Information is power. But searching for the right healthcare data can be time-consuming and cumbersome.
Today's business executives typically spend 75 percent of their time looking for pertinent market information and 25 percent analyzing it, according to Skila, a provider of healthcare market intelligence and knowledge solutions.
The Mahwah, N.J.,-based company integrates market intelligence from specialized databases, government sources and news services with a company's in-house data.
Some of the outside databases include Healthcare Information Association (HCIA), FDA, Medicare and Lexis-Nexis. As a result of quick access to Skila's customized databases, its clients report spending 50 percent less time searching for information and 50 percent more time using it, the company claims.
The software package enables decision-makers within sales, marketing and business development departments to:
- Learn of competitive opportunities and threats;
- Manage market risks and make fast, effective strategic decisions; and
- Monitor events the affect competitive positioning.
The system starts at $250,000 and takes four to six weeks to install, according to Moish Tov, Skila's founder and CEO.
Training involves a three-month mentoring program where Skila specialists work with the client's marketing team to show them approaches to knowledge management and market intelligence.
For Frankfurt, Germany,-based Merz, the Skila system is providing its marketing department and executive management with information about its competitors in the dermatology industry.
"Skila is to push technology what Netscape is to the Internet," says Deepak Massand, Merz's president. Currently, Skila is the only company that offers this level of data integration, says Tov.
Merz's marketing team uses the system for campaign planning and strategy, especially for new product launches.
Marketers can find out how many dermatologists are in a particular ZIP code and the number of patients they are seeing.
Merz's executive management often uses the system for patent searches (which involves the FDA's database) and to learn of product licensing opportunities.
From a big picture perspective, the system is helping Merz move forward with its plans to market a Parkinson's disease drug therapy program, says Massand.
"[Skila] is allowing us to see where the U.S market is [for Parkinson's], and to determine the size of investment that may be required to compete in the marketplace." (Skila, Moish Tov, 201/818-2277; Merz, Deepak Massand, 336/851-3317)
Skila, Inc.
- Founded: 1995
- Headquarters: Mahwah, N.J.
- 1997 Revenues: Under $10M
- Healthcare Clients: U.S. Surgical, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Merz
- Databases: 20,000 medical diagnoses and procedures, 21,000 medical products, 21,000 suppliers (including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies), 5,000 managed care organizations, 7,000 U.S. hospitals and 750,000 physicians, group practices and offices.