Each year brings changes with it when it comes to any industry and every year, that industry manages to evolve to find a solution to this problem.
Unfortunately, despite the growth it has experienced in various areas, there are still some common challenges that Big Pharma faces today. The following are a few of these:
Problems in Regulations
Due to its global nature, the pharma industry is often limited in its functionality by various different rules, jurisdictions, and regulations. From having to get FDA approval to other governing bodies, it is not always possible for the pharma industry to experience a lot of growth or to enter new markets.
With more government pressure calling for stricter enforcement of certain rules, the pharma industry has to keep an eye on various different approval procedures, limiting constraints as well as protests that affect the pharma industry on a regulatory note.
Budget Limitations
Research and development of new medication is not only time consuming but it is also costly. Unfortunately, this can call for different pharma businesses to apply for grants or donations that require further funding. Even then, there is a lot of competition for funding and not enough capital for everyone.
The end result is either slow, poor or shoddy research work since corners had to be cut in order to remain within the budget. Moreover, most capital is not always available for the initial stages since there are more risks involved and fewer chances of earning a profit with a projected ROI of 10 or 15 years.
Evolution of Business Models
The pharma industry is stuck in its ways in various aspects and this has started to impact negatively on their work mode. For example: Developing a new drug has costs attached to it exceeding a billion dollars or more. For this reason, it is necessary for the drug to sell well in order to generate that much in sales. Unfortunately, new drugs being released in the market do not make the same impact anymore as they previously made.
This again limits the amount of funds that are available for research and development and requires the pharma industry to seriously consider evolving their business models. On the other hand, this task is extensive calling for a major upheaval of the current business model of various pharma industries. This is one reason why the pharma industry hasn’t been able to evolve their business model as yet.
Problems with Newer Practices
Many industries have easily embraced social media and used it for their benefit. From retail and services to travel and real estate, digital media has seamlessly benefited these industries by improving their interactions with their target audience.
On the other hand, social media and digital media have not been able to make such a huge impact since the pharmaceutical industry is old fashioned. Their business structure is not flexible enough to accommodate the different changes being proposed for other industries.
These four are some of the most common challenges that Big Pharma still faces to this day. Luckily, over time, the industry can easily overcome these but their progress might be a bit slow.
