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I was invited to participate in a round table discussion along with senior colleagues from the largest procurement organisations in Europe. The moderator of the forum asked

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

a question to all the attendees:” what are your views on the latest thinking in procurement organisations – Cheap Sourcing”. People started answering while highlighting thei

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

Examples of combination products may in

experiences and the advances they have made into this new trend in Procurement.

I felt a bit strange at the question and being a Chief Procurement Officer myself, I felt a

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

bit embarrassed that I have never really given this “new” the importance it deserves or even though about it much. I must be totally incompetent as a procurement officer sin

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

e in such an important forum a question like this is being put forward to the participants, or am I outdated and not keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in pr

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

Combination pro

curement?

While the others were answering the question each in his own way, I scratched my head thinking to myself, well I do make good deals for my company, and in fact ou

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

r deals are one of the best deals in the industry. We do search the globe for the best price and quality while focusing on continuity of supply to secure the company. The pr

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

blem I have is that I never thought I was doing something extra ordinary or even implementing the latest “buzz” in the procurement industry.

I didn’t think either that this

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

was modesty on my behalf. As my turn was nearing and my confusion at the question was increasing. It suddenly occurred to me that there is something missing here and being f

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

om an Egyptian origin myself I though to myself, hang on, the ancient Egyptian have been trading all over the globe for seven thousands years, the mummies of the pharaohs st

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

ll preserved today are all encased in Tobacco leaves that could only have been “cheaply” sourced from the Americas thousands of years ago.

The roman empire invaded and occu

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

Following aspects would a

pied Egypt for only one thing, cheap and high quality Wheat to feed its army so that they could march further, occupying other territories and obtaining more goods and servi

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

es from other cheaper sources.

The British Empire was built on trade and the desire to obtain goods, services and labour cheaply from all over the world. The British Empire

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

gone even further and outsourced armies using other countries in Asia and Africa to fight the British wars up until to the Second World War. Cheap silk and spices from India

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

Cotton from Egypt and Tobacco from America and so on.

Most wars in history were about obtaining goods and services from cheap sources in reality.

This is why I didn’t und

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

rstand the question in the first place.

At this stage I collected my courage and let it all out to my colleagues and the moderator, they all enjoyed the remarks and laughed

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

at it.

I don’t think my remarks were funny at all. Sarcastic, may be but not funny.

Cheap sourcing is not a new game in town for procurement departments to brag about, it

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

is in fact the oldest game in town since all empires in history were built and motivated by finding new cheaper source for labour, goods and services to please their citizen

.

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

.

Put another way, all wars and empires were build and motivated by controlling these “cheaper” sources in the first place for the advancement of their own nations. These d

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ys the only difference is the fact that the acquirers of these goods and services have to pay the price which is usually still cheaper than obtaining it in their own country

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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We can value, learn from and use processes of the past; and still look forward to, try, and create innovative processes in the future. These two things don’t have to be contradictory.

What makes Wegmans so formidable? They learned their brand lessons well and are playing brand hardball. Borrowing on the specialty marketers like Whole Foods, Fresh Market and Bread & Circus, and the upscale brands of Four Seasons and Ritz Carleton, they recognized that brands that differentiated the customer enabled these brands to become destinations. They became a magnet for those seeking specialness, specialty, high quality foods, and experience - within a geographic area. When the shopper believed they were a more discriminating shopper (what we call a Brandface), these shoppers were willing to inconvenience themselves by traveling a greater distance to satiate that self-identifying need. They would also be willing to pay higher costs for that same self-identification.

Who better to rally the troops to promote a new product or service, a new company vision or purpose than the marketing department? The fact is, most companies do not have an internal communication plan. Those companies are missing a prime opportunity to execute a cohesive plan to promote to this group and turn them into a force of ambassadors.

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