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In the world of search engines, Google is easily the 800-lb. gorilla.

According to SearchEngineWatch.com, in November 2005 Google captured 46.3 percent of all searches. Yahoo came in second, with 23.4 percent, less than half of Googl

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

e’s share. And MSN came in third with a paltry 11.4 percent.

This is an interesting pattern. In many markets, the dominant competitor holds about a 50 percent market share, the number two competitor manages to squeeze out 25 percent

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

of the market, and all the other competitors fight over the remaining 25 percent.

This pattern repeats itself in so many markets it’s almost as dependable as the law of gravity. Even more important is the fact that almost all of the

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

industry’ profits go to the top competitors. That’s why Jack Welch’s now infamous strategy at GE of becoming the number one or number two competitor or else exiting the market has proven to be so powerful.

Given these basic laws, th

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

e question then becomes, can anybody beat out Google, or even Yahoo, in the Internet search business? The chart shows eight other competitors in addition to the top two, and there are probably a multitude in the category of “Others.”

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

Some of the competitors like AOL, Netscape, and Earthlink have probably missed their shot at the top rungs on the ladder. But what about the newer competitors My Way, Dogpile and iWon? Do any of them have a realistic shot at ascendi

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ng to the throne?

Woof, Woof

The most interesting of these relatively new entrants is Dogpile.com. Owned by InfoSpace, Dogpile bills itself as “all of the best search engines piled into one.” A metasearch engine (m

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

eaning a more comprehensive search engine), Dogpile includes results from Google, Yahoo, MSN search and Ask Jeeves. A single search query returns the top results from all four of these popular search engines.

Dogpile is clearly a sup

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

erior product that produces superior search results. More important, it leverages off the simple fact that only three percent of first-page results are shared by Google, Yahoo and MSN. As a result, searchers get almost no overlap of

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

the very best search results from the most popular search engines. In order to get the same “best of the best,” you would need to do three searches on the three separate leading search engines, which is exactly what happens at Dogpile

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

.

This begs an obvious question -- does anybody really need the results from four search engines?

The answer is yes, if you want the most through and complete search on a topic that matters to you. Plus, Dogpile search results are i

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

nfinitely more usable. Instead of page after page of links of somewhat questionable value, Dogpile returns 10 to 100 links that are extremely relevant and dead-on accurate. Of all the top search engines, Dogpile clearly offers “best

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

of breed” search results (pun intended). After five or six searches, you’ll never go back to your old method of searching.

Little Dog Versus Big Dog

Can Dogpile beat out Google for the top search engine spot?

Acco

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

rding to mindshare branding experts Ries and Trout, Dogpile doesn’t stand a chance of displacing the competitors in the category of Internet search. In their book the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Law # 1 (Leadership) states: “It’s

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

always better to be first to market rather than waiting to get to market with a better product.” There is always a significant first-mover advantage in business, but this is particularly true in marketing. It’s much easier to get int

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

o the mind first than convince a prospect that you have a better product than the one that got there first.

The reasons for this are twofold. One, people naturally tend to stick with what they already have. This says that most peopl

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

e will just keep using Google out of habit. Two, the first brand to market generally has an opportunity to become a generic term for that product category, making it even harder for competitors to gain a foothold. When you hear somebo

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

dy say, “I Googled it,” you know exactly what they mean. I have yet to hear anyone say, “I Dogpiled it.” Or even, “I Yahooed it.” Clearly, Google has become the generic term for the category of “search engine.”

Yet, there is hope f

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

or Dogpile. Ries and Trout’s Law # 2 (The Category) states: If it’s impossible to be first in a category, invent a new category you can be first to the market in.” Dogpile can own the subcategory “metasearch engine,” which even sound

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

s bigger and better.

Dogpile might not be able to beat Google or Yahoo at their own game. But if they play their cards right, they can own their own subcategory -- metasearch engine -- and achieve market leadership over the long-term

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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