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Every accounting system measures cash, deferrals and accruals according to Generally Accepted Accounting Standards. Every accounting system outputs various statements and reports that show the financial health of the company at a point i

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

n time. Law, investors and common sense usually require this. But does your accounting system give you the kind of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you need to insure your business is one to take pride in?

KPIs – A BEGINNER’S LIS

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

Examples of combination products may in

T

Do you have a KPI list? Every business is different and therefore, different KPIs are important to each. In choosing the KPIs you want to monitor, cast a wide net. Choose all that you think may be appropriate. Eventually, as you ga

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

in experience monitoring them and seeing how each relates to your overall business picture, you may weed some out as not relevant.

Here are some monthly KPIs every small business should consider monitoring:

• Count and approximate amoun

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

t of leads • Count and amount of sales • Profitability per product • Number of telephone sales made • Marketing expenses • Count and amount of outstanding opportunities • Referrals gained • Testimonials received • Number of sales calls pe

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

Combination pro

sales rep • Customer complaints • Standard cash flow report • Debtors’ report • Creditors’ report

These items are then distributed to key personnel for evaluation. Management gets together monthly to discuss them and brainstorm on ways

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

to improve their numbers. They note any standard symptoms that lead to lack of business success and take measures to correct them and avoid them in the future. The following are some common symptoms ones to watch out for through the us

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

e of your KPIs.

PROBLEMS TO BE AVOIDED WITH GOOD KPIs

Less than 10% of opportunities are converted to sales. Do you have leads that are not followed up on, or worse yet, not followed up on adequately? Depending on the source, a lead c

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

an be one of your best opportunities for a sale. Study your leads before they are contacted. What are they looking for? Let that guide your initial discussions with them.

You have a product that has been loosing money consistently. S

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

urprisingly, this is a common problem. When companies don’t look at products individually in terms of their costs vs. their revenues, they are doing themselves a big disservice. In fact, you can have a product that makes you more reven

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

e than any other product, but if you’re spending more to make and market it than your receive in sales, it’s still best to ditch it, or at least find a way to reduce costs. You can’t make these determinations without good product profita

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

Following aspects would a

bility reports.

The sale team is not following your defined sales processes. This could have a number of consequences, not the least of which is that you can’t count on your accounting and management reports to accurately reflect what i

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

s actually happening in the company. You must always know what your sales team is doing and how they are doing it. Remember that they represent you. For legal and financial purposes, they ARE you!

Communications failures between indiv

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

iduals and departments are frequent. This can result in lost income and/or increased costs; neither of which should be tolerated. Don’t let your business fail because one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.

There is no consisten

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

t pricing being used. This must be standardized, usually as a legal requirement. It is illegal to discriminate by giving one customer a better price than another for substantially the same product or service.

Customer complaints are on

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

the rise, always a significant indicator that something in your organization has gone awry. Do the complaints indicate a problem in a pinpointed area of the sales or receivables cycle? Pin it down, analyze it and correct the process to

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

prevent future recurrences.

There is no process to evaluate customer satisfaction. If you don’t know what your customers think of you, find out! There are many ways to do this. You should have some type of regular communication with t

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

hem. Try a newsletter which encourages customer comments. Or perhaps you could send out a survey periodically to gauge their satisfaction.

There is no process to gather customer referrals. If your customers are very happy, encourage t

.

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

hem to spread the word. Your best customers’ recommendations are another excellent source for new leads. Ask them to recommend you. It couldn’t hurt!

SUMMARY

It is the responsibility of every business owner to ensure the business is

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

performing efficiently and especially, profitably! Key Performance Indicators can be a big help in this duty and can usually be integrated into a good accounting system to produce necessary management reports on a monthly or faster basis

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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