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People love to use acronyms. I’d like to think it’s because we think so fast we need to condense our speech to compensate, so we use acronyms to speed things up; but I could be wrong. Acronyms are especially rampan

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

t in Chat Rooms. If you’ve been to one, you know how hard it is to understand what people are saying if you don’t know acronyms like LOL or BRB.

Fortunately—or unfortunately, as the case maybe—the technical profe

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

Examples of combination products may in

ssions are full of them. Maybe it’s because they’re easier to use or they’re just plain faster to say. Or, maybe it’s because they help the person using them establish his or her mental superiority. Whatever the r

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

ason, our jobs are replete with them and they serve their purposes.

But technical acronyms have a downside as well. Those on the business side of the ledger don’t always know what they mean. One company I worked

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

for, had an incredible collection of acronyms, which employees used freely, too freely. They became so ingrained in the organization’s culture; they sometimes interfered with customer communications, costing the co

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

Combination pro

pany business.

If you’re in sales, you need to be wary of acronyms. While they have their upsides, they can cost you, if you’re not careful when and how you use them.

Let’s look at a simple example. A sales engi

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

neer delivering a presentation explains how a certain protocol works and how the company’s equipment functions with regard to it. He or she understands these acronyms and leverages them in the presentation to spee

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

communication. That’s great, if the sales engineer is talking to the right people. If not, he or she may be cutting his or her own throat.

If your audience is composed of business decision-makers, chances are th

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

ey may not know what the acronyms represent. More importantly, they may not care. Their main concern during the presentation is finding out whether your product or service solves their problem, whether they knew t

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

ey had one or not.

So what happens when you use a strange acronym? They’re either going to ask you what it means or they’re going to try to decipher it. If they ask for its meaning, you may sound smart telling the

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

m, but you’ve interrupted the presentation. If they decide to decipher it, they’re going to stop paying attention while their processors decipher “the code.” Either way, it’s not good.

Here’s another example. Oft

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

Following aspects would a

en, customers refrain from asking about an acronym because they’re intimidated or embarrassed. They’re not familiar with it but since they didn’t ask about it and they’re sitting in the presentation, you automatic

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

lly assume they know what it means. Communication is blocked. That’s also not good either.

Then there’s the question of ambiguity. If you use an acronym and don’t explain its meaning, your audience may not be cle

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

ar about what you’re saying.

Take the acronym “TLA.” It could stand for Three-Letter Acronym or it could stand for Two-Letter Acronym. It could also stand for other things as well. Some of my favorites are

•

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

ax Lien Association
• Temporary Living Allowance
• Territorial Local Authority
• Texas Lawyers Association
• Tadpole Liberation Army (my personal favorite)
and many more...

OK,

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

I’m exaggerating. Chances are these terms won’t come up in a technical sales presentation. But I think you get the idea. So how do you handle acronyms if you’re making a technical sales presentation?

Here are my

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

tips…

If you’re providing a handout, create a section for acronyms.
If you’re doing a PowerPoint presentation, explain the acronyms when they come up.
Try gaging your audience’s technical

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

knowledge. (If you think your audience has a high level of technical knowledge, avoid explaining the acronym. You don’t want to be seen as a babysitter explaining TCP/IP to a more advanced audience.)

If i

.

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

’s a company-related acronym or it represents some obscure industry standard, feel free to explain its meaning when it comes up.

Acronyms are a fact of life. They’re here to stay and we are going to be us

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ing them until we start using telepathy to communicate. In the mean time, be careful with acronyms when giving a technical sales presentation. They can cost you. Now, go sell and remember to keep it light

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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