A Big Launch

Lately, Pharmaceuticals are also feeling the pinch. New drug launch were hard to come by, and the ones which did see the light of day had plenty of back-end investment behind it. Rarely are these "blockbusters", and oftentimes the niche drugs were left behind.

Last night, the MSH Members were invited to attend a dinner launch of a new monocloncal antibody, Brentuximab. Touted to the the next best thing as far as Hodgkin's Lymphoma is concerned, the company behind it, Takeda were putting plenty of effort for the launch. A foreign speaker was invited to give her insight on the new drug, and we were treated to a sumptuous dinner.

There was some fanfare at the launch as well, but everybody were a bit cagey when we talked about the costing. It would be a bomb and beyond most of the average patient could afford. With the tightening of the budget and the insurance company putting more scrutiny on the patient claims, the cost would be a barrier for this - otherwise sound therapeutic agent - to penetrate the scene. The cost is even beyond your typical SJMC patient.

How do we solve this issue? A patient support or access program would be needed, tapping into the generosity of the Pharmaceutical industry so that our patients could benefit from such an advancement. It also meant that those recieving the drug had to be pre-selected, and this pre-selection process may not be clear cut.

Therefore, events such as these including sharing of the experience of those lucky enough to have been able to use the drug is vital. And this is going to be the pattern in the future. Expensive, but effective drug catering for the niche market. Unfortunately this would be typical in my field. For without the investments of the "Big Pharma" we would not be able to enjoy some downstream benefit. I was sure that if the company were to open up an access program, the cost must be recouped from their operation somewhere else - either a different arm of their business or their operations abroad in developed market.

Sunday Talk

I liked to have Sunday afternoons for myself. Either taking my boys out to the park, taking my camera for a spin or just chilling, I prefer to keep it low key.

But sometimes, I had to go out and join the reset of the world. Such occasion was yesterday afternoon.

I will make it a point in the future to politely turn down any invitations for pharmaceutical talks on a Sunday afternoon or evening. Yes, they do provide lunch, and the topic may be interesting and all, but best to leave Sunday alone.

As it happened yesterday, looking around, not many of my senior colleagues were around for the talk. I myself didn't stay for dinner and I promised to take the boys out. I spent the earlier afternoon taking the E-M1 for a quick spin at the Bird Park.

Shame that the topic was quite good ...

The Rivaroxaban Launch

I was invited for a product launch at the KL Convention Center on Saturday afternoon. In this day and age, such launch were getting few and far between. This was a new anticoagulants which I was involved in in the clinical trial back in 2006. It is a good product but damn expansive. Yes, I prescribed it to a couple of my current patients since they had budget for it, but I can't see it being used extensively in Malaysia since the alternative is far cheaper, as well as relatively well tolerated.

The Pharmaceutical Company certainly did not pull any punches at the launch, with the dinner reception being held at the Petroleum Club on the Twin Tower. I decided to give it a miss having been at the club a couple of times in the past. But why spent so much money on such reception. As far as the Company is concerned, this is an important drug with two other competing agents in the horizon. Should the product sells well, it is a potential gold mine. Therefore, I do understand why the company was banking so much on the launch.

Walking in the tunnel from Suria to the Convention CenterThis guy apparently supposed to present a blood clot.The product launch itself was full of gimmick. They had a drama troupe giving presentations and mingling around with the guest. A kind of performance art which would not look out of place at an art gallery. They had speaker coming from the States as well for good measure. Delegates from out of town also get to stay for the night at one of the hotel at the Golden Triangle. Not a bad deal all around eh. But unfortunately, such cost would eventually be passed on to the paying patients .....

No free lunch

Little did I realise the impact of the economy crisis to the usual running of my Department. The Medical profession has always in one way or the other share a connection with the Pharmaceutical companies. In a certain way, they can be a player in Continuing Medical Education (CME) program amongst the Medical fraternity. Without their endowment, many of the Medical conference would cease to exist. Honestly speaking, they are essential to Medicine.

They take the gamble in Medical research. Even though the rake billions when the drug they develop became a hit, they also foot up the bull if they tank. It can be a huge gamble. The Medical profession can't afford that. They also invest a lot money in the clinical testing of the drugs, making sure that the theoretical therapeutic properties of the drug translate into day to day use. There was no point having a drug that work on paper but kill us the moment we swallow them.

I observed that since the turn of the year, the sponsorships from the Pharmaceuticals was slowly drying out. Yes, I got my usual share of diaries and wall calendars for the year, but the feeling was palpable. Take today for example, out Department CME went by without the presence if the Pharmaceuticals. That translated to no free lunch. It was not that I was desperate for them - the lunch was becoming generic lately anyhow - but it was nice to have lunch on the go while listening to some talks and presentation. As it turned out, we had to delay the session so that the MOs were able to catch some bite.

The Economy crisis has hit the Department. Upon looking at the bookings for CME sponsorship, we were usually booked up many months in advance. It turned out that there were bow few empty slots .......

Calendars

I wish that my Day Care clinic desk is bigger. Why? Because I got too much stuffs on it. All the blood forms, patient notes and other utensils. I'll probably buy another cabinet just for my research materials at the rate I was going.

As for this morning, I had another things to content with. Calendars. Ee were talking loads of them. It was January and of course, one of the ways the Pharmaceuticals wanted to entice us Doctors were to give freebies such ad calendars and diaries. I had 7 calendars on my desk today. I ended up giving away all of them since I prefer wall charts to on desk calendars. I keep a digital diaries however on my iPhone.

If I see another Pharma agent handing me a calendar, I'd probably do insane!