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Recently I wrote an article on the benefits of joining your local Chamber of Commerce as a way of getting exposure for your business. See "Marketing on the Cheap: Join The What?" at this source or at http://sbmag.org. The Chamber of

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

Commerce is or should be the number one organization in your area promoting business. Your involvement will help them indirectly help your business while giving you direct exposure to a large and viable market.

Now let’s look at o

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

Examples of combination products may in

ther organizations you, your business and, of course, your community can benefit from by your involvement, but not in that order.

Service Clubs: There are three major service clubs that come to mind, and I’m sure you are familiar w

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

ith them to some degree already: Rotary International, Kiwanis International and Lions International.

However, don’t just run off and join the largest club in your area just because it’s the one that gets the most media coverage. A

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

s a matter of fact, you shouldn’t be joining a service club at all for the sole purposes of promoting your business. You should be joining because it is the right thing to do. The benefits, and there will be benefits, will come indi

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

Combination pro

rectly.

Each of the above mentioned organizations have a main charity or area of interest as a national or worldwide project. Lions International for example is recognized worldwide for their service to the blind and visually impai

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

red. Kiwanis’ motto is "Serving the Children of the World", and Rotary has had as a long-term goal of the worldwide eradication of polio. Of course, all these organizations are many years old and have branched out into a number of o

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

her humanitarian efforts as well. Beyond the national organization’s each local club usually has their own projects and objectives.

Fraternal Organizations: Now that you have joined the Chamber of Commerce and are looking at servic

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

e clubs, you may also want to consider Fraternal Organizations. The first three that come to mind are: The Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, Moose International and Fraternal Order of Eagles. Like service clubs, all three of th

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

ese organizations are national or international with local clubs. However, also like service clubs, there may me others or an independent fraternal organization in your area that is more suited for you and your interests.

Years ago

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

I joined a new Rotary club that just started up in our community. They were, and still are, a great group of people. Their main efforts on the local front was dealing with youth orientated projects, helping to build ball parks, spo

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

Following aspects would a

nsoring scholarships and a few other very worthwhile causes, but no causes I was passionate about. A friend of mine was involved with a group of people that were trying to start a local organization to deal directly with funding ant

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

i-drug programs in local schools. My wife being a teacher in the local district, made that seem like a much better place for me to put my efforts. We went on and founded a new Lions Club in which I became a founding officer, a Past

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

President, Lion of the Year and recipient of a national award form Lions International in recognition of my efforts in the fight against drugs. This only happened because I chose the right organization with which to get involved.

I

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

m not telling you this story just to blow my own horn. Okay, well maybe a little bit. My point is that if you do chose to be a joiner, make it count. Choose one that will give you opportunities of working on projects in which you ha

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

ve an interest.

Once you join a service club or a fraternal organization, get involved! Become active. Consider chairing a committee or becoming part of the leadership. However, don’t take on more then you can or want to do. If you

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

make a commitment, make sure you follow through and do the very best job you can. Anything short of that could produce negative public relations for you.

One last thing about belonging to a service club or fraternal organization;

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

your acceptance into one of these organizations is not invitation to unload or launch into a sales pitch at every meeting or at any meetings for that matter. Don’t make that mistake. However, there may be opportunities arise for dir

.

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

ect marketing such as advertising at club-sponsored events, program guides, newsletters and others. We covered a number of these opportunities in "Marketing On The Cheap: Join The What?", see link above.

No permission is needed to

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and hot links included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted so reciprocal links can be considered. Email floyd@sbmag.org

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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You can be more efficient in your business and make more money - and still enjoy your work. Begin by understanding how you have made money in the past! Read this article to learn a very simple way to analyze your numbers to make your work easier.

There are a lot of factors to consider when starting a business. Primary among these are the three “P”s – Plan, Prepare and Persist.

Look at the show floor. Check out the attendees. They look ordinary enough -- but they have secrets for successful selling. Dirty little secrets that they'd never tell anyone, not even under duress. These secrets are strong unifying factors influencing buying decisions which helps to achieve higher sales every time.

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