Digital healthcare requires bipartisan consensus

On May 25, 2021, the Pharmacy & Healthcare Digital Summit forum was held at Interpred – SFT Sofia, organized by ENTERPRISE magazine.

The forum is part of the MySuccess.bg series on successful practices in various business sectors by ENTERPRISE magazine.

Leading experts in the fields of pharmacy and healthcare presented the industry trends against the backdrop of the pandemic, its digital future, and ongoing innovations that benefit both healthcare systems and society.

Luka Chichov, General Manager of IQVIA, Bulgaria, presented data on the dynamics of the pharmaceutical market in Bulgaria and globally amid the spread of the new coronavirus. The growth in 2020 was 5%, indicating a slight slowdown in the market, especially since declines were reported in Europe and Asia. Oncology remains the leader in sales, as well as medications for diabetes, autoimmune diseases, respiratory diseases, and more. In some categories, a decline in sales or stagnation was observed, he emphasized.

By March 2021, the Bulgarian pharmaceutical market reported sales of almost 2 billion euros at retail prices, with a growth rate of just over 5%. The prescription medicine market is worth 1.7 billion euros. The most significant growth is in the hospital market, mainly due to the introduction of new, more expensive therapies paid for by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), he pointed out.

Regarding global market forecasts, vaccination programs worldwide are expected to cost about 160 billion dollars by 2025. Without vaccines, the pharmaceutical market is expected to grow by 4.4%. The U.S. and Chinese markets are expected to account for more than 50% of global pharmaceutical product sales. The ranking of markets will not change significantly – the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, and France remain the top 5, with Brazil expected to enter the top 10, Luka Chichov noted.

He emphasized that there is pressure on healthcare systems worldwide due to other patients – undiagnosed on time, with delayed treatments, etc. However, there is not enough statistical data on this issue.

Marian Naydenov, Managing Director of Prodesign, discussed the prospects for digital communications in the pharmaceutical sector and presented the benefits of content marketing as indirect advertising with a long lifespan, reaching tens of thousands of views. Another effective advertising channel is influencers, who successfully reach the right audience.

He advised setting appropriate goals for communication and advertising plans. Since many pharmaceutical products cannot be sold online, the goal is to achieve greater brand recognition and spark interest. He also suggested considering online marketing campaigns targeting commercial partners, such as pharmacies.

Stanislaava Chipova, Director of Market Research at Market Links, presented data on online shopping and the dynamics of the sector in Bulgaria in recent years. The growth of the online market in Bulgaria is not as strong as in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, but the trend is upward, she commented. By May 2021, nearly half of the adult population in Bulgaria had shopped online. As for pharmaceutical products bought online, around 16% of the adult population had purchased them through the internet, mainly supplements and cosmetics. The growth in the purchase of medication for treatment is slower, but the share of buyers reached 10%.

Stanislaava Chipova noted that market normalization or at least stabilization at the achieved levels is expected.

As for the barriers to online purchases of pharmaceutical products, she pointed out that the number one barrier is the convenience of physical pharmacies, online medications that require a prescription cannot be purchased, the need for consultation with a pharmacist before purchase, the additional cost of delivery, lack of trust in online stores, and unwillingness to wait for delivery.

Dr. Svetoslav Tsenvov, Chairman of the Management Board of ARPharm and Director of Astellas for Bulgaria, emphasized digital healthcare, which is not just an electronic health record, but also many mobile apps, including those for remote COVID diagnosis, as well as telemedicine, which developed over the past year due to the pandemic.

The main barriers to the digitalization of the healthcare sector are bureaucracy, the cost of new technologies, finding the right technology, staff training, and others, Svetoslav Tsenvov pointed out.

Mira Ganova, PhD and Executive Director of the Digital Health and Innovation Cluster, commented on the digitalization of healthcare and its benefits, leading to the achievement of so-called informational intelligence. Digital healthcare is not imaginary; many countries have reached a level of digital maturity and have built an electronic health ecosystem, such as Switzerland, she added.

Radoy Pavlov, Corporate Architect at the University Hospital Zurich and honorary member of the Digital Health and Innovation Cluster, pointed out that developed healthcare systems are building the foundation for e-healthcare with a comprehensive macro-architectural framework for how the digital healthcare model will evolve in the years to come. In Switzerland, we literally face many more and more complex medical solutions every day, but they need to be unified by this foundation in order to develop meaningfully.

Education of citizens to work with these solutions is also extremely important. A comprehensive national strategy is needed for the integration of all new technologies, innovations, processes, and services into society, following medical standards, he emphasized.

During the discussion “E-healthcare – electronic records and electronic prescriptions, opportunity or challenge, how will it change the OTC market?”, moderated by Elena Mateeva, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Public Relations Society, participants agreed that there is no unified healthcare policy regulating the digitalization process. It is unclear what steps will be taken in this direction. Even if we want e-healthcare, we are not ready because we do not have the foundation, experts argue. Digital healthcare is extremely important and serious; it is related to the effectiveness of the healthcare system itself, and the healthcare system in Bulgaria is not effective in its current form, which is why the introduction of fully functional digital healthcare will take several years.

Participants in the discussion: M.Sc. Pharm. Dimitar Marinov, General Secretary of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union, Dr. Svetoslav Tsenvov, Chairman of ARPharm and Director of Astellas for Bulgaria, Venelin Sapunarov, Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Chamber of Sofia, Dr. Stanimir Hasardzhiev, Chairman of the National Patient Organization.

During the workshop “Media and the Doctor’s Office – Friend or Foe to the Health Industry. How to Write Effectively About Pharmaceutical Products?”, led by Velina Tomova from NetInfo, she commented that 85% of people search for health information online – symptoms, treatment, and other information. The online space ensures anonymity, which is important for many people, as they can ask questions, they may be too embarrassed to ask openly, she explained. Writing about pharmaceutical products online carries responsibility because the authors of these materials are usually not medical professionals and should not give treatment recommendations. Writing articles jointly by a journalist and a doctor is a good way to provide general information.

Yavor Yankulov from e-training.bg spoke about the benefits of LinkedIn for OTC products. It is important to build a business environment in this network, a community of people to whom you can present and sell your products and services, where you can post all kinds of information, he noted.

Source: Pharmacy & Healthcare Digital Summit: Healthcare Digitalization is Here – Enterprise.bg