Video
Pharma companies in Europe face an increasing demand to prove the value of their medicines. From the proliferation of data to the declining importance of sales reps, shifts in the industry are forcing drug makers to change their approach to sales. Michael Kunst, who leads Bain's Healthcare practice in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, shares three important considerations for pharma companies rethinking their operating model.
Read the Bain Report: Front Line of Healthcare Report 2016
Read the transcript below.
MICHAEL KUNST: The pressure to lower cost and improve patient outcomes has led European healthcare providers to really take a more systematic approach when it comes to prescribing drugs. We see that procurement officers' influence grows. Yet, European physicians still remain relatively independent as compared to their US counterparts when it comes to selecting drugs.
Those are some of the findings of Bain's 2016 European Front Line of Healthcare Report, where we surveyed over 1,200 physicians across four countries and eight specialties. What that means for pharma companies is that there's an increasing demand to really prove the value of their medicines. They have to focus on patient-generated data as well as real-world data.
Another important finding is that we see that the role of the traditional sales rep is really decreasing. Only 43% of physicians named a sales rep [as] a top-three source of information, and that number's down about 10% from only two years ago. Physicians really look for more unbiased sources of information, and pharma companies have to adapt to that.
We also see that category leaders, those companies who really dominate a category or therapeutic area, enjoy higher levels of physician trust as well as advocacy. So, to conclude, this means three things for pharma companies as they think about their operating model. They really have to focus more on generating real-world data, they have to focus on providing unbiased medical information through different sources, and really develop new channels of information and interaction with physicians and other stakeholders.
Read the Bain Report: Front Line of Healthcare Report 2016
First published in November 2016