Job Descriptions

My name is Maya Marianova Ingelieva and I work as a medical representative with Tchaikapharma High Quality Medicines Inc.

To some extent my job overlaps with that of a trade representative. However, the fast-paced and ever-changing pharmaceutical market presupposes marked specificity. In a nutshell, I am responsible for the promotion of Tchaikapharma’s products among medical professionals and pharmacies, and accountable for sales results. My main objectives include contributing to a better quality of life for Tchaikapharma’s customers, building goodwill, increasing the company’s market share.

Having a job which involves face-to-face contact with customers whom I don’t sell a product but present its advantages, I definitely cannot go unprepared. The first thing I do is analyze the environment, particularly the pharmaceutical market. Then I learn everything about the product I am going to present. This knowledge includes a product’s advantages, whether therapeutic (composition, properties) or marketing (name, dosage form, etc.) ones, and its disadvantages (for example, adverse reactions). A profound knowledge of my product’s competitors allows me to realize where I stands and where I want to stand in the short and in the long run.

Equipped with this information, I am still not ready to go for a field work. I need to be able to provide my customers with updated and useful information. This requires constant coordination with other departments and management, following the media, public statements, latest research and developments. With all these „tools”, I am now ready to start my work day.

The meetings might be routine and monotonous but this is really rare. Almost always I am exhilarated at the prospect of what the new day holds, anticipating each meeting – with cardiologists, psychiatrists, general practitioners, neurologists and endocrinologists. Pharmacists as well.

Going home after work, I analyze the events from the day; sketch my impressions and new information. This helps a lot for my weekly reports and my next visits strategy.

Besides the busy days and countless meetings, the work of the medical representative could be quite solitary. No matter what, you have to keep some distance and not turn your professional relationships into personal ones.

Medical Representatives

Our medical representatives have had impressive success in building and maintaining relationships with the prescribing specialists and general practitioners, a feat that was greatly due to the rigorous training and education we provide for them. We designed and developed a proprietary training program for medical representatives, which continues on a weekly basis throughout their work with seminars and tests.

As new information about a product or the marketing of a product becomes available, we would communicate this to the medical representatives in special seminars and meetings, having sent links and references about it in advance. Intelligence reported back from visits by medical representatives would be shared among the other medical representatives at meetings. In this way the quality of our medical representatives and sales force is maintained at an excellent level.

I have been involved in the registration of medicines for human use for five years now. I have been with Tchaikapharma for years. I am also deputy Qualified Person on pharmacovigilance. My job involves obtaining, maintaining and effectuating variations of the marketing authorizations of medicines.

The changes in Bulgaria after our accession to the European Union and the harmonization of Bulgarian legislation with EU legislation made regulatory affairs in our field pretty dynamic and intriguing.

So, what is a typical day like for a medicines registration expert? A challenging question …

What I have planned for a particular day might easily change. There is no such thing as a “typical” day – every day is different and this is one of the things that I like most in my job. To make a long story short, however, my work day is full of telephone communication and correspondence with business partners and the regulatory authorities, preparation and review of documentation, arrangement and participation in meetings.

A major part of the activities in the field of medicines registration and pharmacovigilance concerns long-term projects, which enables me to organize my time pretty well.

The work of a regulatory affairs expert depends a lot on the personal qualities and qualification but is in no way an independent one. It requires excellent team work and constant interaction and excellent coordination with colleagues from other departments like Quality Assurance, Sourcing, Supplies & Logistics – another integral part of our department’s daily life.

My day begins with checking the available quantities of medicines in the company warehouse in Sofia. Then I attend to the reports of the heads of the Tchaikapharma plants in the cities of Varna and Plovdiv about the manufacturing process and any related problems within. I hold discussions with the Qualified Person and the Quality Control about the assays and any possible corrections, if needed.

With the Logistics Department I coordinate the deliveries, the changes in schedule and the management of delays. We check the orders and the time needed to fulfill them. I also keep track of the packaging materials printing and due delivery.

Together with the Regulatory Department and the Business Development Department we coordinate the new dossiers and the new deliveries of bulk product, also the necessary changes in the Marketing Authorization, and technical agreements, packages, etc.

After discussing with the vendors the sales plan, I communicate the matter to the heads of the plants in Varna and Plovdiv with regard to the latest changes of deliveries, the customs clearance and the demand. Sometimes I hold meetings with suppliers and representatives of the national regulatory bodies.

In my work it is crucial to follow the standards for good manufacturing and good distribution practice and to apply the EU directives and requirements. I stay informed daily about current news in the pharma sector and about any international and national regulations and remedies.