Biotechnology. Diagnostics.
Medical Devices. Pharmaceuticals.
What do these four life sciences verticals have in common? The need for compliant content.
In such a highly-regulated industry, life sciences companies are under pressure to reduce operational costs and increase efficiency, all while improving patient outcomes. They’re responsible for making sure that their drugs, devices, or tests are safe and align with the standards that have been outlined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among other regulatory bodies. However, remaining compliant can be challenging, and failing to do so can carry grave consequences.
When it comes to promoting a product within the life sciences industry, any marketing piece that makes a claim can be under the surveillance of the FDA. With numerous product lines, countless indications and multiple regions around the globe, companies can inevitably make oversights. Due to the volume and range of content assets, finding the most relevant information and content for every product, market, and customer stage is no easy task.
This is why these four verticals are in an ideal position to deploy a sales enablement solution.
By providing life sciences marketers with a centralized repository to organize, store and distribute collateral, they are given ultimate version control and can always provide Sales with the most up-to-date, compliant information and collateral possible.
Maybe you’re thinking, “So what if my content isn’t in a single repository? My Sales team is still increasing revenue and we haven’t had any issues distributing inaccurate information…”
While that may be true, imagine this scenario:
A life sciences’ sales rep enters a hospital wishing to speak with a team of cardiologists about their company’s latest development—a device, medication, diagnostic test, etc.—and they utilize an outdated piece of marketing collateral that makes the following claim: “This product can reverse heart disease.”
While this claim hasn’t been approved by the FDA, this piece of collateral is still residing in the Sales deck arsenal. As a marketer, you know this piece can’t be shared without legal consequences and you know your C-Suite is certainly aware that this claim cannot be communicated. You thought you removed this piece of content from the Sales shuffle, yet surprise, surprise…here it is to haunt you and with it, a hefty price tag.
Companies in the life sciences space have a price to pay when caught improperly or illegally promoting a drug or device. In the past 10 years, pharmaceutical companies alone have paid over $30 billion in fines relative to improperly marketing their products.
However, the risk of putting a patient in harm’s way due to misinformation is even costlier. That risk is one of the reasons why the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allows the FDA to regulate how organizations in the life sciences industry can promote their products.
By implementing a sales enablement solution as the single source of truth for messaging, Marketing and Sales can both feel confident that the content they are sharing is always in the best interest of the physician and/or the patient.
While enabling Sales to increase revenue is one thing, enabling them to make a smarter sale is another.
After all, patients depend on it.
