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It was a time in my life when I was just changing gears in my sales career. Although I had been in sales for a few years, I was going into a completely new industry. I had no product knowledge and wa

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

s apprehensive about my future success. It was a small company, with three other salesmen and they offered very little training. It was basically sink or swim.

One of my most vivid memories was 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

everyday I would hear the sales manager ask the salesmen what they had sold that day. The sales process for product that we sold had an average gestation period of about two months, so typically the re

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

ply from the salesman would invariably be that they hadn't sold anything that day. As the sales manager, he knew whether or not we had sold anything. He didn't have to ask us. But the reason that he

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

ike to ask us out loud was because he liked to hear us confess in front of the entire office, that we hadn't sold anything that day. It wasn't that he was mean or anything like that, but I just think h

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

Combination pro

e thought it was funny. Anyway, for the first month or so, I was given a reprieve and was never confronted in such a manner. I guess I was given temporary immunity to allow time for me to ramp up. Ne

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

vertheless, I remember coming home and thinking about how I would reply to my boss when the time came for him to ask me that question. It was inevitable, and I knew that the day would soon arrive. Be

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

ng prideful as I was, I was determined to come up with a good answer so that I wouldn't be shown up in front of everybody. But up till that point, I still hadn't sold anything, so I wasn't sure what I'

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

d say so I gave it a lot of thought.

Sure enough, it wasn't too long after that that I was passing him in the hall one day and he shot out "Hector, what did you sell today?" I garnered all of my coura

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

ge, I set myself steady, I looked him in the eye and I said, "Well boss, the way that I see it, selling is a lot like farming..." and then I paused for dramatic effect. Now remember, he liked to ask th

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

s question as he just happened to be passing you in the hallway and he seldom slowed down to even hear your reply, since typically the replay was always the same, "nothing." But this time, I saw him st

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

Following aspects would a

op in his tracks and I knew I had his attention. He looked at me and asked me "What do you mean selling is a lot like farming?" So I continued, "Well, first you have to plow the land, then you have to

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

plant the seeds. Then, with a little bit of luck, if it rains at just the right time, and a little patience, you should have a nice bumper crop. He stood there looking at me for a moment, not saying

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

anything. I could tell that I had stretched his imagination. He was sort of slack-jawed and then he said, "you know, I never thought of it like that before." "You're right". And then he walked off.

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

And believe it or not, I never again heard him ask that question of anyone ever again.

Selling is a lot like farming. The poor farmer works hard and busts his rump in the spring. He plows and he plan

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

ts. He knows that if he doesn't get the seeds in the ground in the spring, that there won't be any produce in the summer. And even if he does everything right, there are still some things that he can'

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

t control, like rain and pests, etc.

The same with sales. You have to plan now in order to have a bountiful harvest six months from now. You too have to plant lots of seeds. You plow the land by net

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

orking and finding qualified leads. Every sales call and every e-mail and every meeting that you engage a customer or a prospect is a new seed planted. It's all hard work with no immediate pay-off. A

.

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

nd no matter how well you do your job, there is still some element of luck involved, just like the farmer if mother nature doesn't cooperate. But sometimes, if you've put in the hard work, everything f

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

alls into place and the results are a bountiful harvest. But as soon as you get the crop in and turn it into cash at the market, it's time to plan for the next crop and start plowing and planting again

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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