Pharma and Twitter - Patients and Providers but what about Operations?
Written By: Brian Daleiden
Friday, October 30, 2009
I have been keeping an eye on Twitter for a while now. Not that I paint
myself as an expert by any stretch of the imagination and Tweeting is
still more of an activity that I consciously force myself to think about
rather than feeling it is part of my DNA. A little different than, say,
our own Peter Spellman here who I swear needs a third hand just to keep
up with all the ideas that he would like to convey. Can you say
drinking from the fire hose??
Much of the buzz about Tweeting usually centers on its usage for
personal interests. A 24x7 channel for thoughts and ideas that you want
to share. What has been on my mind lately, though, has been the
business communications side of the issue. In that light, any new
bi-directional channel that enables me to listen to what others have to
say and improves my ability to communicate back to them is great.
A recent post
by ePharmaRx
got me thinking more about how this channel is used and viewed by the
Pharmaceutical industry. As ePharmaRx comments, many pharmaceutical
companies have just started to "officially" Tweet in the past year. This
is somewhat understandable given the concerns noted in several places
over the liability issues involved, particularly in the patient care
arena. Certainly, these official channels are somewhat separated from
the individual discussions that pharma employees have already opened via
Twitter.
So what about the operational groups and Twitter? How do the people
leading the charge in manufacturing, supply chain, contract outsourcing
and other functions view and use it? Based on my conversations with
people in these areas, the responses are all over the map. Some are
starting to find it a valuable new channel for "pushed" information from
companies and individuals which they can take note of if interested or
ignore if not. Others are keeping Twitter solely in the personal realm,
for now.
This is an issue that we here at TraceLink are looking at closely. Today
there are such a variety of ways for us to share information about what
we are doing, listen to what others are doing and gain quick, pointed
feedback on key issues. What exactly is the right role in B2B for the
140 character soundbite?
Pharmaceutical Supply Network Challenges Continue According to IMS Health Forecast
Written By: Brian Daleiden
Friday, October 23, 2009
Based on the recently released IMS Health industry forecast, it looks like the
macroeconomic trends driving increased complexity in pharmaceutical
manufacturing (both organic and contract manufacturing), supply chain
operations and sourcing will continue to grow. The question facing the
planning and operations leaders in these areas is how to get ahead of
this curve.
According to the new report, the seven "Pharmerging" markets comprised
of China, Brazil, India, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey and Russia will
contribute more than half of the expected global market growth in 2009.
While this share in 2009 is higher than the recent historical average,
these seven markets will be the source of more than 40 percent of total
global growth through 2013. This trend isn't surprising as these
countries are still climbing up the curve of broad access to primary
care, particularly in rural areas. Improved health insurance access is
stimulating improved health care regimens while the traditional focus on
acute care and infectious disease treatment is giving way to a new
focus on longer-term care of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular
diseases and diabetes.
As this trend shows no signs of abating anytime soon, the question that
has been facing many of our customers is: Do we make tactical
adjustments in our manufacturing and supply chain plans or is now the
time to look at a strategic change in the way we do business? Markets
are becoming increasingly global yet at the same time the specific
desires of each country and region are becoming more local. In parallel,
the growing emphasis on operational improvement stimulates a desire for
global sourcing and global access to contract manufacturing, packaging
and distribution partners. This push into a more virtual environment is
straining traditional management processes and technologies to the
limit.
Is now the time to completely reexamine the foundation that all this
operates on?
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