By Donna Kelly, Chief Consulting Officer and Alice Liftin, Senior Vice President 

As opposed to the 20th century, when blockbuster agents were tweaked to produce many similar compounds (e.g., 13 angiotensin receptor blockers), product development in the 21st century will focus on more targeted and specialized agents with the goal of providing more effective treatment for smaller subsets of the population versus the scattershot approach of some of the previous century’s medications. For example:

- In 2009, the FDA approved 18 new molecular entities (NMEs) and 20 vaccines; in 2010, 21 NMEs and nine biologics license applications (BLAs) were approved, demonstrating the pharmaceutical industry R&D shift towards biologics, vaccines and monoclonal antibodies

- The European Medicines Agency has emphasized development of treatments for rare diseases. From 5,000 to 8,000 distinct rare diseases exist today, affecting 6 percent to 8 percent of the total population – in other words, from 27 million to 36 million people in the EU alone.

By Yoko Okamoto, Vice President and Ray Chan, Ph.D., Senior Vice President

We can probably all agree that the notion of patient as payer is not a new concept, especially in emerging markets where premium products are predominantly paid out-of-pocket by patients or families. It is indeed a purchasing decision to pay – or not to pay – for a premium product. But here, we want to discuss the unique challenge this concept poses for pharmaceutical marketing professionals: how to communicate and/or influence these payers even though you are prohibited from speaking to them directly. 

Many may take for granted that pharmaceutical marketing and sales enjoy a unique advantage in the U.S. since it is the only key market that allows direct-to-consumer advertising and marketing of pharmaceutical products. But despite this unique advantage, the pharmaceutical industry has traditionally focused the bulk of its marketing expenditure and efforts on health care professionals, institutional payers and regulators.

With the growth of the internet and significant advances in digital technology over the last few years, modern research techniques have evolved significantly away from traditional face-to-face and telephone interviews. The challenge is to ensure that the quality of information obtained remains high, particularly for qualitative studies, while taking advantage of the reduced cost and greater reach afforded by modern technology.

In a recent interview with PharmaPhorum, Vishal Jhanjee, director, GfK HealthCare, shares his commentary on how digital is shaping the health care research space, providing insights into how online qualitative research can best be utilized. In addition, he elaborates on some of the opportunities and pitfalls of online studies and finally, touches on where health care research may be heading in the future.

Free Educational Webcast
Wednesday, May 25
2:00 – 3:15 p.m. EST

Save the Date!

Now that top pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical/surgical device companies are embracing a stronger customer focus, emerging challenges require improved skill sets and harder metrics to create understanding of how customer experience impacts customer behavior and engagement. 

What can you as a health care marketer or customer experience executive do to respond to the new realities? You could either seize the day and embrace the new customer loyalty dynamic or walk away and leave a major opportunity untapped.

Click here to read the issue, which includes:

- How the Reality of Medical Device Testing Has Changed Over the Years 
- Marketing in the Pharmaceutical Business: The Meaning and Benefit of Emotions
- KOL Mapping: The GPS of Thought Leader Identification

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