Leveraging Peer-to-Peer Networks in Pharmaceutical Marketing - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 450

physicians who are restricting access in a major way. Roughly a quarter of physicians
work in practices that refuse to see drug reps. Reps talk to a physician in person on
about 20 % of visits to doctor's offices, and leave samples in 37 % of the visits
(Goldstein 2009 ). “Physicians still want to see pharmaceutical drug reps, and drug
companies are still convinced of the effectiveness of one-on-one sales rep visits, but
the sales model and the sales rep's job will require a more focused, technical, tar-
geted, and value-filled approach” (McKee 2010 ). Pharmaceutical firms are making
refinements to how the sales model works at the regional level by giving greater
autonomy to regional sales forces. Local peer-to-peer networks offer a significant
opportunity for pharmaceutical firms to improve the effectiveness of marketing to
physicians.
Especially in the drug prelaunch and new product launch, opinion leaders play a
significant role in increasing new drug or new medical device adoption. Many
national key opinion leaders, who are well respected as thought leaders and who
publish in leading journals, are members of the clinical trials, and are used as keynote
speakers in conferences in the therapeutic area. These opinion leaders increase speed
of new drug adoption by lending credibility to the claims of the pharmaceutical
firms. They also help obtain market access for the new drug by helping it achieve a
better status on the formulary. These national opinion leaders help in the adoption of
new drugs, the adoption of new health guidelines or treatment guidelines for the
therapeutic area. However, when it comes to sustained use of the drug and the side
effects and determining the best drug match for an individual patient, the regional
opinion leaders have a stronger effect. The challenge to the adoption of a localized
sales model by pharmaceutical firms is in identifying peer-to-peer networks at the
local territory or district level. The problem is that information typically resides in
the field and there are no consistent sets of criteria applied by sales representatives.
Additionally, there is no one-stop information source to provide detailed network
information at the local territory or district level. To complicate matters further, these
networks of influence differ by therapeutic area. The identification of these peer-
to-peer networks would thus lead to faster adoption of new drugs, new treatment
guidelines, and would lead to better patient-drug match ensuring less side effects and
higher efficacy of drugs prescribed.

15.1.1 Basic Overview of Network Structure

In order to understand and map physician peer-to-peer networks, we need to
understand some basics of network structure. Social network analysis views social
relationships in terms of network theory consisting of nodes and ties. Nodes are the
individual actors within the networks, such as individuals or organizations, and ties
(also called edges, links, or connections) are the relationships between the actors.
These ties can be formed by friendship, kinship, common interest, financial
exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or
prestige . The nodes to which an individual is thus connected are the social contacts