The idea for this book has always been hovering around in my mind, somewhere above the deadlines and the more pressing issues of running and sustaining a company; but the idea was really ignited when I ran across John Campell's Understanding Pharma and Lingua Pharma. His simplistic approach and user-friendly design was exactly what I wanted to do for my book in my field, Pharmaceutical Market Analysis. At around the same time, I was also guest lecturing at West Chester University in the recently created Pharmaceutical Product Development Program. While searching around for materials and resources to supplement my lectures, I realized the need for such a book. The goal of this book is to focus on the Pharmaceutical market, rather than a clinical perspective. The clinical approach is already well-documented.
The examples used in this book are one of two categories: projects or case studies. The projects are real-life examples taken from various ProMetrics projects over it's twelve-year history. Roughly five projects are presented in each chapter. Various case studies are also used to highlight certain features of the market.
The accompanying CD is an important feature of this book. Not only does it contain the entire contents of the book, but it is searchable, and has hyperlinks so that the most current data can be viewed. Just as essential are the additional cases and the useful, detailed data tables for reference and practice analysis. There is only so much of a chart than can be put into a book. While the book may have a list of the Top Ten Pharmaceutical companies, the CD will have the Top 100.
This book begins with an overview of the Pharmaceutical industry and the need for decision support. Chapter 2 then turns to managing the volumes of data that must be collected in order to make specific recommendations. The next two chapters deal with decision makers and the model for Pharmaceutical decisions. Chapter 5 reviews the various methods of data collection. Data integration and data analysis are the focus of the next two chapters - the way in which the data is best stored and altered so that it can then be properly and efficiently analyzed. Chapter 8 turns to the reporting of the data. Remaining Pharmaceutical issues and questions are explored in Chapter 9. The final chapter addresses the impact of technological advancements on the future of Pharmaceutical Market Analysis and Information Analysis.
Throughout the book I will refer to three fictitious Pharmaceutical companies, and their fictitious managers. The projects and examples in the book are based on real experience and real data. The latter has only been slightly modified and the names changed to protect the proprietary interests of our clients. The three companies will represent different sized Pharmaceutical companies. BigPharma will be a large company, comparable in size to Bayer, Pfizer, Novartis or Johnson & Johnson. Middle Laboratories will approximate a medium-sized company such as Amgen, Chiron, or Jenetech. Baby Biotech will be a small company, similar in size to Intermune, Acorda, or Savient.
