Cases - Business

Many people get confused by the term marketing. To clear a common misconception up, marketing is not a synonym for sales. Sales is the process of selling a product or service, while marketing

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

is the process of creating customers and keeping current customers. Sales is part of marketing, but it's not the bulk of it. Marketing covers a lot of things, advertising, promotions, publicit

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

Examples of combination products may in

y, public relations, customer service, and more. Surprisingly, many businesses don't think of marketing as an important process, but it is the most important part of running a business. After

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

all, without customers, a business doesn't get money, and therefore goes bankrupt.

Marketing is a cycle, starting with research and ending with customer service (and then of course starting o

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

ver again). The first step of the cycle is researching your product, your customer, and your competition, so you know exactly what you're selling, who you're selling it to, and who is trying t

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

Combination pro

o beat you. The next three steps relate to the product you are selling, and the first of those three (the second in the cycle) is developing the product itself, and making it fit the customers

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

' needs. The next step is appropriately pricing the item, and the succeeding step is labeling and packing it. The fifth step of the marketing cycle is distribution, which is the means of which

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

your business sells your product, whether it be through a store, the Internet, direct mail, or other direct selling methods.

Next comes advertising, public relations, and promotions, which i

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

s how the product is made known to the public. Most important to all businesses is the seventh step in the cycle, which is sales, the phase where the product is finally sold and the business r

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

eceives money. It doesn't end there though, there is one more step, which is customer service, which is if not the most important step in the cycle, one of the most important. Customer service

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

is important because it is the means a business keeps existing customers while making them more loyal. It is easier to keep an existing customer than recruiting a new one, and it is approxima

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

Following aspects would a

tely six times more expensive to attract a new customer than the cost of keeping a loyal one. Loyal customers are also good because they buy more of your products while referring new people to

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

your business, bringing you new customers practically for free.

There are many different marketing methods, such as advertising, promotions, and publicity. Advertising is when somebody pays

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

to show a certain product or their business as a whole in a mass media medium (like TV or a magazine). An example of a promotion is starting a sale (such as 10% of all products for Saturday),

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

or driving your car around with a huge business sign on it. Publicity is when you get mentioned in the news for "free" (although many businesses spend a lot of money trying to achieve this, so

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

it's not exactly free).

In marketing, it's important to know where you're going. Setting goals is important, because if you don't know where you're going, you don't know what strategy to set

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

, and what tactics to employ. A strategy is the set of actions which lead to achieving your goal, and a tactic is each separate action which is used in your strategy. It is imperative that goa

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

ls, strategies, and tactics are set, because if you market with no goal in sight, the result of your efforts will be disappointing and possibly disastrous.

An effective marketing strategy tak

.

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

es a lot of money, time, and effort, but if the plan is well-thought out and is set off right, it will most likely work. Before writing a strategy and employing it, colleagues and friends shou

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ld be asked what they think about the plan and if they think it will work. If everybody thinks it's a good plan, and most importantly, you think it's a good plan, then it will most likely work

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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