Main Subject - Business

Donations are the whole point to a fundraiser letter. But do you know how much to ask for?

If you ask too much you may lo

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

se the potential donor.

If, on the other hand, you ask for too little, you may either end up losing money or end up with

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

Examples of combination products may in

an amount that would not justify all that effort.

What payment options should you present to your potential donor?

For e

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

xample, should your “price points” on your ORDER FORM be

$1, $5, $10, $___ OTHER or… $10, $50, $100, $___ OTHER ?

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

I’m faced with the same question myself every time I draft a fundraiser letter.

Here are two important variables to consi

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

Combination pro

der:

1) What is the overall socioeconomic profile of your mailing list?

If you’ve rented a list from a mail company

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

, what is the average income data on the Data Card?

If you ask for an average $50 donation from a group that makes $20K a

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

year (or $10 an hour), you may lose them right on the spot. Perhaps it’s better to ask for a one-hour’s wage ($10) instead

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

of five from such a group.

If however you’re mailing to an $100K a year income group, that translates to $50 an hour. Su

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

ch folks might not mind donating one hour’s worth of wages for a worthy cause.

2) What is your per-piece cost and re

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

sponse rate?

Here I’m going to make 2 assumptions: a) Your response rate is 2%, which is the generally accepted rate in t

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

Following aspects would a

he industry. b) Your cost per envelope is 50 cents, without any Business Reply Mail (which would add another 40 cents per

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

returned piece.)

If, let’s say, you are planning to mail 1,000 pieces, your cost would be $500.

At 2% return rate, you’l

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

l get back 20 donations. That means your average donation has to be $25 to break even.

To make more, you either have to i

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

crease your response rate or the suggested average donation.

Probably there is more you can do to increase the response r

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

ate than to decrease your basic per-letter cost and that’s where the art of copywriting comes into play.

You can try mail

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ing out different versions of the same letter in small batches and see which one has a stronger pull. Then you can make th

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

at your “control” copy, as called in the industry, and “roll it out” to a larger mailing list.

Good luck and let me know

.

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

if I can help.

-------------------------------------------------------------

(410 words, Copyright May 2006 Ugur Akinci)

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

by Ugur Akinci, Ph.D.
Creative Copywriter and Technical Communicator
writer111@gmail.com
www.writer111.co

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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