Pharma Veterans

Generative AI – Lovers, Haters, and Their Arguments – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #968 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 968 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Ron Lach Credit: Cedric Fauntleroy Credit: iam hogir Credit: Mikhail Nilov Credit: Nabath Otieno Credit: ROMAN ODINTSOV Help for this two-part blogpost has been taken from ChatGPT4o, HubSpot, Mckinsey, and MIT. Prologue Generative AI has sparked significant debate, drawing strong opinions from both advocates and critics. The technology's potential to transform industries and society at large is undeniable, but so are the concerns it raises.  CSER – Center for the Study of Existential Risk – is an interdisciplinary research center within the University of Cambridge, UK. Their website says, ‘We are dedicated to the study and mitigatio

Creating Great Workplaces – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #967 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 967 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Bali Demiri Credit: Ivan Samkov Credit: Ivan Samkov Credit: Jopwell Help for this article has been taken from Boston Consulting Group research, link at the end. Preamble Workplace is where we spend most of our active life. Whatever happens at the workplace impacts us deeply. As has been recognized the world over, work becomes our identity also. When someone loses a job, the loss is multidimensional; it is income, loss of face, fear of future, and loss of identity. The workplaces must be great places to be, but alas! These are not in most cases. Talking of pharma companies in Pakistan, due to uneven distribution of business, the best can be expected only from the

Understanding the Internet of Things - IoT – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #966 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 966 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Anna Shvets Credit: Ivan Bertolazzi Credit: Jakub Zerdzicki Credit: Yücel Özel Help for this article has been taken from a McKinsey article, link at the end. Preamble Pharma Industry is among the slowest in Pakistan to take up new technologies. Even top grossing companies are doing lot of manual operations in all departments, particularly production. This will have to change if the industry is to become more competitive. Competition today is based on efficiency, not just the amount of production done. Being an insider, I understand that there are lots of wastages of all kinds in the operations of any pharma company, which is an entire subject to

The Bottomless Pit – Asrar Qureshi’s Heartfelt Post #965 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 965 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Alena Darmel Credit: Gül Işic Credit: PNW Production Credit: Sami Abdullah Spoiler: This is not a regular blogpost. It is a heartfelt post. Eid is a time to celebrate and to take stock of where we are. Eid ul Adha is even more of such occasion when we fervently talk about sacrifice, its spirit, and its relevance to real life. We are on the third day of Eid ul Adha. The rush of animal sacrifices has died down and has been replaced with the preparation of special meat dishes and meeting relatives and friends, more ‘meating’ than meeting. There is nothing unusual this year, the same things have been happening year after year.  The Buildup The buildup starts just befo

Eid ul Adha Mubarak - from Asrar Qureshi Dear Readers! Please accept my heartfelt wishes and prayers on the occasion of  Eid ul Adha 2024 The whole world is in turmoil. Injustice, Cruelty, Crimes against Humanity, Oppression, Suppression of Freedom, Might is Ultra Right, are order of the day. No one is willing to side with the weak, the poor, and the oppressed. Everything from social values to religion are up for sale to make quick money. We, meanwhile, celebrate Eid with 'traditional fervour'. We worry only about what should be cooked today and in the next few days. Allah Knows if our animal sacrifices are enough to expiate us from our sins. Allah Knows if we carry the real spirit of sacrifice. Let us take a moment to think.

What Kind of Boss Would You Like to Be?  – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 964 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 963 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: August de Richelieu Credit: RDNE Stock project Credit: RDNE Stock project Opening Statement Boss is a position, not a title, and it is found at all levels of society. The lady at the house is the boss of domestic help, the husband is the boss of the lady of the house, the contractor is the boss of labor, the shopkeeper is the boss of his staff, and the list goes on. What I am saying is that the behavior of bosses should be seen in this context. Having roamed around in several countries on business, I can vouch that while many features are common, others vary from culture to culture. Universal Features of Usual Bosses Personal Features All bosses fe

Where is the Patient in Healthcare Landscape?  – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 963 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 963 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Azra Tuba Demir Credit: Jonathan Borba Credit: LLos Muertos Crew Credit: Max Mishin Preamble Health and education are important subjects for politics and therefore get new ideas whenever a new government comes in. It is however a pity that previous government initiatives are usually scraped by the new government. Some may be baptized with a new name and launched again. In the education sector, Danish school was the last major initiative in Punjab which, surprisingly, is still running well. Sehat Card was the last major initiative from the PTI government. Present incumbent government has raised questions about it and its fate is still hanging

Status of Pharmaceutical Business in Pakistan 2024 – Part II – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 962 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 962 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Kübra Kuzu Credit: Polina Tankilevitch Credit: Tran Nhu Tuan This is the second and last part. Corporates Growth Pakistan market is extremely unevenly divided with about 95% market share with only top 100 companies. The top players added further huge revenues to their already bursting volumes. They have also further strengthened their positions by increasing share of the total market. The top players have done this by growing at a rate higher than the market growth. How are they able to do it? There are several factors. Human Resource – The big players have the financial strength and market standing to attract top talent. Once a

Status of Pharmaceutical Business in Pakistan 2024 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 961 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 961 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Anna Shvets Credit: Anna Tarazevich Credit: Arda Kaykisiz Credit: RDNE Stock project I would like to comment on the current state of pharmaceutical business in Pakistan. Before that, I would like to put down the basics first. Pharmaceutical business is among key businesses in Pakistan for two reasons: one, it is directly related to the state of healthcare in the country; and two, it employs hundreds of thousands of people in various roles. For common understanding, I may list down the major stakeholders. Pharmaceutical Industry – comprises of around eight hundred manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and about six hundred manufacturers