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A strong marketing plan needs to start with a clear understanding of the Vision of your company or business unit. Marketing is a powerful tool when used properly, but it will not get you anywhere unless you kn

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ow where you want to go. Therefore the first step in your planning exercise is to establish a Vision for your organization. You can define Vision as what you want your business to be in 1, 2 and 5 years with r

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

spect to sales, image, products, customers and staff.

From this point you need to set some Vision oriented goals. These goals can be very simple, but should be written. Examples are sales in units or dollars,

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

sales growth, profit, change in image, number of leads generated, changes in customer satisfaction, etc.

Next comes the tactical plan. That is, what are you going to do? Advertising, direct marketing, PR, p

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

omotions, etc. Write them down with some expectation of what they are to accomplish and who is responsible for doing each activity.

Infrastructure improvements follow. Tracking systems, the creation of a sal

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

es process (Create image & interest, get leads, and make sales), training, sales & distribution channels and location are all areas were the marketing function might find improvement.

Now create a timeline. W

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

at is going to be done, when and by whom? This can be done on a spreadsheet or written on a chalk board I conference room. It really doesn’t matter how it its recorded, just make sure that this is done, and re

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

view it once a month. Don’t panic if the timeline starts to change. As a matter of fact you should start getting concerned if it never changes. The timeline as well as the entire marketing plan is a fluid en

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ity and it will change over time. Things will get pushed back, some will get completed ahead of schedule, others will get deleted before they get started and new items will be added. As long as all of this is

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

done in a deliberate, intelligent manner change is good.

Finally create and use metrics. Use your vision-oriented goals to create measurement criteria that will gage the success of the plan and its implementa

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

ion. When all is said and done, no one marketing activity is terribly difficult to accomplish. Likewise, no single activity will make or break an organization. It is the continuous cycle of learning, thinkin

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

and doing that makes the difference between long-term success and failure.

Uncle Marty

Everyone has an uncle they like to tell stories about. I am no exception. My uncle’s name is Marty, and he just happen

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

s to be an accomplished sales and marketing professional. Despite the fact that we do discuss our common profession when we get together these days, I want to share something I learned from Uncle Marty when I

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

as a kid. You see, Uncle Marty taught me how to ski, and two of the things he taught me apply in the world of marketing as well as in life in general.

Lesson one: Keep your knees bent and stay out of the wood

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

s. It’s obvious how this advice would come in handy while skiing. Keeping our knees bent teaches us to stay flexible, and adapt to our terrain. In marketing as with skiing we will have our steep slopes, bump

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

, and icy patches, and flexibility enables us to keep our balance and continue to move forward. Those who are rigid crash. Staying out of the woods is common sense safety. In marketing this principal teaches

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

us that companies have distinct paths cut out before them, and we need to take the company where it is meant to go. That’s not to say we should not take risks (after all skiing itself is a risky endeavor) but

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

our risks should play to the strengths of our organization.

Lesson two: If you’re not falling down, you’re probably not trying hard enough. There is no set formula for marketing. It is a long-term experimen

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

t in which we use the information available to us, make the best decisions we can and see how it works. We then use the results of that experiment to improve our next effort and so on. When we do this we will

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

fall down from time to time and make a marketing mistake, but using this method allows to continuously improve our marketing, and it helps prevent us from getting blind sided by unexpected changes in the market

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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The letters CPA mean a Certified Public Accountant to the professional business world. They also mean that a person has received a very broad-based education, has passed all parts of the CPA exam, and has the knowledge, skills and abilities to be a trusted business advisor to clients or employer. But what must one do in actuality to become a CPA?

Choose your Philosophy Every business needs to find a way to become recognizable. Whether this be a household name or a product that has a niche' market only to a select group of people, it's important to have a good brand to your target customers, and a positive vibe among your repeat customers. One way this can be accomplished is...

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