Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2488
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: Journal Article
Calfee JE.
The role of marketing in pharmaceutical research and development.
Pharmacoeconomics 2002; 20:(15 Supplement 3):77-85
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12457428
Abstract:
Pharmaceutical marketing, which is primarily targeted at physicians, has been criticised because it may distort physician prescribing and thus potentially raise costs and/or worsen health. An alternative view, presented in this paper, is that successful marketing of pharmaceuticals can improve consumer welfare by increasing incentives for research and development (R&D) investment and by providing guidance to R&D to make it more consistent with consumer preferences. There are a number of arguments that support this view, despite impediments to pharmaceutical marketing such as the prohibited dissemination of off-label information in the US, difficulties in estimating potential pharmaceutical demand, and the long time lag between demand assessment and the introduction of new drugs. For example, physicians are often slow to modify their prescribing practices, even when new evidence-based practice guidelines are issued by prestigious organisations. Pharmaceutical promotion is likely to be particularly valuable because information plays a key role, is highly technical, and can change rapidly. Even consumer advertising can potentially improve health, for example, by improving patient compliance with drug therapy. In addition to disseminating information about the benefits of new therapies, an essential (and perhaps unique) role for pharmaceutical promotion is to encourage physicians and payers to pay closer attention to consumer needs (i.e. willingness to pay) for new medical technology. Moreover, successful marketing of pharmaceuticals increases the returns from R&D, thus increasing incentives to explore consumer demand and to contribute to basic research on the role of drug therapy. Consumer benefits from this process may be very large.
Keywords:
Advertising/economics
Consumer Satisfaction
Drug Industry/economics*
Drug Utilization/economics
Marketing*/economics
Marketing*/methods
Pharmaceutical Preparations/economics
Physician's Practice Patterns/economics
Research/economics*
*analysis
United States
industry perspective
economics
quality of prescribing
off-label use
DTCA
direct-to-consumer advertising
compliance
INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: CONSUMERS AND PATIENTS
INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: PRESCRIBING, DRUG USE
INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY: DOCTORS
INFORMATION FROM INDUSTRY: PATIENTS AND CONSUMERS
PROMOTION AND HEALTH NEEDS: PROMOTION IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
PROMOTION AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION: CONSUMERS AND PATIENTS
PROMOTION AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION: DRUG COSTS
PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES: DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING
REGULATIONS, CODES, GUIDELINES: DIRECT GOVERNMENT REGULATION
