Without the pharmaceutical industry there would be no need for this website, because the companies that develop and manufacture prescription medicines also have to employ talented individuals to bring these drugs to market. The UK ethical pharmaceutical industry is the 5th largest in the world by total sales (after the USA, Japan, Germany and France) and represents 7% of world sales. UK GPs write about 650 million prescriptions a year – that’s 13.1 prescription items per head of population. Over 80% of prescription only medicines (POMs), which cost the NHS about £7 billion every year, are made up of patent protected ‘branded’ drugs.
Key players
In the UK the pharmaceutical industry is the second largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP) behind the Financial Services sector. It consists of three different types of organisation:
§ Integrated research & development (R&D)
§ Research only, i.e. biotech companies
§ Generic drug manufacturers, i.e. post-patent
All the big players in the global market, namely GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Roche, Pfizer, AstraZeneca (AZ), Wyeth, Novartis, Aventis, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Boehringer, Novo Nordisk, Abbott, Schering Plough, Lindbeck, Pharmacia and Bayer, have a presence in the UK.
There are also many other organisations supporting the drug development process such as Contract Research Organisations (CROs); Clinical Trials Services; and Regulatory Affairs Organisations making the ethical pharmaceutical industry one of the biggest employers in the country.
Drug development
A drug can only be promoted to prescribers by a pharmaceutical company once it has been licensed and a drug is only licensed after all the clinical trials data have been published, scrutinised and investigated by the MHRA (Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency).
According to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) it takes an average of 12 years and in excess of £500 million of investment to bring a new drug to patients and this cost is increasing significantly every year, with no guarantee of success.
The high cost of developing a new drug makes it vital that pharmaceutical companies recoup their costs as quickly as possible, and this is where the healthcare communications industry earns its keep.
Patent protection
Once licensed, a drug is under patent protection for 10 years. Although in some circumstances this can be extended, the rationale is that the originating pharmaceutical company is considered to have been rewarded for their R&D costs over this period, so once the patent expires generic versions of the drug may enter the market.
A generic drug contains the same active ingredients as the original product, but can be sold at a fraction of the price because the generics manufacturer has had none of the R&D costs.
Market Monopoly
Pharmaceutical companies in the UK operate in a monopolistic marketplace as there is only one major purchaser, the NHS, and, adding an unusual challenge to this situation, the monopolist is also part of the price regulator, i.e. the government.
The NHS is broken down into two distinct sectors:
a) Primary care – GPs, nurses, practice managers and health authorities
b) Secondary care – hospitals and their staff of consultants, registrars, junior doctors, pharmacists and specialist nurses
As a rule-of-thumb ten times more prescribing takes place in primary care than secondary care.
Sales force
Drug companies always used to employ their own medical representatives (or ‘reps’). However, financial pressure has seen a trend towards employing a sales force through Contract Sales Organisations (CSOs) who will either provide dedicated teams for the company’s products, or syndicated sales teams whose sales reps can carry up to three different non-competing drugs from different manufacturers.
Medical reps can be separated into two disciplines:
§ Medical Reps who sell to the primary care sector
§ Hospital Reps who sell into the secondary care sector
However, some reps sell across the two disciplines on a 50:50 call ratio basis.
Getting started
Joining one of the big pharmaceutical companies as a medical representative can be a good grounding for a career in healthcare communications. You’ll get to know the therapy area of the drugs you’re marketing, and you’ll develop a good understanding of how prescribers feel about the many marketing initiatives healthcare communications agencies utilise to market their clients’ products. You’ll also be trained in the sales process which will be a great help to you at all stages of your career.
There are many entry level professions in the ethical pharmaceutical industry, in a variety of disciplines including:
§ R&D
§ Regulatory affairs
§ Business development
§ Supply chain management
§ Marketing or sales
§ Administration
Depending on your skill set and your preferences, you are bound to find something suitable if you have the right type of degree. Usually one of the life sciences if you want to do something in R&D, marketing or sales; or a business-based degree if you want to do something administrative.
