INDUSTRY: LIFESCIENCES

Background:

Over 36 million people have been infected by COVID-19 globally. In India, the number of cases
has increased exponentially from 470 in March to over 6M in early October, within a span of 8
months. While public policy measures have been implemented to contain the spread of COVID-
19, the measures have resulted in significant operational disturbances for many companies
including those in the Indian healthcare industry.

This comes as a challenge for pharmaceutical companies in particular. Medical Representatives

or MRs are key players that act as the interface between the pharmaceutical industry and the
medical profession. They play a crucial role in establishing a brand which essentially is a stamp
of approval of organized medicines. As an asset of pharma marketers, the meetings between
doctors and MRs were considered to be the backbone of the marketing strategy of every
pharma company. These MRs would be responsible for the sale of drugs and would often
distribute new launches as samples.

But the ongoing pandemic has urged the healthcare sector to operate in an all-new setting - the
virtual landscape. Both patients and doctors have got accustomed to the new normal of virtual
diagnosis. Not only this, the doctors are overworked, a lot more than ever before. They have
plenty on their plate already and dedicating time to interact with MRs from pharma companies
during this state of turmoil is only an added responsibility.
As per the current situation and stats, more than 40% of healthcare providers are known to have
laid restrictions on the entry of individuals in offices for professional reasons, which blatantly
means that no pharmaceutical reps will be allowed. To add to this, 28% of these HCPs are
planning to implement these restrictions permanently! With the pharma companies’ only channel
of communication with doctors being severed, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that now is the time
for companies in the pharmaceutical sector to step out and redefine their relevance!

Therefore, the relationship between pharma sales representatives and that of HCPs will have to
be tailored to suit the situation and better means of establishing connections will have to be
devised.

Pharmaceutical companies from all around the world are racing to launch an effective vaccine.
There are 3 companies that are ahead in this race than the others and it is believed that the one
launching the vaccine first will be able to capture the highest market share.

All about the company

ABC pharmaceuticals is a part of this race too, trying to do it all from their side to launch the
vaccine as soon as possible. As a leader in the pharmaceutical industry, they see medicines as
not just molecules but as means that have the potential to help patients regain their health. They
abide by a vision to promote good health and that help is assured and delivered to those who
need it.

But they believe that execution will play a key role to win this race in the long run and the one
that has the capability to communicate and distribute the vaccine to all the stakeholders
involved will finally be able to capture the highest market share.

But distributing the vaccine to people is a tedious task. Especially during these times of COVID
when supply chains are disrupted, it has become difficult to make products available timely.
Where efficient communication and process flow are required at each layer of the supply chain,
only fear and confusion prevail in the minds of people. Thus, the right estimation of supply and
demand is required.

Opportunities and Challenges

A typical day of a sales representative begins with daily calls (meetings) with clients or doctors
based on the specialty assigned to them. In it only after visiting the doctor that the sales rep is
able to pitch the sample and product to him. Depending on how whether or not the doctor is
convinced to prescribe the said medicine, the sale is made.

The representative later goes on to verify with local distributors and chemists whether the doctor
is actually prescribing the given medicine or not. Post this check, the representative updates his
meetings on the digital portal on his company. His incentives depend on the number of calls he
is able to make and consequently the sale of the product.
But the pandemic has changed the working of the system entirely.

The representatives are now working from home, using digital channels to communicate with
doctors. To earn incentives, the number of calls a representative is required to make digitally
has considerably increased as compared to that of face-to-face calls.

On the positive side, the manufacturing operations of pharma companies haven’t stopped. Also,
they have witnessed higher sales as people are stocking up on medicines, fearing shortages in
the coming days.

During these unprecedented times, a number of challenges have come to light, especially in the
pharmaceutical industry. A few of them are mentioned below:

● In March this year, the Indian Medical Association had levied a ban on the calls of
Medical Representatives. Many states had even suspended the visits of sales
executives of pharmaceutical companies.
● Also, during the period of work from home of the sales representatives of pharma
companies, the field force employees were not eligible for daily field work allowances.
● Keeping the pandemic in mind, several pharmaceutical companies have decided to
allow medical representatives to work from home, thereby cutting off their in-office
communication with doctors and healthcare professionals.
● Sun Pharma, in a statement said that they have been trying to adopt the use of virtual
collaboration tools and digital technology and to ensure business continuity, employees
were made to work on rotation, wherever necessary.
● The companies say that the traceability and effectiveness of a digital call is something
that the industry is still working to figure out. So, the pharma companies have to invest in
digital technologies to monitor the productivity of their sales force.

The Solution

ABC pharmaceuticals seek your advice on how they can inform, and engage various
stakeholders to make their vaccine a success. Here is what you need to do:

1. Outline the supply chain and logistics issues that ABC pharmaceuticals may face.
● Suggest an efficient/optimized business model that can eliminate these
challenges.

2. Once the logistics issues have been identified and thought through, there would arrive
the ethical issues of which segment of the population to distribute the vaccine first.
Keeping this in mind and considering the wide array of communities in India, what
factors should be responsible for deciding this?
 ● Using these factors and giving suitable data points and reasons, suggest the final
roll-out strategy to the entire country with tentative timelines, make assumptions
wherever necessary.

3. "Covid-19 vaccine is one product that will require little to no marketing or communication
since its demand is already huge." Using relevant data from the public domain,
validate/invalidate the given statement.
● Based on your findings, if you agree to the above statement, suggest the most
important strategies to ensure a better market share than the competitors,
assuming all three competitors complete the vaccine production around the same
time.
● If you disagree with the statement, provide a marketing communication strategy
that you believe should be essential to the success of ABC's vaccine.

4. What are the tools and technologies that can help in devising a comprehensive
ecosystem that enhances the customer experience of all the stakeholders from
distributors to sales reps to end consumers?

5. On a final note, how should the business operate such that ABC pharmaceuticals is
visualized as a responsible corporate citizen while working towards achieving its
business goals?

Wishing you all the best