IMPACT OF CHANGES IN HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT

In today's pharmaceutical market, conventional wisdom is being thrown into the air, according to Alan Clark, managing director of Lilly UK and vice president of Lilly Industries, speaking at a recent New Orleans, USA, conference organized by Dendrite International, a proprietary computer systems, service and support group to pharmaceutical companies for improving sales performance.

At one time, the pharmaceutical companies shaped the environment, he said; now, the customer is shaping the environment, and changing customer groups are destabilizing the pharmaceutical industry and shattering old orthodoxies.

In the past, he added, it was possible to talk to a leader, and the results of that meeting would cascade into a centrally-driven policy. However, in today's environment, Mr Clark told delegates, it is much less likely that a national, homogeneous marketing strategy will maximize market share. Therefore, central management has become a problem.