Understanding Sample Usage and Sampling as a Promotion Tool: State of Industry Practice and Current Research - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 507

Table 17.4 Defi nition of SOB
Source of business Diagnosis type Prescription type

New diagnosis Newly diagnosed NWRx

Switched from nondrug treatment Previously diagnosed

Switched to new medication
Add-on therapy
Ongoing diagnosis RWRx

Titration of current medication

17.2.7 Sample Dispensing and Source of Business

NWRx measures new prescriptions of a drug. When a patient switches pharmacy or
changes his family doctor, or visits a specialist for the fi rst time, the prescriptions
are generally recorded as NWRx. To avoid such ambiguity, the concept of SOB is
used to further defi ne types of prescription treatments by incorporating patient pre-
scription history information. Starting in the year 2000 as patient longitudinal pre-
scription data became widely available, SOB has been gradually adopted in
pharmaceutical market research and promotion analysis practice.
The defi nition of SOB is described in Table 17.4 . A written prescription script
can be classifi ed into one of the six categories of SOB which are (1) new diagnosis,
(2) switched from nondrug treatment, (3) add-on therapy, (4) switched to new medi-
cation, (5) ongoing diagnosis, and (6) titration of current medication. Among all
these six categories, except for the fi rst one which is used for a newly diagnosed
condition, all the others are for a condition that was previously diagnosed. (1)-(4)
correspond to NWRx, and (5) and (6) correspond to RWRx. Using SOB, different
types of NWRx prescriptions can be distinguished by considering patients' treat-
ment histories, which was missing in the NWRx/RWRx categorization. In particu-
lar, (1) in SOB refers to a condition that is newly diagnosed. (2) and (3) correspond
to a situation in which a patient was previously diagnosed with a particular disease
but just switched to the prescription from either nondrug treatment or some other
medical/drug treatment. (4) “Add-on therapy” refers to a situation that a patient is
prescribed with additional and different prescription treatment given existing pre-
scription treatment. For example, diabetes patients who have Actos may get Januvia
as an “add-on” therapy. Based on the SOB classifi cation, renewal prescription con-
sists of two types of treatments: (5) ongoing diagnosis, which refers to a continued
prescription of the same brand for a patient with a previously diagnosed condition
and (6) titration of current medication, which refers to a continuing prescription of
the same brand at a different dosage. For example, a physician may prescribe a
20 mg Lipitor to a patient who is currently getting 10 mg Lipitor because she decides
the current dosing is not suffi cient. By incorporating the information regarding
patients' treatment histories, the SOB concept offers a deeper and more precise
understanding of brand usage comparing to the traditional NWRx and RWRx con-
cepts. For example, some brands are considered by doctors as fi rst line therapies so