8DECEMBER - 2021TECH OUTLOOKIN MY OPINIONAn ObservationTwo things changed the pharmaceutical industry in 2020. One was the pandemic, the other well........crept up on us.COVID-19 is a once in a century occurrence. Our lives met the pause button, milestone moments were either delayed or cancelled by the coronavirus. The hospitality and travel industries were probably hardest hit. Generally speaking the Pharmaceutical industry came out of it fairly well. We were lauded in our efforts to find a vaccine, companies opened up manufacturing plants to competitors and refitted production lines to increase capacity. Whilst physical distancing restrictions meant interventional treatments were delayed, in most cases medicines still got it to the patient. It remains a difficult situation, the industry has become a business partner to healthcare professionals in the last 15 years. During the peak of the first wave, we found ourselves "cut off" perhaps even "surplus" to the needs of the profession. Companies asked their commercial team to respect their customers time, not to disturb them during the unfolding crisis. Our teams sat at home and filled their time with training and other skills development, some teams were even furloughed. Allied Healthcare Professionals, Doctors, Nurses and Administrators were focused on tackling the spread of COVID-19. Time and resources were diverted, our customers had no time for us. The industry's way of accessing our customers disappeared overnight.It became difficult to call, we could no longer visit them in person and they were unavailable on email, therefore how do we operate?EUROPEAN COMPLIANCE TECH By Bennett Lau, Compliance Officer, GrünenthalBennett Lau
< Page 7 | Page 9 >