The Successful Launch and Diffusion of New Therapies - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 214

7.4.2 Future Research on Extracting the Potential

of a New Treatment

Pharmaceutical firms spend considerable sums on marketing activities and in par-
ticular on detailing visits. Over the past decade, some US states have initiated legis-
lation limiting marketing spending by pharmaceutical firms, mostly in response to
the growing concern regarding the effects that excessive marketing budgets might
have on the costs of drugs. In the state of California, for instance, a new bill was
signed in 2004 (going into effect in June 2005) requiring pharmaceutical firms to
adopt a Comprehensive Compliance Program (CCP) that includes policies on mar-
keting interactions with health care professionals. This program implements limits
on gifts and other incentives to medical or healthcare professionals. More specifi-
cally, the CCP includes “specific annual dollar limits on gifts, promotional materi-
als, or items or activities that the pharmaceutical company may give or otherwise
provide to an individual medical or health care professional.” In other parts of the
world, governments have begun to take increasingly restrictive actions with regard
to pharmaceutical marketing. An interesting question to investigate is whether leg-
islation concerning the marketing of drugs alters the supply of detailing and/or the
impact that marketing efforts have on the physician's final choice. More specifi-
cally, one may wonder whether such restrictions restrain the diffusion of new drugs
in physician and patient populations. Another related development is the pending
shift to virtual detailing, currently under experimentation in several major firms.
What is the difference in effectiveness between a virtual versus a real-life detailing
visit in promoting new drugs to physicians?
On the patient side, there is growing evidence suggesting a fundamental shift in
the role of the patient in the medical decision-making process (Camacho et al.
2010 ). Specifically, there is evidence for more participatory decision-making
involving patients and their physicians, in which both parties bear responsibility for
medical decisions that concern the patients. This change indicates a dialogue
between physicians and their patients, wherein physicians apply their medical
knowledge in order to best suit their patients' needs and preferences (Emanuel and
Emanuel 1992 ; Epstein et al. 2004 ). Stremersch et al. ( 2013 ) find additional evi-
dence for such participatory decision-making interactions. They find that drug
requests, especially those made to primary care physicians and to a lesser extent to
specialists, have a substantial influence on brand prescriptions. Nowadays, digital
and social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, PatientsLikeMe) are an important factor
in drug requests in countries around the world. We know very little about the role of
digital and social media in the diffusion of new drugs.
In terms of pricing new treatments, it would be beneficial to develop more insight
into the evolution of price over the life cycle of a new drug. Lu and Comanor ( 1998 )
and Ekelund and Persson ( 2003 ) examined price dynamics in the USA and Sweden.
However, more interesting insights could come from studying pricing strategies
across multiple countries. In addition, the influence of regulation throughout the life
cycle of a drug has also remained unexamined so far. Verniers et al. ( 2011 ) showed