2004

Patient compliance may be a core objective for pharma marketers, but an international quorum of compliance experts at the recent eyeforpharma Patient Compliance 2004 conference in London agreed that the very term 'compliance is incorrect. In 22 in-depth presentations over 2 days, 30 speakers and panelists agreed that marketers need to stop analyzing compliance, and start understanding patients.

This article documents the effect of the withdrawal of Vioxx and other COX-2 revelations on physicians' prescribing behavior using data from ImpactRx. Also included are results from a recent survey we conducted of Pharma Marketing News susbcribers regarding the wisdom of Pfizer's decision to test Celebrex to see if it is able to prevent heart attacks and strokes in patients with serious cardiovascular disease.

Vioxx Withdrawal and the "Me-Too Drug Domino Effect" OpEd by John Mack Merck's "voluntary" withdrawal of Vioxx...

On April 1, 2004, the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), by unanimous vote, adopted the updated ACCME Standards for Commercial Support of Continuing Medical Education. This article summarizes when it is and is not appropriate for pharmaceutical companies to support independent CME programs.

Targeted therapies, based upon genotype, require a new brand model that addresses smaller segments of the population. This model, according to Francoise Simon, professor of marketing at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, requires a fundamental reorganization of the biopharma value chain, from discovery to manufacturing and marketing.

What is the proper role of DTCA - educational or motivational? Is it capable of doing either? If so, how well is it doing?

You can't go to a pharma industry conference these days without hearing at least one expert speaker recommending that pharma executives read the book 'The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It,' written by Marcia Angell, MD, former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. This review includes several point-counter point views regarding Angell's arguments by pharmaceutical and healthcare experts, including members of the PHARMA-MKTING online discussion group.

New online strategies have made eSampling a tool for significantly expanding targeted physician and sample coverage. Applications include accelerating new product uptake, efficiently maintaining physician coverage for mature brands, covering hard to reach physicians and driving patient demand.

Two physicians -- one a specialist (cardiologist) and one a primary care physician -- offered their insights on how pharmaceutical companies can improve their relationships with physicians.

This article is a summary of a presentation by Lynn Benzing, President, The Patient Marketing Group at the Achieving DTC Success Conference in October, 2003. Ms. Benzing presented results from her company's Consumer Relationship Satisfaction Survey, a groundbreaking comparative study on how pharmaceutical marketers are handling key consumer touch-points that impact brand loyalty. This study profiles over 50 brands across all major therapeutic categories.