Christopher Bishop
Non-WS Questions
Can he assist with why, in this document, patients' names are being provided to Armour and how usual this practice would be?
Does he consider that acceptable and, if so, on what basis?
What changes, if any, occurred in the way Armour conducted its marketing during the 70s/early-80s compared to the late-80s/early-90s?
Did he, at anytime, feel that he held back or suppressed his personal views in relation to viral risk of products (Whether to colleagues, clinicians or anyone else) because of fear that it may impact sales prospects or reflect badly upon him?
Did he ever harbour concerns in relation to the viral risk of products which he avoided referring higher up the chain, so as to not be seen as rocking the boat?
Is there anything that he thinks he, or armour, should have done differently prior to 1985 in relation to non-heat treated Factor VIII?
Is there anything that he thinks he, or armour, should have done differently in relation to the infected heat treated Factor VIII?
Did he ever visit a Plasma Alliance collection centre in the USA?
If so, does he recollect any observations?
How helpful was the use of CTX’s or named-patient basis supply in the sale of products during his time?
How did Armour’s sales team best make use of this?
What kinds of bonus’s / incentives, if any, were there for him personally and/or the sales field force to sell Factorate?
Does he recall Armour UK offering rebates on sales?
If so, does he recall details?
Could he outline what a general sales call from an Armour sales representative to a haemophilia centre might look like?
What would be discussed?
Beyond “sales”, what would be the objectives of such a visit? What kinds of information would the sales person look to glean?
What kind of training did Armour UK provide to its sales people?
What would the training consist of?
Were there any sales strategies in particular that he recalls people would be trained to use?
Who gave the training?
How competitive was the Factor VIII market in the UK during the late 70s/early 80s?
What strategies would competitors use to gain market share?
Did he ever observe, what he would consider, to be unfair practices employed by competitors?
Generally, how important was the cost to a centre/clinician in the UK when deciding on which company to purchase from?
What were the main sales barriers and objections to sale that Armour UK faced?
How did they overcome those sales barriers and objections?
Generally, which sales barrier was more common between cost or concerns about viral safety?
WS Questions
(2d) - Can he outline his recollections of the marketing strategy for the launch of plasma products in 1976?
What role did cost play in the marketing strategy?
What would he say was the greatest achievement of the marketing launch? How successful would he say the launch was?
(2e) - What kinds of KPIs / targets did the sales field force have?
Who came up with them, was it him?
What were the consequences, if any, for the sales field force, and him personally, for not meeting KPIs / targets?
(11) - Is it his understanding that there were “clinical personnel” in The Haemophilia Society? And that they were independent of the haemophilia centres?
(13b) - Can he recall the source from which he came to the conclusion that HCV was a “flu-like reaction”? And roughly, until what year, or time period late 70s, early 80s,, he believed that to be the case?
(14) - Would he have read the labels of the products before marketing them?
What about the sales field force?
Would it generally be considered best practice for marketing/sales team members to read the labels and to know as much as they can about a product, in order to be able market and sell it effectively?
(18) - His answer suggests that, even now, he has doubts, or wishes to cast doubt, in a general sense, that HIV was transmitted by blood and blood products, saying it was “likely” and “possible”. Does he accept, as a matter of fact, that people were infected with HIV by use of plasma products?
(23) - How did he become aware that scientists in the US worked “diligently” - did he see this for himself or did someone tell him?
Is he referring specifically to Armour scientists, or, in a more general sense?
Was there any factual basis for this, or is it what he believes?
(24b) - Does he still believe this to be true given documents show patients personal data was provided to Armour?
(28) - On what basis does he say the book was discredited?
More questions
Can we ask him about this document he wrote
He says “once again” - how often had this occurred in the past? Was this a longstanding issue?
Can he elaborate on “promotional materials”?
Does it remain his view that BPL abused its crown immunity status?
This document touches on the above but also about the Armour’s involvement with the HS newsletter.
Why did Armour sponsor the HS newsletters?
In relation to this, why did Armour provide money to the HS?
Did Armour see itself in competition with BPL as this suggests?
Was that always the case? eg 70’s / early 80s.