Vol. 10, Issue No. 7: 15 APRIL 2011 – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Changing Role of Pharma Sales Reps Reaching Physicians Requires a New Level of Sophistication
Pharma companies need to drive maximum value out of products and they can’t do that with a “one-size-fits-all” cookie-cutter approach to deploying field forces.
Although the pharmaceutical industry has been historically slow to embrace change in its sales approach, decreasing margins are driving even the most reluctant to find more flexible approaches at a lower cost to meet the needs of its ever widening customer population. Discussions with industry leaders testify to this fact, and although each company interviewed may have its own perception on how the sales models will evolve, many brand managers will look to outsourced providers for guidance in these areas and to take advantage of the expertise these providers can bring to the table.
This article is a summary of an interview of Nancy Lurker, CEO of PDI, Inc., which provides promotional outsourced services to healthcare companies.
Topics include:
- Value Outcome Selling
- Factors Driving the Change
- Chart: Recent Major U.S. Sales Force Reductions
- Chart: Drug Industry Layoffs from 2000 through 2010.
- Demand for High Quality Reps Increasing
- Table: Expected Patent Expirations – Top 16 Therapeutic Areas
- Interview of Nancy Lurker
- The Need for a Flexible Sales Force
- Chart: Evolving Representative Classifications
- Qualifications for Today’s Reps
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Mining Mobile Health App User Data Liberating Health Data While Protecting Privacy
A conversation with Jacqueline Thong, co-founder and CEO of Ubiqi Health, about disease management mobile applications and how pharma marketers can leverage mobile health apps to engage with and learn from patients.
Ubiqi Health empowers consumers to take an active role in their health by engaging and uniting patients, peers, family members, and physicians through an interactive health management system which includes: mobile and web-based disease tracking tools, reports to share with physicians and family, and an online community. Ubiqi Health’s first application helps migraine sufferers track the frequency and severity of their headaches, treatments used, as well as suspected triggers. The company manages its database and enables partners to access the anonymized patient data for research and lead generation.
Recently, Ubiqi Health’s Migraine Tracker crossed the 1500 download mark. With that critical mass of data in its system, Ubiqi can learn from its users information about the most frequently cited migraine triggers and treatments as well as information about pain scores, migraine duration, etc. All this information is available to 3rd parties — eg, pharmaceutical companies — in user de-identifiable format.
Read the article and listen to the podcast here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn107-article02.htm
Ad Dollars Follow Eyeballs to Web Guesstimating Total Pharma Web Ad Spending
Internet advertising revenue in the United States totaled $26.0 billion for the full year of 2010, whereas ad revenue earned by newspapers was $22.8 billion, according to a PwC/IAB report
Search continues to get the largest share of online revenue, although this share decreased to 46% in 2010 from 47% in 2009. Still, search revenue totaled $12.0 billion in 2010, up over 12% from $10.7 billion in 2009. Display-related advertising revenues — which includes revenue from display banners, rich media, digital video, and sponsorships — totaled $9.9 billion or 38% percent of 2010 revenues, up 24% from the $8.0 billion reported in 2009. Digital video ad revenue accounts for 5% ($1.4 billion) of the total Web ad revenue.
For more data & charts, including a “guesstimate” for how much pharma spends on Web advertising, read the article:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn107-article03.htm The Phil Mickelson Enbrel Campaign From the Audition in the Press to TV, Web, and Print Advertising
Recall that last summer Phil Mickelson was quoted in the press as saying he was treating his Psoriatic Arthritis with ENBREL. He was also quoted as saying: “I have no aches and pains. My back feels great. I feel stronger and more flexible than I’ve ever been”.
Now that he is featured in ENBREL TV ads, his commercial speech is regulated by the FDA and he can no longer make outlandish statements such as the one above. What can he say on TV, print, and on the Web?
Read the whole story here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn107-article04.htm Brits Beat FDA and PhRMA: Issue Social Media Guidance Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority Issues Social Media Guidance for Pharma
The Brits have won the race to issue social media guidance for the drug industry! In April, 2011, the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), which oversees the self-regulatory code of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), published ‘informal guidance’ providing the drug industry advice on how to use online communications.
Read more about this here:
http://ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pharma-mkting.com/news/pmn107-article05.htm
