Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
growth factor receptor” (EGFR) that exists on the surface of cancer cells and limits
their growth, thereby bringing hope to patients suffering from different types of
cancer, including bowel cancer.
Despite well-established effects on quality of life and its capacity to add months
or years to patients' lives, the Australian Government was hesitant to reimburse
Erbitux due to budgetary concerns. Kristian Anderson became a public figure once
Oprah Winfrey, after being moved by a video he produced to thank his wife for her
support during his battle against cancer, had him on her show (Cherry
2011b
).
Kristian had also been enrolled in an early free-access program for Erbitux and was
very pleased with the drug (Cherry
2011a
). He then decided to embark on a mission
to promote its inclusion on the PBS so that other Australian patients could access
Erbitux's benefits. His mission was successful, and on September 1, 2011, Erbitux
was officially listed on the PBS. This meant that Australian bowel cancer patients
began to have access to Erbitux which used to cost them up to $2,000 per week, for
a subsidized price of less than $34 per script. This subsidy represented a total cost
for Australian taxpayers of about $32 million, but brought invaluable benefits for
more than 2,000 bowel cancer sufferers across Australia. Besides therapy launch,
firms may also consider engaging with POLs using channels such as the Internet
and social media, to improve therapy promotion.
14.4.2
Patient Role in Therapy Promotion
After successfully launching a new therapy, marketers need to engage in
therapy
promotion
to encourage patients and physicians to use the new therapy. The key
challenges faced during therapy promotion are sales force management, communi-
cation management, and stimulating patient adherence to therapy (Stremersch and
Van Dyck
2009
). Although therapy promotion can be directed to patients and physi-
cians, in practice budgets dedicated to physicians are still ten times larger than bud-
gets dedicated to patients (Kremer et al.
2008
). Furthermore, as already discussed,
the only sizeable direct-to-patient channel, DTCA, remains highly controversial
(Hollon
1999
; Moynihan et al.
2002
), which may explain why it is only allowed in
the United States and in New Zealand and perceived as challenging by practitioners
(Stremersch and Van Dyck
2009
).
The discontent with DTCA coupled with the ongoing shift towards patient
empowerment and the evidence of the declining effectiveness of direct-to-physician
channels (Wright
2010
) suggests that firms need to start allocating resources to
other
direct-to-patient channels. Such channels include social media, online patient
communities, disease awareness campaigns (possibly non-branded, due to regula-
tory issues), mobile marketing solutions (like mobile apps), creative packaging and
labeling, holistic healthcare solutions (e.g., therapy combined with medical devices
or programs for lifestyle change), and patient adherence programs. I expect such
efforts to have a positive impact on sales force management, patient engagement
(especially via social media), firm-to-patient communication management, and
patient adherence to physicians' therapy advice.
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