NPP is under the support team of the sales and marketing department. When a new product is launched by Merck HQ, plans are already underway for the registration and launch of those products in Malaysia. It takes almost 2-3 years prelaunch to start arranging the timelines before it can actually be marketed to the customers. This is where the NPP department comes in. The NPP takes the lead to implement all the groundwork for the product (registration, awareness, market plan etc.) before it is passed on to a new Product Manager (PM) which will then be responsible for the product all the way until it is launched.
However, not all the new products from the pipeline is launched. Those that show superiority to current treatments definitely have their selling points, and are of caused arranged for launching. There are some products that show inferiority to current products, and therefore are not approved for launching. Some previously potential products may also be retracted back from launching if there are new clinical evidence to state the inferiority of that product. There are also some products that are only made available as a life-saving product, not launched to the market for sale. These products are ordered on special request by certain doctors if all other products fail to treat the patient and they think that the said product from the company may be able to save the patient.
A few new terms we learned today. Branded generics (BGx) are generic products which have the identical active ingredient molecule as the innovator product (for example Zocor simvastatin from MSD and its branded generic such as simvastatin by Ranbaxy). Innovative generics (IGx) are products which consist of different combination of generics (such as losartan with simvastatin, both off-patent) which are improved versions of generic products.
We also learned that in Malaysia, all generic products must have evidence of bioequivalence compared to the innovator product before it is approved for registration. This means that for example, theoretically, all the copy-cat products of simvastatin should give the same therapeutic effect as the original simvastatin Zocor. However, there are other factors which influence patients to still buy Zocor over other generics and that is altogether a separate matter.
The NPP department works hand in hand with the other support teams like Market Access, Medical Affairs, Regulatory, and Clinical Trials Organization, which all the information is gathered to be submitted to the directors for discussion and approvals. Because ultimately, when you're at the top, you don't need to do the compilation work but your decisions matter very much on these analysis, which will also decide the fate of the company.
Business Development (BD) is a very new concept introduced into the pharma industry (around 2010). It is aimed to increase sales growth through partnerships with other pharma companies. Recently we hear things like mergers & aquisitions, joint ventures, outsourcing sales to a third party company....these are all business deals which needs a whole new area of expertise to deal with. Some business deals like co-promotion are very small deals between companies which are relatively easy to implement. Co-promotion is partnering with another company to sell your product, under the same brand name.
Then there are more complicated deals such as co-marketing, which is partnering with another company to sell the same active molecule drug, but under different brand names. This is more complicated as it involves more regulatory approvals, more awareness effort among customers etc.
Then there are the most complicated deals such as acquisition and joint ventures. Acquisition is like MSD merging with Schering-Plough (sort of like englufing the other company), so everything needs to be changed into MSD. Joint ventures is partnership between two companies to sell the same brand name. This is very complicated as it involves the alignment of marketing plan, approvals on both sides on every single aspect.
Before every deal is made, there are appropriate processes to identify and select the best partner out of a few partners that were approached. It's kind of like a "audition" whereby partners are selected based on scores and criteria met. This takes up to years before any signature is signed on the agreement, which then only the deal can be implemented. Therefore, for deals to be significantly profitable, it has to generate tens of millions of USD, on top of the sales target of that product! That amount is impossible to generate from the Malaysia market alone. It is only possible in a regional context (South East Asia for example). Therefore, deals are normally done on a regional to global scale. MSD - Schering Plough, for example, is a global deal.
That is why it is very beneficial for one to work in a global company as it involves many of these huge-scale processes. In turn, you can learn alot compared to working in smaller companies.
Got this image from Google...our office building
The supermarket at ground floor, where we can buy fruits after lunch....
Anybody live near digital mall, you just have to try this curry mee. It's not too spicy, but the curry is somehow sweet! Try it some time =D
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