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How would your next fundraising letter perform if Agatha Christie wrote it?

“Alan,” you’re whispering, “Agatha Christie is dead.”

“I know,” say I. “But I’m trying to make a point here. So

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

bear with me.”

Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer and, apart from William Shakespeare, is the all-time best-selling author of any genre. Christie knew how to write novels that

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

Examples of combination products may in

hooked readers right to the last page. The tool she used was suspense.

Include some suspense in your fundraising letters and you’ll make them more powerful.

To add suspense, you need a pro

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

blem, some conflict and a goal. You begin your letter with your problem. You show how this problem is in the way of you and your organization reaching your goal. During your letter, you introduce some confl

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

cts (difficulties) that your donor must help you resolve.

You don’t ask for a donation in your opening line. Or even in your opening paragraph. That would spoil the ending.

Instead, you h

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

Combination pro

ook your reader, preferably with a story, and add conflict here and there so that your reader has to continue reading to see how things turn out. Here is an example of an opening from a fundraising letter m

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

iled by Doctors Without Borders:

“One day, when I was Medical Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders refugee camps in Bangladesh, a nurse pulled me aside and asked me to follow her. She led

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

me to a small hut, and we went inside. A tall, emaciated man lay on a thin pad on the floor. We greeted one another and exchanged pleasantries. Then the nurse turned to me. ‘This is Mohammad,’ she said, ‘H

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

is 35 and dying of tuberculosis. I see him regularly and have to explain to him why we cannot treat him. I thought you should meet him.’”

There’s the problem, clearly stated. Patients are d

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

ying of a treatable disease. But why are the patients dying? Why aren’t they being treated? You must continue the letter to find out.

And as you continue the letter, you uncover a conflict. The med

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

cine that treats tuberculosis is too expensive in Bangladesh. Patients die because they cannot afford their cure. You read on.

You find another conflict—drug manufacturers are discontinuing some dr

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

Following aspects would a

gs because they are no longer profitable in the Third World.

You read on. Find another conflict.

Thirty-nine multinational drug companies are suing the government of South Africa to preve

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

nt its attempts to provide affordable treatment to affected South Africans.

These conflicts, added one after the other, build suspense. How will Doctors Without Borders ever treat Mohammad and save

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

his life unless the organization can get its hands on affordable medicines? How will the story end? The reader wants to know. So the reader reads on.

Sure enough, the writer soon resolves the probl

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

em and ends the suspense:

“In the enclosed brochure, you’ll see that the problem requires a threefold solution: legal and regulatory, economic, and research and development. Doctors Without B

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

rders is working on all three of these pillars. But we need your help to continue. With your renewed support this year, we will continue to pursue our campaign to provide access to essential medicines on a

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

long-term basis.”

The problem is patients dying of a treatable disease. The goal is to raise funds to provide access to essential medicines. The donor is invited to make that goal a reality

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

ith a donation.

Follow this pattern of problem-conflict-goal in your letters and you’ll build the kind of suspense that made Agatha Christie the second-best-selling author of any genre. You’ll hook

.

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

your readers and keep them hooked right to the end of your letter. You’ll set before them a puzzle that they want to solve. If you can begin your appeal letters with a corpse discovered in the back parlour

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

all the better.

© 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message)

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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