Getting a medicine onto a hospital formulary feels like the finish line.
In my experience, it is closer to the start.
In many hospitals, a medicine that is not listed is rarely prescribed, however good it is. So the listing matters. But what happens after it matters just as much.
How I think about it with my teams:
Know each committee. Who sits on it, when it meets, what it asks for. Every hospital runs its own process.
Submit the evidence. A complete, honest file through the hospital's official route. The committee judges evidence, not relationships.
Supply without gaps. Reliable stock, and quick answers from medical when the pharmacy or the clinicians have questions. Committees remember every stock-out.
Follow the guidelines. When local or international guidelines change, update the file and brief the team.
A listing is rarely lost in one meeting. It fades: a supply gap, an unanswered question, a key account nobody visits once the celebration is over.
“Getting listed is an event. Staying listed is a habit.”
Lesson 6 of 17 in Step 4: Distributors and market access, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.