Zoomedia Blog
A few nights ago I found myself in an interesting situation - I was at Matt Gonzalez birthday party at his home and the traditional “what do you do for a living” question came up in a conversation circle. For those who don’t know Matt, he is an American liberal politician, lawyer and activist, prominent in San Francisco politics and also the vice presidential candidate for Ralph Nader. The people in the circle were either activists or artists, and when I said that I worked in marketing for the life sciences industry there was no shortage of reproachful looks and one brave man who asked me in a disapproving tone ‘do you mean you work for the pharmaceutical industry?’.
So I found myself defending marketing, technology and the Pharma industry - this was new to me as I am usually the most liberal person in a conversation. The surprising thing was that I actually had passionate and sound arguments that led to a great discussion that had a very positive outcome. Here were my arguments:
The accelerated emergence of technology on the Internet and in the Lifesciences (biotech, pharma, diagnostics) in the last few years has fostered a strong trend towards individual empowerment through information and transparency; the individual in this case being the patient. The explosion of user generated content and Web 2.0 tools has allowed Internet users to share their voice and organize, become lobbyists, opinion leaders and fundraisers without leaving their café or home. The same tools are helping Pharma to get closer to their audiences and grow from traditional marketing practices towards patient education and knowledge sharing. The informed patient is now demanding more research on specific disease states, better value medicines and transparency from the industry.
Parallel technology advances in biomarker discovery and diagnostics have prompted the recent momentum in personalized medicine. The development of drug/diagnostics combinations allows physicians to prescribe treatments that work for specific patient groups, based on their genetic make and disease conditions. Personalized medicine also brings unequivocal value to the entire Pharma industry, partly due to its capacity to rescue drug candidates that would otherwise be doomed because they are of equivocal clinical utility.
In the end, the victory is shared by everyone: the patient is more educated and will receive more efficient and targeted treatment, and pay less for it; the Pharma industry slowly regains its public trust by offering more affordable and efficient therapies; and I was able to enjoy the rest of the party as my audience seemed convinced that although not an activist I was working towards similar goals to theirs.
Tags: Personalized Medicine, Product Strategy, Global Strategy