It's a point of time that appears forever on the near-distant horizon...
As an agency that has supported the pharma industry for more than twenty years, we wanted to address these questions for two reasons.
First, to give something back. Our job as communicators is to distil vast amounts of information into something understandable and useful.
Second, as an agency with expertise in live meetings and events, we wanted to better understand the newly emerging needs of our clients in order to offer better solutions.
With this dual purpose, we conducted over 40 interviews with clients from 10 big pharma companies as well as start-up biotechs, academia, and agencies. Their roles spanned commercial, medical, access, pricing, patient engagement, research, and more.
This paper aims to break down industry silos to allow diverse stakeholders to hear each other’s perspectives. At the same time, it puts a few stakes in the ground to help pharma professionals better understand where things are now and what the future might hold.
Those we spoke with had given these questions a lot of thought even before we asked them and were eager to have their say. This could be due to the special role the pharma industry played in the pandemic. While all industries have been impacted, and many have been instrumental in the global response, it was all eyes on pharma for the Holy Grail of solutions – an effective vaccine.
Had COVID-19 been a computer virus, it would have been the tech industry in the spotlight and we would have been counting on the world’s best coders to save the day.
Not only would the tech industry be disrupted by the virus, but it would also be further disrupted by pulling out all the stops to fight it. This is what happened to pharma. Many pharma companies became household names in the process. Perhaps this impact led our respondents to reflect profoundly on their profession and search their souls to see how we should move forward.
There was a high degree of alignment on six key points, while five others had an almost perfect symmetry of opposing views. We will address them in that order.
COVID was an accelerator of change, not a creator of change. The evolution of digital, rise of telehealth, reinvention of congresses, rethinking the role of the sales rep, move to remote working, and replacing business travel with virtual communication were all already in the works. The pandemic fast-forwarded changes that would have taken years or decades and materialized them overnight.
Collaboration within the industry as a whole made the epic pace of innovation possible. Had pharma taken a purely competitive approach to development, manufacturing and distribution, the vaccines would not be available today. This effective collaboration included health authorities as well.
The role of the primary care sales representative is massively in question. The reason is simple: in primary care, a lack of interaction with HCPs did not harm sales. While some salespeople have found brilliant ways to add value to customers virtually, none of our respondents are putting in effort to sustain the “tell and sell” model. In primary care, and some have said in specialty as well, considerations to replace sales representatives with other factors and systems is a pressing concern.
Public health data must be treated for what it is: essential to human health in a global world. The fact that the data contained in electronic health files cannot be instantly and seamlessly shared is a serious limitation that the public must face and debate. While there are no easy answers, the status quo is not acceptable.
Business travel had gotten irrationally and irresponsibly out of hand, draining resources that could be better focused on helping patients. At minimum 50% of it was of low or no value. The other 50%, however, is critical. Continuing to forge high-quality, trusted relationships regardless of the technology used is essential to the “new normal” (a term that seems to satisfy no one but remains the best we’ve got).
Congresses have been long overdue for disruption. Like business travel, the sheer number of big events had grown beyond reason, some becoming too extravagant in size and scope. While the value of networking and learning in person is not in dispute, the need to fly thousands of miles to meet a large number of people in giant venues most certainly is.
Love it. Some answers we got: Best thing about the crisis. We’ll never go back to the office like before. I’m more productive. I’ve never felt closer to my manager. I even started a new job just fine. With no commute, I have my family life back. I will work remotely indefinitely.
Hate it. Reasons being: Work is just an endless series of video calls. I might be more productive but there is no culture or connection. We are drawing down on previously established relationships, not building new ones. It’s isolating and much harder to lead. I can’t wait to go back.
Pharma has been recognized for what it’s all about: science. Our core business is healthcare and now “we have revealed our core.” People saw us collaborate to save the world and that has raised their estimation of our industry. “I am proud to be part of the industry.”
Pharma has been recognized for what it’s all about: business. Sure, for a very brief moment our reputation was improved, but look at how AstraZeneca was treated. Everyone wants free vaccines and when they realize we can’t give them at no cost, we’re right back to where we started. People say: “You don’t build trust with money.”
On these topics, the split of opinion was uncanny. It was as if people had visited the same planet but came away with diametric impressions. How could the experiences, perceptions, predictions and opinions of people in the same industry be so perfectly opposed? And for some people the paradox split was within themselves, giving them a feeling of living in two worlds simultaneously, particularly for paradox #1.
Information has been set free. Patients have proven they can understand science when they are presented with facts in a clear and transparent way. The layperson has demonstrated an ability to learn scientific concepts, as well the complexities of research and development, regulatory challenges, manufacturing, distribution and cost. Don’t underestimate the public!
Misinformation has been set free. Patients have proven conspiracy theories are alive and well. Pseudoscience is clickbait and laypeople armed with fake science are happy to spread it far and wide. “How to regulate Social Media for healthcare? Extremely worrying!” Like COVID-19 itself, conspiracies have new variants keeping authorities occupied. Don’t underestimate the public!
The pace of bringing vaccines to the market far exceeded expectations, matching only the very best-case scenarios. The fact that 36 million jabs are administered around the world every day is a miracle of modern science. The people with the “science will win” t-shirts were right, only they should have printed “ahead of schedule” on the back. Pharma should take a victory lap.
We have only just begun. Only 1.6 percent of people in low-income countries have had at least one dose. Countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam are experiencing the worst part of the crisis so far with cases on the steep incline. Africa’s total vaccination rate is just 4.6%. Pharma still has a long way to go and must stay in the fight.
We have finally joined the digital revolution. Our customers want a digital relationship like they have with Amazon. Digital engagement allows for consistent messaging, compliance, deeply personalized communication, speed, efficiency and convenience. Say goodbye to in-person sales calls, say hello to Alexa.
We have finally realized authentic human relationships are at the heart of our business. We might travel less, but we will connect more. Our HCPs have gotten to know us more personally as we have been inside each other’s homes via Zoom. Our industry will be more human than ever. Say goodbye to in-person sales calls, say hello to virtual calls.
Think of a teenager going through a rapid growth spurt. They feel like aliens in their own bodies, like the scene in Avatar when Jake wakes up in his giant blue body for the first time: a combination of exhilaration and chaos. The rapid evolution of pharma seems to have industry people feeling the same way: thrilled with what their new digital/remote/data-driven body can do, but also a little bewildered and unsure of how to channel these newly found capabilities.
So, what needs to change? We received a long list of specifics that can be summarized in three themes:
1. Keep as many of the positive outcomes as possible. There is a palpable sense the silver linings could easily disappear without vigilance.
2. Don’t stop accelerating the changes that are finally underway. Moving at a faster pace is refreshing particularly for those focused on helping patients.
3. Sustainability is essential. Between fearing burnout from long days of video calls and concerns about the climate crisis, the phrase “we need to make this sustainable” came up again and again.
If the former was your faithful neighbourhood bookstore, the latter is something akin to “Pharma Prime.” The question for many will be, is this the kind of industry we signed up for?
At Audience, we want to help advance the process of understanding our strange new world as rapidly as possible to help create meaningful change. Never waste a crisis, they say, and we agree. Together, let’s find as many silver linings as we can. The path forward is through quality conversations, aiming not at a certain quantity of “likes” but rather the impact of our decisions.