The Business of Pharmaceuticals

Modern marketing concepts are attempting to influence physicians through different channels. There are pros and cons to the business of pharmaceuticals.

By Adrian [website] from Raleigh, NC on January 31, 2006
Category: Pharmaceutical B to B

The Business of Pharmaceuticals

The marketing and sale of pharmaceuticals goes back a long way. In the past, it was common to hear of miracle cures or cure-alls that had very little scientific basis, not to mention little or no real potency. When the pharmaceutical fields became well-established, it became standard practice to rely not on mass marketing strategies to sell drugs and medications, but on specific targeting of medical practitioners and physicians. The rationale behind this was simply the fact that the physicians were eventually the ones responsible for choosing the medications for their patients. As a result, much of the advertising involved appears in medical journals and publications and is specifically made for medical professionals. Sales staff also pay doctors and medical students personal visits to try and market their company's products.

Direct and Indirect Marketing

Whether or not a particular medication or drug gets sold is determined by whether or not physicians prescribe these medications or drugs to patients. In essence, influencing physicians is the most important goal in pharmaceutical sales. Traditionally, sales representatives from various pharmaceutical companies visit physicians to offer free drug samples and literature in the hope that they would purchase drugs from their pharmaceutical company.

Modern marketing concepts are attempting to influence physicians through channels such as:

Peers in the medical community

Pharmaceutical marketers target key opinion leaders; these are respected individuals in the medical community, such as college professors, who influence physicians through their professional status. Pharmaceutical makers collaborate with key opinion leaders to acquire marketing feedback and advocacy. Physicians also learn about pharmaceutical products through their colleagues at work.

Patients

Mass media advertising for pharmaceutical products has increased in the past decade. With more prominent advertising in all forms of media, more and more people are learning about medications and are more likely to inquire about, or even request, medications that they have seen on advertisements. It has become common for patients to be less deferential to their physicians when it comes to prescriptions.

Research and literature

There is a wealth of pharmaceutical information to be found online and in publications such as the Physician's Desk Reference (which is also freely accessible online by physicians). By giving practitioners more information about medications, more balanced comparisons can be done between different brands when writing prescriptions.

Direct interaction with pharmaceutical makers

This is the traditional way of direct marketing of pharmaceutical products. Sales representatives from pharmaceutical companies regularly schedule meetings with medical professionals. Direct interaction is an involved process. The target physician base is analyzed and determined from factors such as: profitability of prescriptions, accessibility of physicians, the tendency of physicians to use a company's products or to prescribe a wide variety of drugs, and the influence that physicians have on their colleagues.

Insurance companies

Insurance companies affect the marketing of pharmaceuticals by restricting the types of drugs that their insurance plans will cover. Not only that, they can also make it harder to prescribe drugs that are outside the restrictions.

The Pros and Cons of Pharmaceutical Marketing

In the United States and most other countries, the mass marketing of pharmaceuticals has been frowned upon by most people because they believe the choice of medication should solely be the responsibility of the physician. In Canada, for example, mass marketing rules are so strict that pharmaceutical makers are not allowed to describe what a product does. Neither are they allowed to recommend their products for certain ailments through advertising.

On the other hand, mass marketing practices for pharmaceuticals have made both patients and physicians aware of medications that otherwise would remain obscure or unknown if they were not advertised. This gives physicians and patients more choices when it comes to drugs and medications.

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