Efficacy Expectations and Adherence: Evidence of Consumer Biases and Heuristics in Pharmaceutical Marketing - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 333

Erroneous effi cacy judgments of this nature can result in dosage non-adherence
if consumers take the medication too soon (late) or too much (little). Consequences
of dosage non-adherence range from consumer dissatisfaction to serious health
effects. It is advisable to clearly state and reinforce, via advertisement and packaging,
the medications' time to onset and duration of effi cacy. Otherwise, subsequent trials
may be marked by perceived poor effi cacy judgments, disregard of the manufac-
turer's recommended use, and actual ineffectiveness of medication due to improper
consumption.

11.4 Concluding Thoughts

We discussed different biases and heuristics that infl uence consumers' perceptions
of medication effi cacy. Effi cacy expectations and judgments are critical factors in
determining adherence. As we noted earlier in the chapter, use of the term “adher-
ence” has become a discussion issue in the medical literature (National Council on
Patient Information and Education 2007 ). Until the 1990s “compliance” was the
term used for patients' adherence to a medicinal regimen. However, as “compli-
ance” assigns a passive role to the patient and appears to discount patients' indepen-
dent judgment, many stakeholders started using the term “adherence,” which implies
a more collaborative relationship between patients and clinicians. Notably, usage of
the term adherence may have the power to change the stakeholders' behavior,
making clinicians and pharmaceutical marketers more respectful of the role that
patients can play in their own treatment decisions, enhancing the two-way commu-
nication, and leading to patient-centered treatment planning. Interestingly, the terms
“persistence” and “concordance” have also entered the lexicon (National Council
on Patient Information and Education 2007 ). Persistence refers to taking the
medicine as directed beginning with the prescription being fi lled and continuing
until the medicine is no longer recommended. Concordance is a term developed by
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to refer to a partnership between
patient and clinician, refl ected in shared health belief paradigms and use of shared
beliefs to create successful medical outcomes; however this term is controversial as
it may be more inspirational than realistic (National Council on Patient Information
and Education 2007 ). Terminology is important, since the words that we use and the
labels we apply directly infl uence our attitudes and corresponding behaviors. We
think it is important that future scholarship be directed to a study and understanding
of the effect of such terminology on consumer biases.
Research fi ndings illustrated in this chapter demonstrate that consumers often use
heuristics and fall prey to biases in making judgments about medicinal effi cacy. It is
important to keep in mind and be responsible to those consumers from vulnerable
populations who are more inclined to fall prey to any potential nonadherence due to
biased processing and judgments. For example, research shows that those consum-
ers who have low health literacy or those who otherwise have a more limited ability
to understand health messages (e.g., elderly people, or those with limited English