February 2008

Marketing Research: Uncovering Opportunities in a Constrained Environment
By Bart Weiner, Group Chief Operating Officer, GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies

Many might think the glass is half empty when it comes to getting ahead in today's pharmaceutical environment. It's not a rosy picture when you combine slower R&D productivity with the impending "generic cliff," on top of job cuts and tightened marketing budgets.

Despite these significant challenges, however, all hope is not lost. In an interview published in Next-Generation Pharmaceutical, Bart Weiner, Group Chief Operating Officer of the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies, shares his "glass is half full" view on how pharmaceutical clients can benefit during these tough times by incorporating creative marketing research into their plans.

Whatever Happened to "e" in Pharmaceutical Marketing?
This month's published document for The Orange Pages examines why medical professionals do not regularly use electronic technology as an information access and management tool and how pharmaceutical marketing researchers can help create "e" resources to best meet their needs.

Looking at the "e" medical information landscape, there are two major reasons why physicians tend to shy away from "e" technology. The first is that in most cases, the information that the practitioner needs is not organized in one central system, but rather partitioned off into unrelated electronic sources. Many of these sources, moreover, do not reflect actual information needs that physicians have, nor are they organized the way physicians think or in a user-friendly format.

Exploring the Diabetes Landscape: Mapping the Dynamics of the Pre-Diabetes Patient and Major Ethnic Groups
Free Educational
Teleconference:
March 5, 2:00 - 3:15
p.m. EST

Save the Date!

Join us as we explore the diabetes landscape and identify the attitudes and behaviors that distinguish 59.4 million diabetes patients across three of the fastest-growing market segments - patients with pre-diabetes, as well as Latinos and African Americans who have diabetes. What are their attitudes toward their health and care? Where do they get information on their condition? What are their current treatments? How do they navigate the health care system?

Learn more about the unmet needs and untapped potential in this market, as health care professionals identify and examine the attitudes of these three critical populations at the upcoming teleconference hosted by GfK Market Measures' Roper Global Diabetes Group, Exploring the Diabetes Landscape: Mapping the Dynamics of the Pre-Diabetes Patient and Major Ethnic Groups - All the Way to Opportunity.

Prophesying the Future of Pharmaceutical MR Agencies: GfK's Workshop at the PMRG 2008 ANC
We invite you to join the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies March 9-11 in Phoenix at the Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group's Annual National Conference (ANC), Crystal Ball: Today's Information - Tomorrow's Insights. The event promises to be an engaging exploration of the role marketing research plays in supporting the critical decisions of the future.

To kick off the conference, on Sunday, March 9 at 3:45 p.m., Richard B. Vanderveer, Ph.D., Group CEO of the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies, will look into the crystal ball for pharma and present a workshop titled "Prophesying the Form, Function and Future of Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Agencies."

Did You Miss the January Issue of Topline?
Click here to read the issue, which includes:

  • A new focus on Key Opinion Leaders
  • Using projective techniques to get to emotional brand driver and barriers
  • Revolutionary marketing research for an evolutionary pharmaceutical market

    • Topline archive now available! Skim the directory and select articles you missed. Access subscriber opt-in/comment form.

    Developing Countries
    Are Developing in Pharmaceutical Marketing Research

    OK, by now I'm sure you are sick of it! For months, virtually every presentation I make and article I write has included my fixation with two key shifts in pharmaceutical marketing research. More specifically, it has been reported that in one year the amount spent on U.S. pharmaceutical marketing research dropped 25 percent. Moreover, people weren't talking about this as though it were a part of a cycle, but rather an inexorable trend.

    This announcement lined up with conversations I had been having with colleagues who work for the country's major pharmaceutical companies. Spending was off significantly, they told me, and they were concerned their jobs would be the next to go. I talked to people who previously had five people reporting to them and now had none, who had procurement departments breathing down their necks to save more and more money on projects they were conducting, who were being severely restricted in the number of conferences and training sessions they were able to attend, and - not surprisingly against this backdrop and combined with the prediction that things would get worse before they got better - weren't feeling very good about going to work every day.

    The other observation on which I have been fixated was the forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) that the pharmaceutical industry's top line would double - yes double - between now and 2020. Much of this growth, the report observed, would come from developing countries, where common sense dictates that premium prices realized by brand-name drugs in the United States prior to their patent expiration could never be charged, and where marketing and other business practices would have to be made extremely efficient if any bottom line were to be realized whatsoever...


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



    Research Highlights: Oncology, Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's

    NEW! Data Download provides highlights of recently released data from GfK Market Measures' Therapeutic Class Studies (TCS). Based on primary market research, TCS provide in-depth analysis of market trends, physician practice patterns and competitive brand positioning.

    This month's selections cover research from studies conducted in the areas of ovarian cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's Disease.