Posts
Market Access has become the most important strategic pillar in pharma and with this the most overused business cliche.
When you look at the focus, experience and expertise of most Market Access teams in the UK it is not difficult to see who the important stakeholders are; Health Technology Appraisal and the dreaded 'Payor' (is it just me who hates this term?).
In order to look like we are tackling this key challenge we have developed a whole new KOL landscape based around 'commissioning'.
This translates in the field as forcing our pre and post marketing messages on overworked 'Prescribing Advisors' and 'Medicines Management' (both hilariously ironic job titles that could come straight out of 1984). If we are lucky we get to work with more senior, genuine commissioners.
It is very difficult in these circumstances to communicate the true value of our medicines to society and even harder to translate this into the dramatic personal impact this could have on someones life.
Unfortunately it often means high level sales teams renamed and re-skilled, interacting with cynical under informaed NHS Management and Pharmacy Staff who should be ashamed of their respect and understanding of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK.
The funny thing is that in the new environment the most important people to Market Access are the patients and carers themselves. How many MA teams have the expertise to deal with that? Because of the understandable focus and talent set to work on HTA, they are often not even on the radar let alone part of a strategy.
The explosion in new media has completely changed the way we interact with each other and the world around us. The NHS has always managed resources through Demand, if people did not know about a drug or service then their local GP wasn't going to be the one to tell them about it. Google, Facebook, Twitter, PatientsLikeMe has changed all of this.
If you are not getting the best treatment then you will know about it and probably do something about it.
NHS, Nice, SMC and AWMG have one thing in common, they are scared to death of the patient voice.
Bring on the new world, I would not want to be the one telling a person caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's they are not worth the investment in new therapy, or crushing new hope in a patient dying of cancer.
