The vision of Life Science Leader is to be an essential business tool for life science executives. Our content is designed to not only inform readers of best practices, but motivate them to implement those best practices in their own businesses.
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Pharma Business to information, more efficient processes, or an enlightened business environment. For example, many companies are beginning to experience the operational benefits associated with unit serialization of finished goods, as required by new track-and-trace regulations. As companies continue to wrestle with traditional business tasks, such as recalls, returns, chargebacks/rebates, expired products, supply/demand balancing and new-goods monitoring, the increased supply chain visibility that is attainable from unit serialization can translate into increased operational efficiency and inventory reductions. Companies with advanced brand protection programs have developed internal financial scorecards to revenue recovery, cost avoidance, and efficiency gains from anticounterfeiting activities. Such metrics will be further discussed in the next article in this series on brand protection. THE ELEMENTS OF A BRAND PROTECTION PROGRAM As introduced above, brand protection should be charged with becoming the center of excellence for the enterprise in matters of best business practices to help prevent (1) fake goods from entering the legitimate supply chain and (2) genuine goods from being diverted into unauthorized (gray market) channels. In order to meet this challenge, the brand protection team must mobilize the people, processes, and technologies that sustain core operational and commercial tasks. Toward this end, the function must serve several key roles, including that of an internal best practices consultant, a trainer, an auditor, and a purveyor of innovative technology. There are seven core elements of work and expertise that are foundational to a broad-based organizational model for brand protection: 1. Incident Management. Aggressively investigate, record, and analyze each incident for root-cause factors, capturing key data relative to principals involved and interpreting forensic results. Classify incidents as to source, product category, location, and harm caused. Establish a culture of civil litigation in addition to criminal penalties. Apply advanced analytics to help identify the behavior and affiliations of the perpetrators. 2. Market Monitoring. Proactively examine internal commercial information for abnormalities possibly attributable to illicit trade. Includes incident reporting, Internet monitoring, customs collaboration, field audits, product purchases, supply/demand patterns, and sales/pricing information. 3. Community of Knowledge. Awareness and education of the dangers of counterfeits and associated risk-mitigating practices. Includes internal and external educational programs, consumer alerts, internal knowledge portal, and on-line awareness training for both new and experienced employees. 46 LifeScienceLeader.com October 2013 4. Influencing Public Policy. Collaborations with legislators, regulators, and other government agencies on anti-counterfeiting laws and policies. Includes collaborating with national and member state governing bodies, industry associations, trade groups, customs and border protection, law enforcement agencies, and nongovernment organizations (NGOs). 5. Operations Best Practices. Enhance the security of supply chains through increased visibility and control of product flows and by influencing the practices of suppliers, trading partners, external manufacturers, and customers. Includes distributor management, information systems, in-transit security, channel strategies, packaging safeguards, and track-and-trace systems. 6. Technology Adoption. Provide assessments and use cases for authentication and track-and-trace technologies to the product/package to either deter counterfeiters or assist in identifying fake goods in the supply chain. A layered approach to technology adoption is recommended to reduce the risk of being compromised by counterfeiters. 7. Global Deployment. Locate brand protection experts on the ground in high-risk zones of counterfeit trade. Provide enterprise support for incidents and best practices implementation. Serve as liaison with internal and external stakeholders, and work with local governments and customs authorities. Together, these elements provide a useful road map for establishing a brand protection organization within your company or remodeling the brand integrity programs already present. They also provide the basis for setting goals and objectives for the enterprise and for informing regional and local anticounterfeiting teams. In summary, by establishing an enterprisewide culture of no tolerance for counterfeits, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are taking a resolute stand against those who are violating their brands and placing their patients in jeopardy. A well-designed and wellresourced brand protection organization, preferably positioned at the enterprise level, provides the proper organizational platform to sustain anticounterfeiting programs and work proactively across all functions to create new sources of business value. About the Author Ron Guido is the president of Lifecare Services, LLC, a management-consulting firm specializing in healthcare marketing, brand protection, and strategic planning. He has more than 36 years of experience in the healthcare industry and is the former vice president of brand protection at Johnson & Johnson.