The Insights in Thought Leader Management is a series of short, concise insights on topics of importance to life sciences professionals who contract and interact frequently with healthcare professionals to help accomplish their commercial and clinical business needs. Bluntly speaking, if industry members aborted their business relationships with leading healthcare professionals, the pace at which advancements in medicine are made would falter. Healthcare professionals whether they are internists, medical specialists, or physician assistants – name the title – have helped the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries commercialize their products and services by ensuring that their innovations, which fulfill unmet medical needs, are properly designed.
But these contractual relationships, which have endured for years, are facing intense scrutiny. Political and public forces want Thought Leader-industry relationships reined in. These groups suggest the amount of money that industry has paid these advisors has unduly influenced their medical decisions. Right or wrong, the political will exists to change the system, and wise industry experts recognize that changing or adapting its current business practices – and thus company culture is a worthy investment at this point. To help industry understand the challenges it faces, BioPharma Advisors has put together this series, Insights on Thought Leader Management, which covers important topics relating to this scrutiny and how business will be affected.
And if you need more evidence that industry shouldn’t relax, consider this: The Department of Justice’s continued interest in industry practices. The Wall Street Journal says the department has 985 pending civil cases involving health care fraud of some type. [1] A look at the HHS’ Office of Inspector General Web site (http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/cia/cia_list.asp ) shows no less than 20 corporate integrity agreements reached with industry and device manufacturers over the last 5 years.
By no means is BioPharma Advisors advocating that these collaborations should end. Clearly, patients benefit from such interaction. One Health Affairs report shows that 52.8% of life science researchers have some connection with industry, and that these researchers are more productive than those who have no connection. More than 3,000 researchers were polled. [2] A second Health Affairs report shows that 20 percent of all medical device patents filed between 1990 and 1996 were developed with physician input. [3]
So how do you go about changing long-standing traditions? In this series of articles, BioPharma Advisors lays the groundwork for this change to happen. Loaded with facts, advice, and case studies, this series of 11 articles will show you why this system is changing, how you can change with it, and the benefits your company can gain from doing so.
References
- Kendall B. Health Fraud Caseload Grows at Justice Department. Wall Street Journal Nov. 20, 2009 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125866334028656261.html
- Zinner DE et al. Participation of Academic Scientists in Relationships with Industry. Health Affairs: 28, 6(2009): 1814-1825.
- Chatterji AK et al. Physician-Industry Cooperation in the Medical Device Industry. Health Affairs: 27, no. 6(2008) 1532-1543.
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