Histories of the Pharmaceutical Industry

Who has information holds real power

By Luiz Antonio de Moura Accioly

Meeting with directorate members, right after the coffee break a question came up:
            Why has our product had so many cases of side effects? Stoically, the Products Manager replied:
            -During the presurgery physicians have used high-dosage which  increased the heartbeat.
            He had hardly finished speaking when the marketing manager inquired:

1. So, what is the solution?

Thirteen seconds in silence and at least four tones of voice were heard:

1. Let’s redistribute the posological table.
2. That’s not a table, that’s a bible.
3. That guide is really complicated.
4. The physician needs a practical and safe guide so that he is able to use the product.

The Physician Manager, who had been quiet, started to speak about what happened in Germany, where several interactive CD-Rooms containing information on the product, recommended doses and automatic max/min calculus had been given away.

-Great idea – someone said across the table. An assistant (and it is always an assistant who has such courage or daring) asked:
- How many CD-Rooms are we going to give away? How many physicians will we give such tool to?
The meeting was broken in and another one was set for 8:00 a.m. next morning. Everyone had homework to do. Topic: What should be done?
Information gathered in laboratory is usually partial and it is not always easily available, even though it is strongly structured. Who has information holds real power. Soon people take information as a precious weapon. The sales rep, undoubtedly, is the one who keeps a vast amount of information about their customer, but not always lets the laboratory know about it all.
In fact, each sales rep keeps such information according to his personal concept and then to his needs. They hardly do it in a standard way. Once again that question comes up: What should be done?
Laboratories must, at first, have data bank, provide continuous trainings by showing techniques in order to capture precious pieces of information, which will be gathered later to generate market research about the middle-class typical behavior or about any other topic that might be interesting to the laboratory.
I say that again: Who has information holds real power. Soon people take information as a precious weapon.