
Rich biodiversity
Competencies in Chemistry and process development
India has the largest number of US FDA approved plants outside US
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Significant export potential
Licensing deals with MNCs for NCEs & NDDS
Marketing alliances to sell MNC products in Indian market
Contract manufacturing agreements with the MNCs
Potential for developing India as a centre for international clinical trials
Threats
1. Ranbaxy 5252
2. Wockhardt 1251
3. Glaxo 1106
4. Novartis 500
5. Cipla 1842
Future Trends
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial period was full of up’s and down rides, but as the time passes he was able to
establish firmly his small company. It was in 2002 when he thought of entering in to pharmacy
field and his initial product constitute of Glycerin and advance Adhesives. It was in mid of 2003
when he actually ventures into medicine by launching an antiseptic cream Quododerm. It was a
success as both the place and timing was in favour of this new antiseptic cream. Till this time his
small factory has taken a moderate look of Pharma Company and within two years time he also
joined few more product to his product list. Today the present list of product constitute of name
like:
POVIVON
IODIN-POD
VOVINAC
CLOTE-GM
QUODODERM
DERMTELC
I.P. GLYCERINE
I.P. ADHESIVES
Presently he is Managing Director of SISLA LABORATORIES and his company has two basic
functions first to manufacture and sell the above product in Delhi and NCR, secondly his
company provides help to different small Pharma Companies in Market their product.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
‘Research’ in common refers to a search for knowledge. It is a scientific system and search for
pertinent information on a specific topic. It is to analyze and scrutinize the finding to get the fair
and right out come. ‘Methodology’ refers to the method or procedure used to solve the research
problem. Which gives an opportunity to put forth his argument for having opted for certain
alternatives and also he can justify his ruling out other possibility.
Objective of research
The purpose of this research is to find out the best possible mixture of information i.e. scientific
information to be presented in front of a Doctor so as to produce a long lasting impression, to
provide that extra edge to the Doctor which other companies are not providing, to supply only
useful information to the prescriber to make his or her efforts toward the patient more effective.
All this exercise is being conducted to make the time of a Medical Representative inside the
Doctor chamber more productive and informative.
Motivation of research
I have drive my motivation for this research from the experience I get from my working as a
Professional Medical Representative of Dr. Reddy’s Lab before being enrolled for current
Management program. During that period I learned many things like the information provided
by different manufacturers through Detailing folder to the Prescriber were same for a similar
Salt, which do not produce any distinction between the well known Brands, as being Pharmacy
graduate I have knowledge about the factors do affect the quality of prescription. So, driving
out the true useful information directly through the mind of Prescribers is my basic motivation.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Due to very less information available about the topic on internet and due to scarcity of related
books I need to opt for research design which is help full to me in finding the accurate result. So
I am opting for Exploratory Research Design as the topic being very less researched and due to
the nature of the topic it seems to be suitable.
SAMPLE DESIGN
Universe of study
Universe is that specified area in which we can make our study. So the universe of our study is
Doctors. As it has been cleared already that our study is related to research program, so in this
universe our target were the M.B.B.S Doctors, M.D’s. Physician, Therapy Specialist,
Community Doctors strictly speaking all Medical practitioners.
Sample unit
A regular Medical Representative has 180 Doctor in his or her list. Mr. Manish Gupta was
assigned as my Research mate who helps me in meeting the Doctors which are in his list. Present
length of his list constitute of 165 Doctors of West Delhi, so my sample frame constitute of 165
Doctors.
Sampling method
In this Exploratory Research I am opting for Non probability convenience method for sampling.
Sample size
With the help of my manager is SISLA LAB. I chose 50 doctors as my sample size. As Doctors
are busy professionals few of them do not have even 15 min in spare and few can avail spare
time of 30 minutes depending on their extent of practice and area potential. With my Manager
Mr. Bipin Gupta experience of 15 years of professional life and knowing that I have to spent
average 30 in Doctors clinic (15 minutes waiting for the turn and 15 minutes in introducing and
questionnaire filling) sample size of 50 Doctors is suitable for me in training period of 45 days.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
Data source: Sources of collection of data were -: as this topic is very less researched or if it
has been researched data is in private hands of the company. Even after an intensive search on
internet and few related textbooks I am not able to gather sufficient amount of data to support
our study, so I am more heavily relied on my primary data collected by me.
PRIMARY DATA
SECONDAY DATA
Research approaches: The Approach opted for the study is survey. The reason for opting the
survey is that my project is pharma based but still its process exercise can’t be conducted in-
house or in-lab, as it require Doctors response for finding results survey is the best possible
option left for me.
2. SCHEDULE
3. INTERVIEW
The reason for using these instruments is the schedule and timing of a Doctor. As few Doctors
have a very hectic day but few have leisure time in a day depending upon where their clinic is
situated and upon their practice. So those who don’t have a time read questionnaire and write
response on there on help of schedule is taken, in which an enumerator read out question for
Doctor form questionnaire and write the response he get. Other who has time to answer the
questionnaire question air was provided to them. Whereas those Doctor who are too busy and
can’t give us sufficient time not even for Schedule form of questionnaire I opted a very short
personal interview method with them.
It is a brief conducted during short span of time. In order to know the depth one requires a lot of
information, money and involvement of manpower. As is the case with every research effort, this study
also leaves a lot of room for further improvements. The major Limitations of this study are given below.
Biases in the responses cannot be rules out as the questionnaire were filled by human only.
Sudden changes in the programmed of some of the participants at the time of interviews led
to the problem in getting data.
Stick schedule also pose great hurdle in making the Doctor fill the questionnaire.
From my study I have come up to the findings which give satisfactory answers to preset
objectives. My finding has two different kinds of aspects inherited in it one is marketing aspects
and another is medical aspects. So to analyze the finding and to crop out the result we need to
have both marketing and medical temperament.
4. After studying the survey it was clear that all respondent was unanimous on the point
that Information provided by medical representative through the use of Detailing
Literature is not sufficient and they pointed out on the following lacking and
shortcoming :
No one is providing information like side effects and contraindication of their
drug.
List and profile of Interaction of their drug with other available drug in market.
Detailing information of almost all marketers try to create a bright picture of their
product by providing only there positive points but never give full picture by
giving negative points of their product. And according to medical practitioners it
is really a bad and unethical practice.
No one is providing information like biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetics
which are highly useful in treating patient of different background (means age,
sex, genetics).
Every marketer gives more or less same information which always put prescriber
in state of confusion.
Everyone is trying to show there superiority but no one is looking from doctor
and more specifically patient point of view.
5. Over 99% of respondents have agreed with the fact, that biopharmaceutical and
pharmacokinetics information’s are equally important as other pharmacological
information. Which are apparently absent from nearly all Detailing folders?
6. Most reveling and shocking information derived from the survey tell us that out of ten on
an average six medical representative give information which is of no value to the
ultimate user.
7. Survey tells that according to respondents (doctors) most effective Detailing literature
should constitute information like.
More of biopharmaceutical information should be there for better treatment and
comparison.
Marketer should mention information like side effects, contraindication and
interaction in there Detailing literature manual.
Marketer should provide a full picture in front of doctor by giving all the positive
and negative aspects of their product (drug), as drug is related to matter of life
and death. So they should realize there responsibility.
RESULT
After analyzing the findings I have come up to the following result. It tells us that there is a huge
scope of improvement in Detailing Information. In pharmaceutical marketing marketer need to
understand that adding punch line and good looking pictures along with name of the salt and
indication for its use is not enough and it also not full fill the moral responsibility of a marketer
toward the society.
As stated above in finding providing information like side effects, contraindication, interaction in
Detailing Literature provide a competitive edge to the marketer and it help in better
understanding of drug(product). Factor like biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic are very
decisive factor in proper patient treatment and they are must to include in Detailing Literature. It
not only important for proper patient treatment but also help in getting a separate place in mind
of customer (doctor).
CONCLUSION
I am now is a state where I can safely give proper conclusion to my survey. This conclusion is
free from any biasness, all the concluding facts directly derived from the finding itself and very
direct in its approach. My conclusion contain following points:
1) As there is always scope of improvement in every sphere of life like wise there is huge
scope of improvement in Detailing Literature.
2) Providing right and complete is not only a duty of marketer but it is his responsibility
also.
3) We say safely that adding side effects, contraindication and interaction information to the
Detailing Literature definitely improve the quality and also help in creating a special
place in mind of customer.
4) Including information of Bio-pharmaceutical and Pharmacokinetic factor help in building
a sharp contrast between two similar products, it even help the doctor in better treatment
of different patients which is the ultimate goal of both marketer and doctor.
5) As above facts says more than 6 medical representative out of 10 provide needless
information to the doctor, it tell the scope of improvement available in pharma marketing.
6) Almost 100% respondent agreed with the fact that Bio-pharmaceutical information
should be included Detailing Literature.
7) Customer (doctors) regards those marketers who provide a complete picture of their
product (drug) in front of them, but not those who only give positive points of their
product.
At last I safely conclude my project by stating that after implementing all the above findings to
the Detailing Literature a marketer can not only improve the quality of interaction between
medical representative and doctor but also reduce its labor in doctor office by creating a good
impression in first time. And hence by this any marketer can improve its productivity and
profitably of company.
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