Understanding Sample Usage and Sampling as a Promotion Tool: State of Industry Practice and Current Research - Innovation and Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry - page 508

Fig. 17.4 Treatment volume
distribution: antidepressant
class

Sample Only,
15%

Rx with Sample,
12%

Rx without Sample,
73%

they are better measured by using market share among new patients. Other brands
are considered as second line treatments and are used more often as add-on therapy.
The SOB concept helps to distinguish these two situations. Since longitudinal
patient level data became available in early 2000s, SOB has become a popular data
measure for physician segmentation and targeting, as well as promotion response
analysis in the pharmaceutical industry.
Similarly, further breaking down of the sample treatments by SOB can provide
more insight into how samples are used by physicians. To demonstrate the SOB
patterns for sample and prescription treatments, we conducted an analysis using
data from the antidepressant class. The data records prescriptions and samples dis-
pensed from primary care physicians in a 6-month period from January to June of
2008. In this analysis, only three heavily detailed brands are considered (LEXAPRO,
EFFEXOR/XR, and PRISTIQ). Generic drugs and nondrug treatments are excluded
from this analysis. As plotted in Fig. 17.4 , the majority of antidepressant prescrip-
tion treatments (73 %) were given without samples at all. “Sample only” treatments
account for 15 % of the total prescription treatments and “prescription treatments
with samples” account for the remaining 12 %.
Figure 17.5 provides a breakdown of SOB distribution by treatment types in the
antidepressant class. We notice the following three patterns in sample dispensation
from this analysis. First, in the antidepressant class, samples were most frequently
used to initiate new patient therapy among all of the SOB measures. Fifty-four per-
cent of “sample only” treatments and 51 % of “prescription with sample” treat-
ments were prescribed to patients with a new diagnosis, while only 20 % of
“prescription without sample” treatments were prescribed for newly diagnosed
patients. In addition, 10 % of “sample only” prescription treatments and 7 % of