Covid-19 Impact on Indian Pharma Revenues, Field Force, Doctors – Sunil Attavar, CMD Group Pharma

This is the third and final part of MedicinMan interview with Sunil Attavar, CMD, Group Pharma and President, KDPMA

MedicinMan: Are there any estimates of what the overall business impact will be in terms of revenues of pharma companies?

 At this moment it is very difficult to estimate the impact but it will not be uniform across companies.

There are some segments that will be affected more than others segments such as derma cosmetics, dental, stemmatological, ophthalmic and others may take a bigger beating. Acute segments will be impacted in the short term but may bounce back or not, depending on the changes in lifestyle, hygiene, social distancing, etc. The timeline for recovery is anybody’s guess. At the moment, we have seen a sharp decline in the April business and I don’t think we will see any growth in this year.

MedicinMan: Field force people are anxiously waiting to hear what the impact will be on their career and what changes they will need to make to remain relevant? 

The field force should not be unduly worried about the impact that it will have on their career because there will be not be any major downsizing unless something catastrophic happens in the next few months.

The field force will be the core to any marketing and brand plans. Companies will still need the Medical Reps and managers to reach out to the doctors, retail staff and stockist to promote products. There is no substitute for them. The relationships that they have built and the value that they add in terms of having the personal connect with the doctors is something that I don’t think will change in the market for many years to come.

The market will also change and grow after a few quarters of difficulties. There will be an increase in the market as awareness and importance of health increases as well as increased spending by the government on health care. Hence, I don’t see any major decline in the need for having medical reps.

Definitely, the situation going forward will require them to make some changes in the way they learn and implement. For example, they will need to adapt to online meetings, online product launches and other L&D initiatives. They will need to join hands with the companies who move to a more digital platform and actually be a catalyst in its adaptation rather than resist it. The quicker they adapt to it, the more relevant they will become.

The field staff today are very digitally savvy in some way or the other and they will just need to channel their efforts in this direction. They will also have to trust that social media and the digital outreach programs are there to support them and not to take away their jobs.

MedicinMan: What about doctors? What challenges are they facing? And what are the possible remedial measures?

In this matter, I can speak more from a point of view of the dental surgeons as we are very closely connected with them and I have been interacting with quite a few. And I must say that they have a huge challenge on their hands.

Every dentist chamber is actually an operation theatre and the risk of infection and contamination for the doctor and between patients is huge. Hence, the cost of managing their clinics will increase. They may have to resist walk-in patients, find a way to change their PPE, and manage other precautions between patients.

Dentists have the added problem of dealing with the aerosol produced during procedures and other risks of contamination that is a part of any dental procedure, and hence on an immediate level they are grappling with a very difficult situation. Going forward it will not be possible for them to meet as many patients as they were requiring them to adapt to some form of tele-consultations. This may be difficult in cases like dentistry or even with others but it is possible that follow-up cases or non-essential discussions could be held online.

It’s going to be difficult, but I’m sure they have been also been in discussions with experts within the community to find the best way forward. The Indian Dental Association and Dental Council of India have been preparing many white papers on how to overcome the immediate crisis as well as how to manage the practice in the long run.

I would not be the right person to suggest remedial measures for the dentist or the community. However, I assume that the days of walk-in patients will be a thing of the past and we will have to become more disciplined in terms of our appointments, planning, etc. There will be a need to increase costs as they need to invest in better equipment and other processes, while the total number they will see will be reduced.

The industry will need to step up and actively engage with the doctors to ensure that we are an able partner .  We will need to be patient in our expectations as they too adjust in these demanding times.

In the meantime, do join the Digital Excellence Pharma Academy, a partnership between MedicinMan and CredoWeb to facilitate digital adoption in pharma by equipping pharma professionals with the knowledge and skills through a series of 40+ webinars, virtual discussions and other online resources from May 2020 to April 2021.

What does the future look like?

Get a sense of Pharma Marketing in the post #Covid19 times.

Infographic sources: CredoWeb and Cognit Rx