corner
Healthy Skepticism
Join us to help reduce harm from misleading health information.
Increase font size   Decrease font size   Print-friendly view   Print
Register Log in

Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19421

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

 

Publication type: Electronic Source

Silverman E
Novartis, The iPad & 35,000 More Visits To Docs
Pharmalot 2011 Mar 28
http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/03/novartis-the-ipad-35000-more-visits-to-docs/


Full text:

In a note to employees this morning, Novartis ceo Joe Jimenez gushed that the Apple iPad offers the drugmaker “game-changing” technology that will make it possible for sales reps to save 250 hours over the course of the year and allow “the entire field force to make an incredible 35,000 additional customer visits each year.”
This conclusion, of course, has not yet been proven. But Novartis did trim 1,400 sales reps from its roster in recent weeks, underscoring how technology will increasingly be used by the pharmaceutical industry to eliminate such personnel whenever possible (back story). A few more iPads and perhaps a few more hundred reps will go?
But there is more. Jimenez also notes that “another benefit of having sales materials on the iPad is that our reps will be more compliant – unlike with paper versions, you can’t alter the electronic materials.” What does that say about how reps are viewed? In any event, the drugmaker recently began using the iPad in a pilot program in its vaccines division. Here is Joe’s note:
“A few weeks ago, the FDA approved software that will allow doctors to make diagnoses from MRIs on their iPhones and iPads. One radiologist called this ‘game changing,’ and with one in five doctors in private practices already owning iPads, it’s clear that we need to move quickly to incorporate this kind of cutting-edge technology into the way we work. There are already several teams across Novartis that are using iPads as detail aids, and more are beginning to incorporate them into their activities.
“I recently sat down for lunch with a few of our business leaders and Vas Narasimhan, who heads our US Vaccines business, told me about how in just two weeks his team launched a pilot program where they gave iPads to a few reps to help make it easier for them to share educational materials with customers. After getting great feedback from both the reps and physicians, the team is now rolling out iPads, loaded with the new detail aid for Menveo, patient videos and other sales tools, to the entire US Vaccines field force.
“Nima Farzan, who’s leading the Vaccines project, believes that Novartis is one of the only companies doing this in the vaccines space right now, so this could really set us apart from the competition. I watched a demo of the detail aid and was really impressed by how fast and interactive it was – reps can click on data points and see charts come up instantly with more information. Another benefit of having sales materials on the iPad is that our reps will be more compliant – unlike with paper versions, you can’t alter the electronic materials. And the detail aid can also be updated quickly for a fraction of the cost of printed materials, so we’ll be able to constantly make improvements and add in new data.
“The team hopes having sales materials on the iPad will lead to increased productivity and more time for reps to spend with physicians. I heard estimations that every rep will save 250 hours over the course of the year with the iPad, which allows the entire field force to make an incredible 35,000 additional customer visits each year. They also think this tool will help them see increased orders – one rep who participated in the pilot program said how he uses the iPad to log-on to novartisvaccinesdirect.com, allowing him to manage accounts, report inventory and place orders in real-time while still in the doctor’s office, eliminating the potential for errors.
“I know other teams around the world are also making good progress leveraging new technologies to better serve customers. I’d love to hear about more examples – tell me what you’re doing in your area below.”

 

  Healthy Skepticism on RSS   Healthy Skepticism on Facebook   Healthy Skepticism on Twitter

Please
Click to Register

(read more)

then
Click to Log in
for free access to more features of this website.

Forgot your username or password?

You are invited to
apply for membership
of Healthy Skepticism,
if you support our aims.

Pay a subscription

Support our work with a donation

Buy Healthy Skepticism T Shirts


If there is something you don't like, please tell us. If you like our work, please tell others.

Email a Friend