About the Principles of Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Marketing principles used in the pharmaceutical industry share the fundamental principle of generating profits that all corporations aspire to achieve. However, there are guiding principles and marketing tactics specific to the pharmaceutical industry. Principles that guide marketing are strategically developed to target several audiences: the federal government, physicians, insurance companies, consumers, and retail sellers of prescription and over-the-counter medications.
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Maximizing Marketing Opportunities as Patent Holders
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Companies maximize opportunities when they receive a patent. Pharmaceutical companies spend millions on research and development and have to conduct years of clinical trials on prescription drugs before they can enter the marketplace. If they develop a new drug, they often receive a patent for as long as 12 years. Here, the guiding principle is to maximize this "window of opportunity" to achieve several key objectives: 1) recoup research and investment expenditures; 2) seize early market opportunities as the first to provide the medication; 3) reduce, if not eliminate entirely, marketing efforts by related or competing drug brands during the patent period; 4) establish the drug as the synonymous remedy of choice among consumers, physicians and insurance companies.
Principles and Practices Used to Gain FDA Approval
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Companies seek to make their medications synonymous as a remedy. All pharmaceutical advertising must adhere to stringent regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Drug marketers submit advertising to the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC). While submission is voluntary, drug marketers comply as a matter of principle. This is done as a safeguard to prevent the FDA from pulling any advertising after development and publishing. The financial impact could easily reach into millions of dollars if a company is cited for a violation after the fact.
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Generating Preference by Physicians and Insurance Companies
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As a matter of principle, pharmaceutical companies execute major ongoing marketing efforts to target physicians and insurance companies. Companies send physicians samples, positive results from clinical trials and advance notification of FDA approval; they conduct major legislation lobbying efforts, and serve as major sponsors of insurance company and medical conventions to launch and promote new and existing drugs. The goal is simple: Get physicians to write prescriptions to make the drug "preferred." As a result, consumers will use the drug because it is prescribed, insurance companies approve payments, and sales and revenue increase.
Consumer Marketing Principles
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Marketing principles to target consumers are primarily symptom based. For example, a commercial does not ask a viewer if they need rosuvastatin calcium. Instead, the commercial asks the viewer about a symptom: "Are you concerned about being overweight?" The marketing principle used is to connect a symptom with the company's medication, in this example AstraZeneca's Crestor medication, designed to lower cholesterol.
Advertising visuals focus on patient aspirations of a lifestyle or capability they would like to enjoy, such as outdoor activities or playing with grandchildren. Packaging is often developed with memorable colors so patients can simply ask doctors about "the one in the orange box" instead of having to remember a complicated brand name.
Prescription and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Drug Retailers
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Pharmaceutical companies leverage their sales and volume success with pharmacies and drugstore retailers, especially within "big box" stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, and major grocery chains. For example, a major seller like Tylenol enables the parent company, Johnson & Johnson, to use sales and volume success to acquire more shelf space for the company's other OTC medications and brands.
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