FIND IT, FILE IT, FLOG IT: PHARMA’S CRIPPLING ADDICTION AND HOW TO CURE IT
Chapter 3: Big Pharma Jettisons Its Assets
Hope you are finding this useful so far?
When I wrote FIND IT, FILE IT, FLOG IT, it was in frustration with those working in the industry turning a blind eye to poor supply chain management practices, and the protocols and regulations that were being circumvented during clinical trials and commercial sale.
The companies developing new molecular entities, some employing less people than your local supermarket, were only interested in ‘making an exit’. In reality, that meant selling their compound on to Big Pharma, based on wildly optimistic Press Releases and briefings of the financial analysts, mainly over dinner at a Michelin star restaurant (more than one preferably).
There was no way of checking their story of course, and investors were being taken in, hook, line, and sinker….or stinker even. The ‘exit’ would mean they the stinkers could spend the rest of their days in luxury.
The world wasn’t ready for it
In total, sales of FIND IT, FILE IT, FLOG IT: PHARMA’S CRIPPLING ADDICTION AND HOW TO CURE IT got into double figures, just. Maybe 11 or 12 copies, no more. The world wasn’t ready for it in 2015, albeit the review from Kirkus Reviews, Amazon’s recommended book reviewer, was excellent:
“A thoroughly researched and considered industry critique that includes substantive, visionary ideas for rehabilitation.”
“A searing indictment of “Big Pharma” offers specific recommendations for change.”
It delights me to say that two subscribers to INSIDE PHARMA, Charles Mackay and Keith Plumb, invested in a copy at the time and have been with me ever since, also providing a review on Amazon: FIND IT, FILE IT, FLOG IT: PHARMA’S CRIPPLING ADDICTION AND HOW TO CURE IT.
Really grateful for your support all these years, Charles and Keith!
Now I’ve got that off my chest, it’s time for Chapter 3.
CHAPTER 3: Big Pharma Jettisons Its Assets
I’m starting with my best attempt at taking a photo of the back cover of the paperback version.
Success smells so sweet
Success created a thirst for bigger and better returns. Financial whiz kids, consultants, and heaven knows whoever else waded in to provide much-needed advice. By the time Big Pharma was in full swing toward the later 1980s, many sectors had identified the potential benefits associated with outsourcing activities that previously had been carried out in-house.
The rationale was simple. If specialist companies can offer services more efficiently and cost effectively than the company can provide for itself, why not let these experts do it, so the focus and profit potential stays firmly on your company’s strengths? If it’s good enough for them, they thought, then it’s good enough for us. This next installment of our metaphor considered what happened in the analogous world of sausages.
A Helpful Metaphor
After the Morgans’ success, Evan Evans-Bevan, the village bank manager, paid the family a visit. Mr. Evans-Bevan took pride in his financial prowess that he learned from a course in the big city. He had some interesting advice for the family.