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While writing a piece about racist attack on call center workers, I felt that I was not doing enough to get into the depth of the matter. Just analyzing the published data and reading report written by someone else did not feel en

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

ough. I decided to talk to someone who actually works in a call center. Following is the transcript of our talk. My respondent works at a call center in Pune, India. The answers have not been edited.

1) Here in USA we hear about

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

Examples of combination products may in

all center workers being abused by callers from USA. They call them bad name and are nasty. Have you faced this kind of situation..? If yes then how did you handle it and how did it made you feel about Americans in general? Also d

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

id the bad behavior from American callers made u have a bad image of America..? If an employee complaints of bad behavior from callers how does the management handle it? Are the employees provided counseling..?

Certainly. Daily 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

agent would get at least one or two calls where the customer gets abusive. In such situations the agents ask the customer to refrain from profanity or else he might hang up. This does not always work out as the customer may still

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

Combination pro

be abusive and since the calls are all recorded the agent simply cannot hang-up on the customer and he has to request him at least twice. This does make the agent feel bad and it might affect the agent’s productivity. However a t

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

nured agent (someone who’s been in the process for over 6 months can handle these situations smartly. However the new joiners find it pretty tough to deal with and it is for these agents that we have counseling sessions either imm

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

ediately or after the shift. In such cases the Team leader also takes over the call from the agent. This is called as an escalation. Americans in general are quite patient and can wait for hours before they finally get to speak to

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

a live human as the wait times are generally high especially in Tech support. Initially agents do feel let down and depressed because of such incidents but eventually they do overcome. However one such call can ruin the day for an

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

agent irrespective oh him being tenured or a fresher.

2) If given a chance will you work in America for Americans..? Please give reasons for your answer.

This is a very subjective question. The pay packet in call centers is mor

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

compared to other jobs in the market. Likewise if you look at growth opportunities offered in the US market certainly the prospect of working In America is very appealing. Just a few bad American customers cannot scare Indian job

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

Following aspects would a

seekers away from the $$$$$$.

3) Do you think that in future with raising costs in India, the call centers will migrate to other low cost locations..? and Do you think you are prepared to take another job in another industry?

S

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ifting of call centers or having a new setup is not entirely dependent on the monetary part. Yes the very reason of jobs being outsourced is because of cost cutting. This can only be possible if the resources that are available ma

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

ke for a good option. The biggest advantage and the most important reason for call centers booming in India is its English speaking population combined with the cheap labor. Either one of these options alone may not fit the bill f

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

r an alternative. Unlike America where call centre job is for unskilled labor (mostly) in India the people associated with this industry are highly qualified and even experienced in most cases. Hence getting another job is not a 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

IG problem but the pay package may not be the same.

4) What are your plans for your future..? Do you want to make a career in this field..?

Normally people associated with this industry would work for 2 – 3 years with some excep

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ional cases of individuals working for more than

4 or 5 years. Attrition is the biggest challenge faced by this industry but it’s mostly because of the night shifts. Night shifts and health issues are the main reasons (Nature of

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

Job) for people moving out of this industry. Those who can manage it are sitting comfortably high on the corporate hierarchy.

5) Do you feel detached from social life because of odd working hours at the call center..?

This is th

.

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

biggest drawback of being associated with this industry. You do not get sufficient time for social life. Though you work only for 5 days a week yet the 2 odd days that you get for yourself are simply not sufficient to take care o

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

f the recreation or other domestic commitments. That’s one reason why you find a pretty young crowd at call centers.

Appears on Associated Content and American Chronicle. This interview was included for an article on OhMyNews.com

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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