Cases - Business

My new-grad correspondent, Emily, wrote to ask me about company research. I always tell job-seekers to research t

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

he companies they are approaching. It’s ESSENTIAL. I don’t think that there is any better or clearer differentiat

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

Examples of combination products may in

r between average candidates and outstanding ones, than the level of understanding of the company’s business that

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

each candidate brings.

Let me be more specific. Here are ten things you should find out about a company BEFORE

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

ou go on a job interview (and in the best case, before you compose a written overture to the company):

1) what t

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

Combination pro

eir business is - not at the level that you can spout it back to them (like, “SAP makes enterprise software”) but

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

at the level that you can EXPLAIN it in layman’s terms. What is enterprise software, exactly? You’d better be ab

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 to answer that question if you want to get a second interview with SAP.

2) who their competitors are.

3) appr

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

oximately how large the company is (in dollar sales) and where its major plants/office are located.

4) the owner

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

hip of the company - is it private, is it publicly traded?

5) the leadership of the company - at least a little

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

it of knowledge about the CEO and other chief officers - bring notes to the interview if you need to.

6) BIG NEW

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

Following aspects would a

S that the company has experienced in the last 12 or 18 months - especially acquisitions, mergers, big product la

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

nches and other major initiatives.

7) The major divisions or other organizational splits in the company.

8) A b

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

it about the company’s history. Was it founded last year, or in 1877?

9) Industry news that’s not specific to th

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

s employer: for instance, a big regulatory change or a big merger that didn’t include “your” company.

10) Some s

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

nse, however elementary, of how the company competes in the marketplace: on cost? product features? what does you

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

r research tell you?

You'll find that it's very helpful to create a document (an Excel spreadsheet if you're a r

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

ws-and-columns type, a Word document if you're more comfortable with a paragraph format) to capture this informat

.

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

ion. Your storehouse of company knowledge will be invaluable not only ON the job interview, but in GETTING the jo

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

interview in the first place - if you interject some relevant datapoints into your cover letter, too.

Good luck

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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Learn key tips for how to raise your profile at work - letting other people know about your positive feedback, finding out what your boss wants, looking braider than your role, keeping your boss informed, thinking about image, thinking like a boss and more. Read on to find out what to do.

If you want to start a business career, the choices open to you are vast. Not only do you need to consider the type of business you want to be in, but the type of work within that business. This is the first of a series of articles on what to consider for a business career.

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