Addressing the media at a roundtable this morning, Vani Manja, Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim India said, “Boehringer Ingelheim India aspires to be amongst the top five multinational pharmaceutical companies in India over the next few years. We have been enabling access to our innovator products to patients across India and the neighbouring markets in the diabetes, cardiovascular, stroke and respiratory diseases segments. Our plan in these therapy areas is to build sustainable partnerships to ensure an ecosystem of access and care for patients. We have initiated action in that direction.”
Indian Pharma companies will have to create hybrid employees, who can be designated as the Digital Task Force (DTF).
Just as STFs were created to create a better perception and improve engagement with specialist doctors, DTF can rebuild relationships with doctors on a new premise of helping them to gain digital advantage to better manage their practice and patients.
Lower prices, discounts, convenience of ordering and home delivery are some of the benefits for consumers with e-pharmacies. The anonymity of the internet encourages patients to seek information about medicines that they would otherwise avoid. Mental health is one area where the consumers wish to maintain confidentiality and opt for online consultation and medication.
The seminar will help companies especially Product Management Teams and Sales Teams to understand their changing roles due to UCPMP. It will also bring clarity on strategies and promotional inputs including CME's, sampling, gifts etc.
In the lockdown, while I was on regular OPD and ICU rounds at a COVID hospital, I started noticing some mild symptoms of the Coronavirus infection. Being in the medical field and considering the severity of the pandemic situation then, I was very careful and cautious, and observed the symptoms closely. The symptoms persisted and I had to self-quarantine until the medical test reports came. It was important for me to isolate myself from the rest of the medical team and prevent the spread of the virus. Finally, the report came: I was COVID positive!
Stunned and slightly devastated; I broke the news to my family who could not believe it either. As a doctor, I could only treat, comfort and empathize with the COVID patients undergoing treatment; completely isolated from their loved ones. But now, I could actually feel the uncertainty of the situation. I was hospitalized and continued to experience body-ache during the admission. It was a stressful situation where I felt anxious and stressed about everything.
My CT scan reports showed mild lung infection on the day of admission but as the cytokines storm developed, my lungs were 76 % damaged in 3-5 days and I was short of breath and my oxygen level deteriorated to less than 80. I was shifted to an ICU with high-flow oxygen and was on a BiPap machine which I had purchased a few weeks ago for the hospital and never imagined that I would be using myself one day.