The Path to Progress: Sales and Marketing Spotlight
After Market Access, the final stage of The Path to Progress journey is Sales and Marketing.
Once a medicine has been granted marketing authorisation, our Sales and Marketing colleagues are responsible for educating various stakeholders, such as doctors, pharmacists, and healthcare boards about the benefits and risks associated with using a medicine – all with the aim of ensuring it is prescribed to the right patient at the right time.
About Marketing
Our Marketing teams are responsible for ensuring that by the time a medicine is granted marketing authorisation and is available to patients, it’s accompanied by a strategic marketing plan for how it’ll be positioned against existing alternatives. This includes developing materials for our Sales teams, which are compliant with both the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) codes of practice, so they can educate healthcare professionals on the patient unmet need and explore suitable treatment options.
Our Marketing teams continue to collaborate with Sales colleagues once a medicine has launched, to understand how marketing activities and materials can be improved to deliver the information needed by customers. A key activity is evolving a medicine’s marketing strategy throughout its lifecycle.
About Sales
The roles performed by our Sales colleagues are multifaceted, however, educating healthcare professionals about a medicine to ensure it is prescribed to the right patients at the right time, is the core purpose.
Sales colleagues work closely with our Marketing teams to identify what materials are suitable for different customers and to understand the marketing strategy throughout a medicine’s lifecycle. When a medicine is granted a licence, our Sales teams engage with various stakeholders to ensure it is prescribed appropriately. This is a highly regulated activity and accurate, up-to-date information must be delivered to ensure compliance with the ABPI and IPHA codes of practice.
About Medical Education and Payor Marketing
Our Sales and Marketing teams are also supported by Medical Education, who work to deliver a greater depth of medical education to external stakeholders, with the aim of enhancing patient outcomes.
Additionally, Payor Marketing collaborates with the wider team, and in particular with Integrated Healthcare Managers, to understand what barriers may be impacting patient access to medicines.
Sales and Marketing at Bristol Myers Squibb in the UK & Ireland
Rosanna Smith, a Senior Brand Lead within our Marketing teams, and Bhavna Joshi, an Integrated Healthcare Manager within our Sales teams, work together as part of the Sales and Marketing function here at Bristol Myers Squibb. They’re based at our UK Head Office in Uxbridge and in the Field. They collaborate with other colleagues who perform specialist roles across Sales and Marketing, such as Sarah Kelly within Payor Marketing and Nicola Ellis within Medical Education, who are also based in Uxbridge.
Getting the right medicine, to the right patient, at the right time, requires an incredible collaborative effort, in which countless people play interdependent roles.
Watch the Sales and Marketing Spotlight video to learn more about the last step of the Path to Progress journey, including how all their roles piece together in our pursuit of transforming patients’ lives through science.
NO-GB-2300371
December 2023