Main Subject - Business

Friends are always passing my name along to people who are doing a job search or building a practice. They usually tell the person about my coaching practice and recommend that the person call me. (I love referrals!!)

Last week pe

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

ople in my network referred three different people who were at three different stages in their careers. What struck me was how similar my response to each of them was.

One young woman, Karen, who recently graduated from college, is

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

Examples of combination products may in

ow embarking on her first job search. The second person was Jen an attorney with a significant law practice who asked for help in building a new specialty into her practice. The third was Bob who had recently closed his business aft

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

r 20 years. Bob is also now in the middle of a job search. (Names make it easy to write about but are not the actual names of my clients.)

Karen had no experience doing a job search before. She had a resume and had been answering

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

online job ads but said she felt that was going no where. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to do! When I suggested she do some informational interviewing, she told me she would like to do that but, “How can I find people to tal

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

Combination pro

to when I’ve just graduated college and haven’t lived in this community very long?”

Jen has built a substantial and growing real estate law practice in her 10 years in business. She did this by forming close relationships with the

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

anks and realtors in her area. Now she would like to begin to add cases in small business law to her practice but isn’t quite sure how to get started finding clients.

Bob is in the middle of his job search. He has focused in on th

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

ree or four jobs that he has applied and interviewed for. As he waits for responses he wonders what he could do to differentiate himself from the others applying for the same job.

Whatever you do today you need relationships with o

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

hers to help you find work or customers now and in the future. Who is currently in your network? How recently have you contacted them?

For those who are just starting out like Karen, you can begin with your college. Professors, a

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

umnae, and friends are the beginning of your network. Building a spreadsheet with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of acquaintances, friends and colleagues will also be very helpful now and in the future when you want to l

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

ok for another job or to start a business. People who live outside your location may still know people in your area. Karen could also tap into her parents network.

If you have built a small network as Jen has then think back to wha

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

Following aspects would a

t worked for you in the past and do it again. Jen plans to grow the small business part of her practice by approaching the banks and some of the clients that she has had a relationship with. In addition she needs more direct contact

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

with small business owners so she agreed to join some business organizations like the Chambers of Commerce. Since she uses Outlook in her practice I suggested she add her new contacts to the address book in that.

As a former busines

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

owner Bob has lots of contacts. In his previous life Bob used ACT! so he was able to go back to that database for some ideas. He was amazed to see that at least a dozen people he knew worked in the companies that he had interviewed

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

with. He could see that contacting those people could certainly positively impact his application especially if the contacts were willing to put in a good word with the hiring manager for him.

Building and maintaining good relatio

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

ships with people is a skill we all need. Those relationships can be used in many ways. Some of the people in your network may become close friends, others will be colleagues and peers, and still others will be people who are a few

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

steps ahead of you in their careers. Your relationships are important both in your personal life and your work life. Taking good care of them is an important life skill.

Take Action:

1. Take stock of your network and how you keep

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

track of the people in it. Do you know how to contact them and what they do for a living? Create your own database if you don’t have one.

2. Check that database for people you are out of touch with. Commit to reconnecting to one

.

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

or two people in your network each week. The holidays are a great time to start this.

3. Join an online networking group such as www.linkedin.com. Here is a way to use your network to reach people in their networks. While you are

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

there link to me too!

4. Does the idea of going to networking events or calling people to set up informational interviews scare you? A coach can help you overcome fear, eliminate blocks and address beliefs that are holding you back

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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The key to attracting customers is to leverage your advertising budget to garner the most attention for the least amount of money.

If you are looking to change a process or procedure at your company or implement a change, but are not successful you may need to look in the mirror. Often times, executives, and management need to change before they can expect their staff to change.

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