Engaging with primary care: What have we learned?
Leandra Wells describes how to face a world of virtual engagement (350 words, 2 min)
Even as virtual engagement has greatly expanded in the Covid era, face-to-face contact with physicians remains the most impactful approach, according to Leandra Wells, VP Respiratory at GSK.
Yet virtual engagement remains a strong tool, so selecting reps who possess skills in both of these areas will be important, Wells (photo below) said during the 15th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress.
“As we emerge through the end of this pandemic, we know it’s not going to be the same as pre-Covid,” said Wells. “We are entering a new normal, and clinicians will probably be more selective in how they choose to engage and see sales reps. So we need to be thoughtful around how we communicate with HCPs.”
“One of the areas we have learned so much about is engaging and communicating with clinicians over non-traditional channels and using virtual tools,” said Wells. “This has been in the cards for a long time, [especially in marketing]; it was just a matter of time before we really integrated it in sales.”
The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of virtual channels in sales deployment strategies, added Wells.
She noted that the reps at GSK have learned how to communicate and engage effectively using digital technologies and campaigns in sustained communications.
“However, one of our key learnings is that face-to-face is still the most impactful method of engaging and communicating with our clinicians,” said Wells. “It is the most effective way to educate, inform, and build awareness and we have to keep that top of mind; these other channels are great in complementing our messaging.”
Physicians, too, have put resources into adopting virtual communication channels, for patient and industry communication, she said.
“This cascades down into how we coach, recruit, and hire sales reps,” said Wells.
“The competencies we are looking for now are different than two years ago. Now we have to evaluate tech savviness in a prospective representative, and how that rep communicates and engages in a virtual setting. We need to ensure these competencies are addressed and upskilled in our sales force going into the future.”
Further Reading: A UK-based firm estimates that Covid has accelerated adoption of digital communications in Pharma by up to five years. Read more.
SAVE THE DATE
The 2022 NPC Winter Webinar is fast approaching! This year’s Winter Webinar is dedicated to a celebration of the career of Roche Canada’s Ronnie Miller, a long-time NPC mainstay and a champion of the Life Sciences in Canada.
Join us in congratulating Ronnie on his retirement, and mark your calendar for Wednesday, February 9th at 10:45 am.
Want to share your best wishes for Ronnie? Leave a note on the Kudoboard.
THIS WEEK 01/18/22
Organon Canada announced that NEXPLANON is now covered by the public formularies in Ontario (Ontario Drug Benefit program), British Columbia (BC PharmaCare) and Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia PharmaCare). NEXPLANON is a progestin-only hormonal implant that can prevent pregnancy for up to three years.
A judge ordered Martin Shkreli to return US$64.6 million in profits that he and his former company, Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), made from jacking up the price and monopolizing the market for Daraprim, a lifesaving drug used to treat a rare parasitic disease that affects pregnant women, as well as cancer and AIDS patients.
Pfizer announced that the U.S. FDA approved CIBINQO (abrocitinib), an oral, once-daily, Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor, for the treatment of adults with refractory, moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. CIBINQO will be used in AD patients whose disease is not satisfactorily controlled with other systemic drug products, including biologics.
LetsGetChecked, a global healthcare solutions company, announced the introduction of its Covid-19 antigen test and virtual observation service for enterprise clients. This will expand the company's current Covid-19 and home healthcare offerings, which include molecular diagnostic testing, biometric screening and testing, virtual care, and pharmacy assistance for a variety of health and wellness concerns.
LISTEN NOW
Dr. Ted Witek of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto talks about his career journey from scientist to senior management, balancing academia and industry, and the integration of technology into health systems, with co-hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain, in the second episode of our sixth season.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2014 Inductee
Phil Diamond Award for Community Service
Melodie Hicks
Montreal, Qc.
Editor’s Note: Melodie is a Nurse Educator at Vanier College in Montreal.
Working to alleviate some of the hardships associated with shortages of drugs and trained medical care in developing nations, Cégep Vanier College Nursing professor Melodie Hicks has organized and led the Vanier-Malawi Nursing Exchange since 2011. At the same time, her goal has been to teach nursing students about healthcare in the broader world and to not take for granted the medications and tools that are so readily available in Canada.
In 2007, Vanier received a grant for a public engagement project to look at HIV and AIDS in Africa. Hicks was asked to sit on the steering committee, and while on the committee she recognized a tremendous opportunity for herself and her students to understand HIV/AIDS and world health in a new context.
In 2008, she took her first group of mixed students to Malawi, Africa, for a month. After the initial trip, Hicks decided the experience of healthcare in Malawi was something final-year nursing students would really benefit from, and starting in 2010, Vanier signed a partnership agreement with the Kamuzu College of Nursing in Malawi.
On each March trip, Hicks and her students spend three weeks in residence at Kamuzu College and provide care at the central hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, as well as three weeks working in remote rural villages. They encounter many children with malaria, which is often fatal when untreated in children. As well, many patients experience chronic pain from the peripheral neuropathy associated with antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS.
The burden of disease is very high in Malawi, says Hicks, and even simple tools such as a thermometer or blood pressure cuff can be hard to find. As a result, she and her students began transporting Physician Travel Packs with them in order to have the supplies they needed to make a difference. The packs are obtained from Health Partners International Canada, an organization that accepts donated
medications from pharmaceutical companies all across Canada. In total, since 2011, approximately $100,000 worth of vitally needed medications have been delivered to patients in Malawi by Hicks and her students.
Taking these medications to Malawi “enriches my students’ experience,” says Hicks, “because they have the tools to care for patients, which they see first hand save lives. I think that changes you. You come back to Canada and suddenly these resources are not taken for granted, they become more precious.”
The packs are not free, though, and between their $575 price tags and the $6,000 it costs each student to make the trip, Hicks also has to do a great deal of fundraising and pursuing grants and subsidies.
The team also provides free clinics to rural communities, says Hicks. “We were doing screening for blood pressure and diabetes, looking after wounds, and transporting people to hospital who normally wouldn’t be able to get there.”
In Jan. 2015, for the second year, Vanier will be hosting two students and a teacher from Malawi, fulfilling a reciprocal agreement with Kamuzu College. “Our motto,” says Hicks, “is ‘We support nurses, here, there, and everywhere.”
NEXT WEEK
In the 01/25 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, more from the powerhouse panels of the 15th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.