Dr Stephen McDonough, UK medical director at GSK, looks at the changing relationship between industry and health professionals and how the company is adapting to society’s growing demand for greater transparency
The eyes of our industry are looking ahead to new rules that will come into effect this year which will influence how healthcare companies work with the medical professions. These new rules will affect every pharmaceutical company that is a member of its national business association.
Overseen by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) in the UK, all members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) will be required to disclose certain payments to individually-named healthcare professionals. This includes speaker fees, consultancy services, advisory boards and sponsorship to attend medical education meetings. Payments to healthcare organisations, such as donations and grants, will also have to be disclosed.
First disclosures were required by 30 June 2016 but at GSK UK we pragmatically embraced these changes to go one step further.
GSK recognises the need for healthcare companies to be a trusted source for high-quality, balanced information available to healthcare professionals when they need it, in the way they want it. For this reason, we are redefining the way we work and the way we educate healthcare professionals about our medicines and vaccines.
No more sales targets
As we mark the 300th anniversary of its UK origins, GSK once again aims to lead the way in how the sector works with the healthcare community. This commitment was underlined three years ago when we announced our intention to stop direct payments to healthcare professionals in return for speaking engagements for our prescription medicines and attending medical conferences.
We want to ensure all interactions with healthcare professionals are governed by our values of transparency, respect, integrity and patient focus. Many companies in our industry use words such as these, but fewer are fundamentally fracturing established ways of working and actively behaving differently, as GSK has done.
This includes changes to how we incentivise our sales force, so that sales team members are measured and rewarded on applying key competencies – including technical skills, knowledge, elements of customer engagement and business planning – and no longer on individual sales targets.
Furthermore, rather than asking doctors to speak about our medicines in return for payment, as has often been the historic industry model, GSK also now makes greater use of internal medical expertise to spotlight the benefits of our medicines, by boosting the number of medics in its workforce and through digital channels to make this expertise available to healthcare professionals .
We will remain committed as our business adapts and we evolve our relationships with health professionals and ultimately GSK will be in a better position for the long-term.
Steps to put this into practice have seen a range of face-to-face training sessions for colleagues on how this affects them, as well as a UK project team setting out what the global frameworks mean for UK pharma in a world of changing expectations among customers, patients and society.
Making changes to the way GSK interacts with healthcare professionals was never going to be a one-way conversation and continuing to engage with customers as well as colleagues will be crucial.
We place huge importance internally in communication and education, and our leadership has underlined the need for GSK to adapt. This is an ongoing process, but the feedback from our sales force so far has so far been positive, as has the reaction from our customers. Some are more willing to work with us now than ever before.
Conversation starters
As we move forward to embed these changes and with the new rules coming into effect, it is vital that across the industry we continue talking to professional bodies, government and the NHS.
Maintaining this dialogue, listening to the feedback from colleagues and health professionals, and ensuring all those involved understand this is the direction industry needs to take will be key to success. It is what patients and politicians have come to expect and GSK is committed to taking people with us on this journey.
We have already made significant progress but there is still more to do. These issues continue to be a focus for substantial public scrutiny and it is right that we continue to shape a GSK for the long-term that meets the expectations of patients, customers, stakeholders and investors.