The ranking was conferred by the 34 funders / key health opinion leaders interviewed in the confidence evaluation. As in the 2008 survey, 37 ethical pharmaceutical companies participated in the survey, 24 of which were multinationals. Those ranked were a mix of generic, traditional, local and multinational companies. AstraZeneca retained its record as number one with this group.
According to AstraZeneca national MHC manager, Peter Cave, AstraZeneca has, with this in mind, been highly committed to establishing a sound relationship with Managed Health Care (MHC) Organisations and Funders and has continued to enhance its servicing to this market over the last eight years.
Commenting on this, Campbell Belman spokesperson, Pamela Belman says that AstraZeneca's staunch efforts have resulted in the strongest levels of confidence in AstraZeneca amongst this highly influential sector of the market.
“The results speak for themselves and there is no doubt that funders have strong trust in this pharmaceutical company, in its products and in its future growth. For a company of its size, AstraZeneca has a strong profile amongst funders,” adds Belman.
The notable findings of the survey revealed that AstraZeneca is considered to be a company that is honest on product limitations. It is also viewed as a company that is expected to make original breakthroughs and that it would put its drugs through meticulous clinical trials. It supports its product usage with pharma-economic data and it is observed as having inherently strong products, of a consistently high quality with clinical benefits that justify cost. Furthermore, it has an efficient contact system for dealing with MHC issues. There is also confidence in its product pipeline.
Adding to this Belman says, “AstraZeneca's social responsibility programmes were also identified as one of its chief strengths which is something to be proud of. That said, its strongest support came from its Key Account Managers (KAMS). Effective use of clinical data, calling frequently, sponsoring authoritative speakers, supporting medical congresses/symposia, CMEs and attending to problems/complaints/information requested promptly and effectively were all cited and give positive accolades. Other strong forms of support come from KAMS adding value, knowing their subject, having an efficient contact system for dealing with MHC issues and having a good understanding of the MHC environment.”
“We are also very pleased with our growth in the category of Future Prospects, where we gained market confidence moving from 8th position in 2008 to 3rd position in 2009,” says Cave. “We take seriously the assessments as published in the report, using the feedback as an opportunity to address both real and perceived weaknesses in our approach. It also gives us the opportunity to further build on strengths to become more attractive to the market using the Confidence Predictor's diagnostic feedback tool designed to provide such assessments.”
Commenting on the eighth successful ranking, Belman says: “Historically, AstraZeneca was one of the first multinationals to recognise that Managed Health Care would be a major force in the pharmaceutical market in South Africa and immediately made a strong commitment to develop its relations with this key group. It has continued with this commitment and each year for the past eight years its top position in Managed Health Care has been confirmed by the Campbell Belman results.”
Dr Guni Goolab, CEO of AstraZeneca South Africa says, “While we are one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in South Africa with a number of leading products, without the support of this important stakeholder group, we would not be able to retain our solid standing in what is an increasingly competitive market. We are committed to the deliberate development and refinement of our service delivery to funders and providers and will continue to co-operate in our mutual efforts to deliver cost-effective medicines to a wider number of patients.”
Campbell Belman is an independent analytics company and conducts its annual MHC Confidence Predictor/Confidence Development survey among funders and providers on behalf of ethical pharmaceutical companies.
