Pharmaceutical Marketing serves as an eventual answer to the long-lasting dearth in pharmacy-specific pharmaceutical marketing texts. This book has made a remarkable step toward the understanding of pharmaceutical marketing and its practical applications in the industry. Several authors from different disciplines and backgrounds, including academia, industry, and health care contributed to writing this book. Pharmaceutical Marketing would make a great addition for different types of readers interested in getting acquainted with the field of pharmaceutical marketing. This text succeeds in explaining not only the theoretical principles of pharmaceutical marketing that are crucial to know, but also in presenting it to the reader in a way that pertains to the current actual practice of marketing of pharmaceutical products. As a result, combining theoretical knowledge with examples from actual practice enables beginning learners in the pharmaceutical marketing field, such as students, to easily comprehend different details as they relate to both clinical and industrial practice. Moreover, the authors provide a quick yet sufficient introduction about different topics the reader needs to be aware of before going through the bulk of relevant details.
After establishing many colleges and schools of pharmacy across the United States in order to solve the pharmacist shortage in the last few decades, now there are fears of lack of decent employment opportunities for future pharmacy graduates in some states across the country. Thus, pharmacy students may have to rethink future career opportunities and consider other fields such as pharmaceutical marketing, health systems consultation, and other positions in the industry, or public health services rather than focusing on hospital or community pharmacy-associated jobs. This book serves as a useful reference to improve pharmacists’ and pharmacy students’ knowledge and expertise in matters related to the industry, regulatory and medical affairs, and pharmaceutical marketing-related fields.
Pharmaceutical marketing courses have been offered in the curricula of many US colleges and schools of pharmacy as either a required or elective course.1 Considering the multiplicity of topics and the comprehensiveness of chapters in Pharmaceutical Marketing, it would make an excellent textbook choice for students in pharmacy programs and those seeking dual-degree programs (eg, doctor of pharmacy/master of business administration). Additionally, this textbook focuses on the industrial side of pharmaceutical marketing in a way that pertains to many different disciplines, not only to pharmaceutical marketing specialists. That being said, this book might make a valuable textbook or main reference not only for pharmacy students, but also for students who might not have a solid background in pharmacy-related issues such as those students interested in studying and researching health care-related marketing from business programs.
This 282-page textbook covers the aspects of the pharmaceutical marketing field that interested readers need to be aware of most. Every chapter is followed by a quick summary and several discussion questions that can be useful in generating dialogues and discussions in academic settings. The widespread use of tables and figures is prevalent in most chapters, which helps for better understanding and comprehension of the core themes discussed. The real-world “Case in Point” examples are another useful tool. Spread across all 12 chapters, these boxes provide recent information about different industrial- and marketing-related matters pertaining to the topic discussed by exhibiting cases from real-world practice. Having such pieces of information raises reader awareness of recent events taking place in the marketplace.
Pharmaceutical Marketing starts with an introduction about general marketing principles, traditional marketing mix variables, and determinants of marketing effectiveness. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to academicians and industrial personnel on principle issues that all marketing-associated individuals need to be aware of, such as defining commonly used terminology, suggestions on how and where marketing can be used, and articulating the essential parts of any marketing plan. This chapter includes the highest number of real-world practice cases among all chapters, which enlightens the reader on the importance of marketing and the role it plays in current business practice.
Chapter 2 focuses on the industrial side of pharmaceutical marketing. The chapter explains why marketing of pharmaceutical products is different from marketing other kinds of products. It identifies the specifics and the details that marketers need to bear in mind when marketing pharmaceutical and medical products. The chapter gives profound examples on different types of customers and different types of products, and how ethical, social, and legal regulations might apply differently to them when marketing plans are made by suppliers or different marketers.
Chapter 3 is devoted to the description of the channels of distribution that pharmaceutical products go through in order to reach consumers in a safe and effective manner. The chapter outlines the product evolution process, different marketing strategies for different kinds of products, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) development over the last few decades, different applications manufacturers may go through to have their product approved, and how all these details affect pharmaceutical product availability and marketing strategies. Chapter 3 is essential for those individuals already working and for students planning to pursue an occupation or research in the industry because it describes processes that all manufacturers have to go through before, during, and after their products are sold in the marketplace.
Chapter 4 addresses the factors associated with pricing pharmaceutical products. It explains how pricing affects the other 3 P’s: market trends, size of sales, patient access, and, of course, the success in making target profits. Other price-related concepts such as price elasticity, difference between generic and brand name drugs pricing, and pricing strategies followed for best marketing efforts are also discussed in this chapter. This chapter successfully enriches the reader with market variables that affect any price-related decision manufacturers and wholesalers may make.
Chapter 5 investigates the channels of distribution of pharmaceutical products. It addresses the pathways through which commodities transfer from manufacturers who produce pharmaceutical products from raw materials, to patients, who are the end consumers of these products. Although the chapter is supposed to address the supply chain, most of it discusses matters pertaining to wholesaler with minimal discussion on other parts of the channel of distribution, which may be a weak point in this textbook. Furthermore, unlike other textbooks investigating pharmaceutical marketing issues, Pharmaceutical Marketing does not thoroughly address the opposite direction in the supply chain through which payments are transferred from consumers to manufacturers through retailers and wholesalers.
Chapter 6 explores the role that promotional marketing plays in current market trends. It discusses the dynamics in commercial practices and promotional activities and how they may increase or decrease depending on changes and fluctuations in other market-related variables. The chapter investigates the details of designing promotional activities, changes in the role of drug representatives, product detailing, and different tactics smaller companies have followed to increase their sales. The chapter also explores possible changes in the future depending on recent changes in the ways companies communicate with physicians and patients in order to promote their products and achieve their sales goals.
Chapters 7 and 8 address the medical and regulatory affairs of which industrial staff members and health care researchers need to be aware, such as legal affairs set by the federal government in order to regulate manufacturing, marketing, promotional activities, and publication efforts conducted by pharmaceutical manufacturers and associated personnel. These 2 chapters also discuss events that changed the way prescription drug promotion is conducted during the last few decades, and the history of governmental regulations that followed those respective events. In summary, these 2 chapters explain how the federal US government and associated offices like the Federal Trade Commission try to regulate marketing and promotional activities by manufacturing companies and/or wholesalers, and how they all relate to the safety and benefits of consumers.
Chapter 9 handles the topic of drug advertising directed to the consumers of products. The chapter discusses matters related to history, implications, pros and cons, growth, regulations, and future expectation of direct-to-consumer advertising. The chapter also presents how different stakeholders perceive the role that direct-to-consumer advertising plays in shifting market trends and in affecting the volume of sales by targeting patients or consumers directly.
Chapter 10 discusses one of the innovative matters in recent marketing plans. The chapter handles the continuously evolving role of social media (eg, social network Web sites) in pharmaceutical marketing. It addresses how social media can benefit pharmaceutical marketers. It also discusses opportunities and challenges associated with the utilization of social media in the marketing of pharmaceutical products. Additionally, the chapter explains benefits and constraints confronted through manipulating this way of marketing considering the associated legal challenges that are growing over time and limiting the way it can be used.
Chapter 11 discusses the changes in the pharmaceutical marketing field that led to the evolution of, and consequently the suggestion of, the new 4 P’s: predictive modeling, personalization, peer-to-peer, and participation. The chapter presents recent changes in the healthcare system and regulations that necessitate the substitution of the old P’s with the new 4 P’s.The roles that the new 4 milestones play in the current and the future marketing business of pharmaceutical products are also reviewed.
Chapter 12 addresses the techniques pharmaceutical marketers follow in order to influence prescribers and health practitioners for the purpose of achieving certain sales targets. The chapter is devoted to explaining the ways through which manufacturing companies affect health care professionals by shifting the prescribing trends toward their favor. The chapter describes how some manufacturing companies have been trying to generate more and more demand for their products. The chapter investigates factors that affect prescribing tendencies and explains tactics through which some manufacturing companies have been successful in generating prescriptions in their favor despite the recent restrictions set by the government. Finally, the chapter explores how the latest regulations set by the FDA are limiting the ways manufacturing companies can manage their promotional activities.
All in all, this text provides a beneficial reference for readers interested in the pharmaceutical marketing field. The comprehensiveness of presented topics, the inclusion of innovative ideas, the citation of different examples from real-world practice, and the reader-friendly nature of chapters make this book an insightful supplement to the field of pharmaceutical marketing and, most importantly, qualify Pharmaceutical Marketing for serving as a solitary textbook for pharmaceutical marketing-related classes.
- © 2013 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
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