Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
An important one is the emergence of peer-to-peer networks, a theme addressed
by Bhatia . The chapter provides an overview of the network structure and draws a
distinction between physicians who prescribe high volume and those who are con-
nected to many other physicians. It then reviews how physician social networks are
built through social links, job and location links, and professional links. This leads
to the emergence of opinion leaders who should be of great interest to pharmaceuti-
cal fi rms. The chapter concludes with the managerial implications involved in iden-
tifying and targeting the opinion leaders in the peer-to-peer network.
The chapter by Shankar and Li also examines recent trends that indicate how
the proliferation of electronic communication through social media is reshaping the
pharmaceutical industry. They note that both physicians and patients actively use
online information and social networks. The emergence of social media poses sev-
eral important questions for pharmaceutical fi rms, such as how to engage in social
media within the regulatory framework; how to integrate social media into tradi-
tional marketing strategy; how and where to start a social media campaign; and
what the ROIs are of social media efforts. The chapter provides a framework for
analyzing the effects of social media on patients, physicians, and marketers. It offers
actionable implications for pharmaceutical companies, and provides pointers to
successfully develop and implement an integrated social media marketing strategy.
This chapter provides an essential link to the next section.
1.3.3
Marketing of Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical marketing strategies and their effectiveness is the main theme of
this section. Pharmaceutical marketing strategies range from sampling to detailing,
to journal adverting, to DTCA, and to various promotional efforts. These and more
are covered in this section.
Starting with sampling as a promotional tool, Dong, Li, and Xie provide an
overview of common practices in pharmaceutical sampling in the USA. They dis-
cuss various data sources that can be used for drug sampling research, and present a
literature review on the effects of samples on pharmaceutical sales from both aca-
demic literature and empirical studies in the industry.
Sridhar, Mantrala, and Albers study the following questions: How effective is
personal selling or detailing to physicians? What is a generalizable quantitative esti-
mate of detailing effectiveness? How does detailing effectiveness vary by product
life cycle stage and geographic region? They provide evidence based on a meta-
analysis of 373 econometric estimates of pharmaceutical detailing elasticities that
appeared in 48 papers. The authors suggest that optimal detailing spending-to-sales
ratios today should (1) be in the region of 6-7 % over pharmaceutical product life
cycles, (2) involve judicious shifts from higher to lower detailing emphasis as prod-
ucts age, and (3) be larger in Europe than in the USA.
Fischer examines various marketing spending models: physician-oriented,
patient-oriented, and ones that are oriented towards other stakeholders. This chapter
Search WWH ::




Custom Search