January 2007

Guest Editorial: In Praise of Third Party Payers—
What Marketing Researchers Need to Know About Health Care Financing Today
By Kim D. Slocum, President, KDS Consulting, LLC

The author Mark Twain once said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” in response to an obituary mistakenly published in the U.S. press. Today, there is a great deal of hype about the “consumerization” of health care, but marketing research professionals need to look beneath the headlines proclaiming the triumph of health care’s latest magic bullet in order to understand the realities. In doing so, they will find that Mark Twain’s witty one-liner applies to our third-party payment system and is as timely today as when it was first written. Let’s take a look at the realities of health care and today's average consumer to separate fact from fiction.

Health Care’s Financial Realities: First, it’s no accident that nearly everywhere in the developed world health care is overwhelmingly paid for by third parties through some form of social insurance. In some countries, this system dates back as far as the late 19th century, and in the United States, it not only dates back more than half a century, it is enshrined in both our laws and our tax codes. Data from the World Health Organization show that in all major international markets (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Japan) third-party payment accounts for between 74 and 91 percent of all health care spending, numbers that have remained largely unchanged for decades. In the United States, third parties pay for more than 80 percent of all health care and 75 percent of all prescription drug purchases.

Message-Monitoring Research
in the New Regulatory Environment
As we begin a new year, we are switching gears from discussing pharmaceutical marketing research’s role in the reporting of Adverse Events (AEs), which has been our focus since Topline's debut in October, and turning our attention to a new regulatory topic rearing its head in our industry, “message-monitoring research” or marketing research being conducted to demonstrate compliance with detailing “on-indication.”

With the advent of Medicare Part D and the cost of drugs being shifted its way, the federal government has great incentive to ensure that drugs are promoted and used only for the specific indications for which they are approved. Pharmaceutical companies that have been found guilty of promoting their products off-label, via their sales representatives’ interactions with physicians, are now being required to conduct message- monitoring research as part of consent decrees they sign with the government.

From the Military to Pharmaceutical Marketing:
Using War Gaming Tactics to Stay One Step Ahead
of the Competition
In today’s pharmaceutical environment, marketers must work harder and smarter than ever to differentiate the features and benefits of their products and also remain on guard against the competition. Smart marketers who do not want to be blindsided are preparing for battle with competing products by leveraging a highly effective strategic pharmaceutical marketing research exercise called “war gaming.”

Derived from the military practice of developing future strategy and tactics based on current military environments, war gaming as a pharmaceutical marketing research exercise involves a simulation of a competitive sales and marketing scenario with two or more products and pits them against each other to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each product.

Meet Our New Additions: Senior Leadership

As a "destination employer" for the industry, the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies continue to draw top marketing research talent. While our new researchers offer our clients a variety of methodological and therapeutic expertise, they share the common background of being marketing research veterans with experience specifically focused in the pharmaceutical industry.

Did You Miss the December Issue of Topline?

Click here to read the issue, which includes the latest observations on Adverse Events, a discussion about a unique methodology that maps the patient experience and "Vanderveer's Views" on pharmaceutical marketing old wives’ tales.

A New Year's Resolution for Our Profession: Facilitating a Meaningful and Organized Dialogue

First, my unoriginal, but nonetheless heartfelt, wishes for a happy New Year to all of you. I’ve had the opportunity to hear from many of you over the few months that I have been writing this column, and look forward to a 2007 filled with even more dialogue with our readers and colleagues.

In fact, dialogue among pharmaceutical marketing researchers is the focus of my rantings this month. More specifically, I would like to make several points, all of which speak to the general theme that as we enter 2007, one of the most important things we need to focus on is increasing not only the amount of dialogue that occurs among pharmaceutical marketing researchers, both those employed by pharmaceutical companies and those employed by marketing research agencies, but the order in which this dialogue occurs.

Let me begin on a positive note by pointing out that, from many of you, I have received e-mails thanking me and GfK for bringing to light, via the print and e-media we have been employing, a number of major issues that we need to collectively consider in helping our respective employers, be they pharmaceutical companies or pharmaceutical marketing research agencies, to deal with the present and prepare for the future...


Richard B. Vanderveer, Ph.D.
Group Chief Executive Officer
GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies



Recommended Resource: MM&M's Pipeline 2007
What drugs will lead the way in 2007? In this article, Medical Marketing & Media highlights therapeutics and vaccines under development that are generating the most buzz in major categories such as cardiovascular, diabetes, central nervous system, oncology and respiratory.