AN

INTERIM REPORT
ON

THE COMPARETIVE STUDY ON PROMOTION

STRATEGY AND TOOLS USED IN PHARMA
COMPANY WITH REFERECNE TO TROIKAA
PHARMACTICALS AND RANBAXY LAB Ltd. IN
AHMEDABAD.

Enr. No: 8NBAM141

Div: A

Submitted To: Prepared By:-

Prof. Devangi Dinesh Sharma
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Without a proper combination of inspection and perspiration, it’s not easy to

achieve anything. There is always a sense of gratitude, which we express to others
for the help and the needy services they render during the different phases of our
lives. I too would like to do it as I really wish to express my gratitude toward all
those who have been helpful to me directly or indirectly during the development of
this project.
I would like to thank my Principal Mr.Jagdish Patel (ASIM) Ahmedabad & also
I would like to thank my Faculty Guide Prof. Devangi, who is always help and
guide to me when I needed help. Her perceptive criticism kept me working to make
this thesis more full proof. I am thankful to him for her encouraging and valuable
support. Working under him was an extremely knowledgeable and enriching
experience for me. I am very thankful to him for all the value addition and
enhancement done to me.

No words can adequately express my overriding debt of gratitude to my parents

whose support helps me in all the way. Above all I shall thank my friends who
constantly encouraged and blessed me so as to enable me to do this work
successfully.
Dinesh Sharma.
MBA (2008-10)
PREFACE

A project report on promotional strategy and tools used in pharmaceutical

company is being prepared in attempts to interpret in-depth study. This report helps
us to understand various terminologies in Marketing. This report gave me
opportunity to have complete idea about Promotional strategy and tools.

This project report helps in following aspects,

► Build understanding of central ideas and theories of Promotional strategies.

► Develop familiarity with the analysis of tools and strategies.

This project will guide to marketer of Pharmaceutical industry. This project

deployed a lot time for collections of information from various sources. This
project will be very helpful to know the promotional tools and strategy used and
the personal selling involved in it.

RESEARCH PLAN
Title: The comparative study on promotion strategy and tools used in
pharma company with reference to Troikaa Pharmaceutical and Ranbaxy
Lab Ltd.

Objectives:

• To find out the promotional strategies used by medical representation with

reference to Troikaa Pharmaceutical Ltd and Ranbaxy Lab Ltd in
Ahmedabad.

• To find out various promotional strategies used by Troikaa Pharmaceutical

Ltd and Ranbaxy Lab Ltd.

• To find out the importance of medical representative in the pharma sector.

• To find out various roles played by medical representative to enchase the

sale.

• To find out product which are doing well in the market of Troikaa
Pharmaceutical and Ranbaxy Lab Ltd.

Hypothesis:

The methodology for research in order to accomplish the objective is decided to

undertake a visit to the Doctors, Chemists and Medical representative in the market
of Ranbaxy and Troikaa Pharmaceutical company. the type of study can be
descriptive in nature. The primary data required for the research will be obtained
through questionnaire. The questionnaire, close-ended questions, and need based
exploratory questions will also be included. Besides primary data, secondary data
will also be collected from the brochures, website. The research plan will be
carefully prepared and well designed. It will be collecting specific and quality and
will try to reduce biased in the study.
INTRODUCTION

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry today is in the front rank of India’s science-
based industries with wide ranging capabilities in the complex field of drug
manufacture and technology. A highly organized sector, the Indian Pharma
Industry is estimated to be worth $ 4.5 billion, growing at about 8 to 9 percent
annually. It ranks very high in the third world, in terms of technology, quality and
range of medicines manufactured. From simple headache pills to sophisticated
antibiotics and complex cardiac compounds, almost every type of medicine is now
made indigenously.

Playing a key role in promoting and sustaining development in the vital field of
medicines, Indian Pharma Industry boasts of quality producers and many units
approved by regulatory authorities in USA and UK. International companies
associated with this sector have stimulated, assisted and spearheaded this dynamic
development in the past 53 years and helped to put India on the pharmaceutical
map of the world.

The Indian Pharmaceutical sector is highly fragmented with more than 20,000
registered units. It has expanded drastically in the last two decades. The leading
250 pharmaceutical companies control 70% of the market with market leader
holding nearly 7% of the market share. It is an extremely fragmented market with
severe price competition and government price control.

The pharmaceutical industry in India meets around 70% of the country's demand
for bulk drugs, drug intermediates, pharmaceutical formulations, chemicals,
tablets, capsules, orals and injectibles. There are about 250 large units and about
8000 Small Scale Units, which form the core of the pharmaceutical industry in
India (including 5 Central Public Sector Units). These units produce the complete
range of pharmaceutical formulations, i.e., medicines ready for consumption by
patients and about 350 bulk drugs, i.e., chemicals having therapeutic value and
used for production of pharmaceutical formulations.
Following the de-licensing of the pharmaceutical industry, industrial licensing for
most of the drugs and pharmaceutical products has been done away with.
Manufacturers are free to produce any drug duly approved by the Drug Control
Authority. Technologically strong and totally self-reliant, the pharmaceutical
industry in India has low costs of production, low R&D costs, innovative scientific
manpower, strength of national laboratories and an increasing balance of trade. The
Pharmaceutical Industry, with its rich scientific talents and research capabilities,
supported by Intellectual Property Protection regime is well set to take on the
international market.

ADVANTAGE INDIA
Competent workforce: India has a pool of personnel with high managerial and
technical competence as also skilled workforce. It has an educated work force and
English is commonly used. Professional services are easily available.

Cost-effective chemical synthesis: Its track record of development, particularly in

the area of improved cost-beneficial chemical synthesis for various drug molecules
is excellent. It provides a wide variety of bulk drugs and exports sophisticated bulk
drugs.

Legal & Financial Framework: India has a 53 year old democracyand hence has
a solid legal framework and strong financial markets. There is already an
established international industry and business community.

Information & Technology: It has a good network of world-class educational

institutions and established strengths in Information Technology.

Globalisation: The country is committed to a free market economy and

globalization. Above all, it has a 70 million middle class market, which is
continuously growing.

Consolidation: For the first time in many years, the international pharmaceutical
industry is finding great opportunities in India. The process of consolidation, which
has become a generalized phenomenon in the world pharmaceutical industry, has
started taking place in India.

THE GROWTH SCENARIO

India's US$ 3.1 billion pharmaceutical industry is growing at the rate of 14 percent
per year. It is one of the largest and most advanced among the developing
countries.

Over 20,000 registered pharmaceutical manufacturers exist in the country. The

domestic pharmaceuticals industry output is expected to exceed Rs260 billion in
the financial year 2002, which accounts for merely 1.3% of the global
pharmaceutical sector. Of this, bulk drugs will account for Rs 54 bn (21%) and
formulations, the remaining Rs 210 bn (79%). In financial year 2001, imports were
Rs 20 bn while exports were Rs87 bn.

STEPS TO STRENGTHEN THE INDUSTRY

Indian companies need to attain the right product-mix for sustained future growth.
Core competencies will play an important role in determining the future of many
Indian pharmaceutical companies in the post product-patent regime after 2005.
Indian companies, in an effort to consolidate their position, will have to
increasingly look at merger and acquisition options of either companies or
products. This would help them to offset loss of new product options, improve
their R&D efforts and improve distribution to penetrate markets.

The marketing of medication has a long history. The sale of miracle cures, many
with little real potency, has always been common. Marketing of legitimate non-
prescription medications, such as pain relievers or allergy medicine, has also long
been practiced. Mass marketing of prescription medications was rare until recently,
however. It was long believed that since doctors made the selection of drugs, mass
marketing was a waste of resources; specific ads targeting the medical profession
were thought to be cheaper and just as effective. This would involve ads in
professional journals and visits by sales staff to doctor’s offices and hospitals. An
important part of these efforts was marketing to medical students.

Direct and indirect marketing to health care providers

Physicians are perhaps the most important component in pharmaceutical sales.
They write the prescriptions that determine which drugs will be used by the
patient. Influencing the physician is the key to pharmaceutical sales. Historically,
this was done by a large pharmaceutical sales force. A medium-sized
pharmaceutical company might have a sales force of 1000 representatives. The
largest companies have tens of thousands of representatives around the world.
Sales representatives called upon physicians regularly, providing information and
free drug samples to the physicians. This is still the approach today; however,
economic pressures on the industry are causing pharmaceutical companies to
rethink the traditional sales process to physicians.
More recently, the Partners Healthcare, Massachusetts' largest hospital and
physician network, will adopt new guidelines prohibiting physicians and
researchers from accepting gifts from pharmaceutical manufacturers. This will
include meals or individual drug samples, and also drug samples left by companies
will be distributed through a centralized system, while educational programs and
fellowships will also be required to be centrally reviewed and approved
Pharmaceutical companies are developing processes to influence the people who
influence the physicians. There are several channels by which a physician may be
influenced, including self-influence through research, peer influence, direct
interaction with pharmaceutical companies, patients, and public or private
insurance companies. There are also web based instruments that can be used to
determine the influencers and buying motives of physicians.
There are a number of firms that specialize in data and analytics for pharmaceutical
marketing.

Individual research
Physicians discover pharmaceutical information from such sources as
the Physician's Desk Reference and online sources such as PDR.net, as well as via
PDAs with applications.
They also rely upon pharmaceutical-branded e-detailing sites, pharmaceutical sales
and non-sales representatives, and scholarly literature. Scholarly literature can be
in the form of medical journal article reprints, often delivered by sales
representatives at their place of employment or at conference exhibitions.
Peer influence

 Key opinion leaders

Key opinion leaders (KOL), or "thought leaders", are respected individuals, such as
prominent medical school faculty, who influence physicians through their
professional status. Pharmaceutical companies generally engage key opinion
leaders early in the drug development process to provide advocacy and key
marketing feedback. Some pharmaceutical companies identify key opinion leaders
through direct inquiry of physicians (primary research).

 Colleagues

Physicians acquire information through informal contacts with their colleagues,

including social events, professional affiliations, common hospital affiliations, and
common medical school affiliations. Some pharmaceutical companies identify
influential colleagues through commercially available prescription writing and
patient level data. Doctor dinner meetings are an effective way for physicians to
acquire educational information from respected peers. These meetings are
sponsored by some pharmaceutical companies.

Direct physician contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives

Currently, there are approximately 100,000 pharmaceutical sales reps in the United
State pursuing some 830,000 pharmaceutical prescribers. A pharmaceutical
representative will often try to see a given physician every few weeks.
Representatives often have a call list of about 200 physicians with 120 targets that
should be visited in 1-2 week cycles.
Because of the large size of the pharmaceutical sales force, the organization,
management, and measurement of effectiveness of the sales force are significant
business challenges. Management tasks are usually broken down into the areas of
physician targeting, sales force size and structure, sales force optimization, call
planning, and sales forces effectiveness. A few pharmaceutical companies have
realized that training sales representatives on high science alone is not enough,
especially when most products are similar in quality. Thus, training sales
representatives on relationship selling techniques in addition to medical science
and product knowledge, can make a difference in sales force effectiveness.
Specialist physicians are relying more and more on specialty sales reps for product
information, because they are more knowledgeable than primary care reps.

Physician targeting
Marketers attempt to identify the universe of physicians most likely to prescribe a
given drug. Historically, this was done by measuring the number of total
prescriptions (TRx) and new prescriptions (NRx) per week that each physician
writes. This information is collected by commercial vendors. The physicians are
then "deciled" into ten groups based on their writing patterns. Higher deciles are
more aggressively targeted. Some pharmaceutical companies use additional
information such as:

 profitability of a prescription (script),

 accessibility of the physician,
 tendency of the physician to use the pharmaceutical company's drugs,
 effect of managed care formularies on the ability of the physician to
prescribe a drug,
 the adoption sequence of the physician (that is, how readily the physician
adopts new drugs in place of older, established treatments), and
 the tendency of the physician to use a wide palette of drugs
 influence that physicians have on their colleagues.

Data for drugs prescribed in a hospital are not usually available at the physician
level. Advanced analytic techniques are used to value physicians in a hospital
setting.

Opinion Leader Influence Mapping

Alternatives to segmenting physicians purely on the basis of prescribing do exist,
and marketers can call upon strategic partners who specialize in delineating which
characteristics of true opinion leadership, a physician does or does not possess.
Such analyses can help guide marketers in how to optimize KOL engagements as
bona fide advisors to a brand, and can help shape clinical development and clinical
data publication plans for instance, ultimately advancing patient care.
Sales force size and structure
Marketers must decide on the appropriate size of a sales force needed to sell a
particular portfolio of drugs to the target universe. Design the optimal reach (how
many physicians to see) and frequency (how often to see them) for each individual
physician. Decide how many sales representatives to devote to office and group
practice and how many to devote to hospital accounts. Additionally, customers are
broken down into different classes, each class is differentiated by their prescription
behaviour and of course, their business potential.

Private and public insurers

Public and private insurers affect the writing of prescriptions by physicians through
formularies that restrict the number and types of drugs that the insurer will cover.
Not only can the insurer affect drug sales by including or excluding a particular
drug from a formulary, they can affect sales by tiering, or placing bureaucratic
hurdles to prescribing certain drugs. In January 2006, the U.S. instituted a new
public prescription drug plan through its Medicare program. Known as Medicare
Part D, this program engages private insurers to negotiate with pharmaceutical
companies for the placement of drugs on tiered formularies.

Direct marketing to patients

Since the late 1970s, direct-to-patient marketing of prescription drugs has become
important. Many patients will inquire about, or even demand to receive, a
medication they have seen advertised on television. In the United States, recent
years have seen an increase in mass media advertisements for pharmaceuticals.
Expenditures on direct-to-consumer (DTC pharmaceutical advertising) have more
than quintupled in the last seven years since the FDA changed the guidelines, from
$700 million in 1997 to more than $4.2 billion in 2005, according to the United
States GAO (Government Accountability Office, 2006).
Digital media and the evolution of pharmaceutical marketing
The emergence of new media and technologies in recent years is quickly changing
the pharmaceutical marketing landscape in the United States. Both physicians and
consumers are increasing their reliance on the Internet as a source of health and
medical information, prompting pharmaceutical marketers to look at digital
channels for opportunities to reach their target audiences.
In 2008, eighty-four percent of U.S. physicians used the Internet and other
technologies to access pharmaceutical, biotech or medical device information – a
twenty percent increase from 2004. At the same time, sales reps are finding it more
difficult to get time with doctor’s for in-person details. Pharmaceutical companies
are exploring online marketing as an alternative way to reach physicians. Emerging
e-promotional activities include live video detailing, online events, electronic
sampling, and physician customer service portals such as MDLinx.
Direct-to-consumer marketers are also recognizing the need to shift to digital
channels as audiences become more fragmented and the number of access points
for news, entertainment and information multiplies. Standard television, radio and
print direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements are less relevant than in the past,
and companies are beginning to focus more on digital marketing efforts like
product websites, online display advertising, search engine marketing, social media
campaigns, and mobile advertising to reach the over 145 million U.S. adults online
for health information.
Regulation
In the United States, marketing and distribution of pharmaceuticals is regulated by
the federal Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987. In general, pharmaceutical
companies adhere to FDA regulatory guidelines which call for all DTC advertising
and information to be accurate, to provide substantial evidence for any claims that
are made, to provide a balance between the risks and benefits of the promoted
drug, and to maintain consistency with labeling approved by the FDA.
Controversy

 The mass marketing to consumers of pharmaceuticals is controversial. It is

banned in over 30 industrialized nations, but not in the US and New Zealand,
which is considering a ban. Some feel it is better to leave the decision wholly in
the hands of medical professionals; others feel that consumer education and
participation in health is useful, but consumers need independent, comparative
information about drugs (not promotional information). For these reasons, most
countries impose limits on pharmaceutical mass marketing that are not placed
on the marketing of other products. In some areas it is required that ads for
drugs include a list of possible side effects, so that consumers are informed of
both facets of a medicine. Canada's limitations on pharmaceutical advertising
ensure that commercials that mention the name of a product cannot in any way
describe what it does. Commercials that mention a medical problem cannot also
mentiosn the name of the product for sale; at most, they can direct the viewer to
a website or telephone number operated by the pharmaceutical company.
 The number and persistence of pharmaceutical representatives has placed a
burden on the time of physicians. "As the number of reps went up, the amount
of time an average rep spent with doctors went down—so far down, that tactical
scaling has spawned a strategic crisis. Physicians no longer spend much time
with sales reps, nor do they see this as a serious problem."
 Recent legal cases and US congressional hearings have provided access to
pharmaceutical industry documents revealing new marketing strategies for
drugs. Activities once considered independent of promotional intent,
including continuing medical education and medical research, are used,
including paying to publish articles about promoted drugs for the medical
literature, and alleged suppression of unfavorable study results. so now days
seminars are going on to educate the physician.
LITERATURE REVIEWS OF PROMOTION STRATEGY

By Charles Boulakia

Promotion strategy as one of the four major facets of marketing. We defined

promotion strategy as figuring out how to advertise and sell your product. When
we discussed promotion strategy in more detail, we learned that it could be divided
up into two large sections: mass marketing strategy and personal selling strategy.
We learned that the first choice you must make in defining your promotion strategy
is whether to concentrate on "personal selling" (selling your product door-to-door)
or on "mass marketing" (announcing your product to the world). Although people
usually want to do both, we learned that which one you focus on will depend on
the product you are trying to sell. We used the example of a multimillion-dollar
electronic imaging product as the perfect product for a personal selling strategy.

As a scientist, you may be interested in the personal selling part of promotion

strategy for two reasons. As the entrepreneur who has invented this multimillion-
dollar electronic imaging product, you might be interested in figuring out exactly
how you would sell it using a personal selling strategy. As the scientist who has
worked in the field of electronic imaging and is sick of "the bench" because you
want more personal interaction in your job, you might be interested in personal
selling as a career choice: What kinds of things do you need to know in order to
become an effective salesperson? We're going to tackle both in this series: This
month, we'll discuss it from the entrepreneur's point of view; next month, from the
salesperson's.

Designing an Effective Personal Selling Strategy

A personal selling strategy works best for a complex, technical, unique,

customized product with a poorly informed client. That's why our multimillion-
dollar electronic imaging product is perfect. It's so complex and technical you need
a trained, informed person to explain it to its highly specialized customer. It's likely
to have to be customized for each individual sale, and its client doesn't have the
time to read up on all the different ones on the market and why yours is better (and
is thus uninformed).

To address all of these unique needs, you have to design your personal selling
strategy to have three key elements: a knowledgeable salesperson or sales team, an
understanding of your client, and a sales structure designed to give the salesperson
enough power to make an irregular sale but still get rewarded for it.

The Salesperson

The salesperson is the key to your personal sales strategy. So when you're
recruiting salespeople, you should be willing to recruit the best and expect to pay
them a premium. There are two routes you can follow: You can hire someone with
a good sales background and teach them about the science (or product); or you can
hire someone with a good scientific background and teach them about sales.
Usually, the choice you make will depend on how complicated your product is and
who your customers are. An electronic imaging product is likely to be pretty
technical, and your customer will likely be a doctor or a scientist, so you'll want a
scientist to be your salesperson, both for credibility reasons and to give the
customer what they're looking for. If the person buying your product is a hospital
administrator, you might think about hiring someone with sales experience instead,
because the administrator will be used to buying from nontechnical people and will
likely be more bottom-line oriented.

The salesperson is your only link to the client. This means that they need to know
the product inside and out, so that when the customer has a question or an issue
with the product, it can be addressed immediately and not shuffled off to another
staffperson. They also need to know the competitors' products, so they can give
accurate representations of why your imaging technology is better. So to allow the
salesperson to do their job well, you need to give them lots of information. You
also need to give your sales force considerable power. Power to make a deal.
Power to say "yes" to needed product customizations. And, of course, the power to
say "no" to a deal that won't make the company money.

Remember, also, that the salesperson is more than just a sales agent: They're a
research and development tool. Their interactions with customers give you more
information about what modifications need to be done to your product than any
other source. They're market intelligence (because they know what other products
are being sold, and why) as well as a way of making your own product more
customer-oriented.

The Client

Throughout the marketing section, we've used the phrase "Know your client." It's
just as important here as anywhere else. By understanding what your client needs
in a product, you can better give the salesperson the tools they can use to fulfill that
need. By understanding what a customer wants in a salesperson, you can tune your
sales team to be just that. Do they want a half-hour presentation or just a 12-second
pitch? A customized product they help design (and maybe write a paper on) or a
ready-to-use product, in their lab, tomorrow? Or maybe the purchaser isn't the user
at all: A hospital administrator makes the purchase decision, and a doctor uses the
machine. Understanding this will help keep you from wasting salesperson time on
selling the machine to the doctor, who's not authorized to buy it anyway.

The Sales Structure

Remember: In a personal selling strategy, your salesperson is your best friend. But,
depending on the system you've set up for them, that person can also be your worst
enemy. Determining an appropriate incentive system for a sales force can be the
most difficult job you'll have as a business person. The key is to keep your sales
force motivated, without any loopholes that they can use to take advantage of the
system. For example: By giving quarterly sales quota-based bonuses but also
giving the salesperson the authority to make big discounts, chances are, you're
going to get a lot of sales late in the quarter (as the salesperson desperately tries to
make their quota). But you'll also see a cost to those sales: Chances are, they'll be
discounted quite significantly, affecting your company's profits.

Determining a good incentive system for your sales force is very difficult and
depends very much on what you're trying to do and the product you're trying to
sell. You can reward the sales team based on short-term sales goals, long-term
sales, repeat sales, customer support, number of new prospects, underbudgeted
expense reports, or a whole lot of other things, but chances are, you'll have to fine-
tune this structure as your business evolves, to emphasize what you want your
sales force to do. Above all else, remember that your sales force isn't stupid and
that they spend about as much time thinking about their paycheck as they do trying
to sell your product, so the incentive structure you design will determine the
behavior your customer sees.

As per looking all the aspect which are discussed above I have got view of all the
promotional strategy and the can be used how these strategy useful of the
marketing the product of the company

Joanne FensomeRegional Director of Healthcare,

Asia Pacific Ogilvy Public
Relations Worldwide
Hong Kong

Development of meaningful and cohesive marketing strategies in Asia is one of the

hottest topics in the pharmaceutical industry today. Multinational pharmaceutical
companies are increasingly looking to Asia to drive sales growth. Marketing is
simultaneously recognized by the industry as vital for product success and derided
by the media as the main reason for high drug prices. Meanwhile regional and local
market strategies are needed in an increasingly complex and ever changing
marketplace to achieve results.

Asia’s market potential has been widely discussed. Nearly 4 billion people,
coupled with economic growth, increasing affluence and a projected increase in
chronic diseases offer an opportunity to boost revenues at a time when blockbuster
drugs are nearing the end of their product lifecycle in the US and Europe.

Asia, however, is not without challenges. Multiple countries with different

cultures, languages, socio-economic groups and regulatory/legal systems, mean
strategies can only be regionalised to a certain extent, after which country-specific
approaches are needed. Even within some countries disparities of affluence and
education can be associated with different healthcare expectations. Success in Asia
will depend upon the ability of marketers to navigate the local environment with
globally developed products.

From global to regional to local

The pharmaceutical industry is globally driven. Diseases and epidemics are global
and prescription products designed to treat them are necessarily researched and
developed by central teams, although it should be noted that clinical trials are
being carried out and the drugs themselves being manufactured in the region.

Global marketing teams are also tasked with developing the business plans and
strategies that include marketing elements such as product proposition, branding
and pricing parameters. Of the four marketing P’s (product, price, place and
promotion), this essentially leaves local marketers with ‘Place and Promotion’ to
strategise. But, pharmaceutical product distribution channels are generally
consistent for all companies within each market so promotion is the avenue where
marketers can truly have an impact in the local market setting.

Prescription-products promotion
Promotional marketing strategies are impacted by factors such as product lifecycle
stage, market position, disease area and competitive activity. The one constant
factor is that physicians will ultimately have to write the prescription.

Physicians have therefore been the focus of most marketing campaigns. But, today,
the environment in which physicians are operating is changing and they are
increasingly influenced by many different groups and individuals with a stake in
the choice of treatment.

The changing environment impacting treatment decisions

Payers, reimbursement decision-makers and governments can all impact treatment
availability and patient access. Nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare
professionals can influence physician perceptions. Professional organisations
developing treatment guidelines can influence best practice. Patient organisations
can influence patients, governments and physicians. Retailers can interpret generic
prescriptions and influence customers. Finally, patients, their families and
caregivers, are becoming pro-actively involved in researching disease areas,
learning about treatments and discussing options with their physicians.

This changing environment means that marketing strategies cannot just focus on
physicians rather they need to address the broader group now influencing treatment
decisions.

Marketing strategies for influencers

Effectively navigating the influencer group needs in-depth, in-country market
research. Each country’s healthcare system, legal and regulatory environment,
culture and socio-economic differences will impact the influencer group. But
research in the following areas will help to define, understand and target them
effectively:

Who are the influencers, what is their role and at what stage of the treatment
decision process are they involved?

What motivates each group? Which information channels do they routinely use?
How do they like to be talked to? For example hypertension, morbidity and
mortality may mean a lot to physicians, but to most influencers who are not
medically trained high blood pressure may be more relevant.

Brands, not just drugs

Pharmaceutical products are no longer just drugs — they are brands. Lipitor,
Viagra,
Prozac are all widely recognized pharmaceutical products that demonstrate the
effectiveness of branding. Through a brand it is possible to communicate a
promise, an essence, and aspiration. And, branding builds loyalty.

In most cases brands are created by the global team, but local market strategies
must continue to build upon this promise by carrying the brand through all
elements of the marketing mix.

Prescription products in the consumer world

Prescription products are no longer the domain of physicians and healthcare
professionals. Many who influence treatment decisions are not medically trained
and prescription products must now be positioned within a wider consumer
environment.
This is, however, at odds with the legal restrictions around the promotion of
products as consumer marketing and direct to consumer activities are still
prohibited in much of the world – the US being the obvious exception.

The challenge is that prescription product information is already available to the

general public in the majority of countries. This is mainly due to globalisation of
the world’s media and accessibility of the Internet through which information from
the US is shared. Availability of this information is not going to change, we can’t
turn the lock back, but pharmaceutical companies can develop strategies that
support educational initiatives by other organisations and ensure accurate
information is in the public domain.

The power of the media

Consumer media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television, reach
millions of people throughout Asia on a daily basis and the media is increasingly
interested in reporting on disease trends, drug developments and pharmaceutical
company activities. With the increasing level of media interest, it is necessary to
develop both proactive and reactive media strategies to ensure that accurate
information is reaching the right people at the right time. Pharmaceutical
companies can particularly play a role in educating journalists about diseases and
treatment options. In Asia, there are fewer healthcare-specific journalists, but this
does not make the media any less influential. This knowledge gap provides a real
opportunity.

The Internet explosion

One billion people use the Internet and Asia accounts for the largest percentage of
these users - 36 percent. Without a doubt, the Internet is readily available, much
used and a major source of healthcare information. Patients sitting anywhere in the
world can find out about their disease and treatment options. Not all information,
however, is equal. Many sites are inaccurate and it is prudent for companies to
develop Internet strategies and alliances that direct patients and physicians to
credible websites with accurate information. And, as if websites weren’t enough,
blogging now adds another dimension to the online patient experience.

Patient empowerment
Patient organisations are growing in number across Asia in many disease areas.
These groups represent patients’ interests in many ways, be it providing disease
and
treatment information to individuals or representing patient perspectives in the
media, with governments or physicians. These groups, however, need funding and
this comes from a variety of sources, including the pharmaceutical industry. As a
minimum, companies should work with third party organisations to ensure that the
information they are providing patients about treatment options is accurate. But,
more effective partnerships can be developed when common areas of focus
between company and organisation marketing strategies can be identified and co-
sponsored programs conducted.

Back to the industry-physician relationships

Against this backdrop of increasing influence, interference and awareness
physicians still need to be in a position to treat patients with the best available
medical care. Ultimately, the prescription they write is their decision and unless
that situation changes, physicians must remain at the heart of prescription- product
marketing.
Marketing to physicians is not new, but the interaction and co-dependent
relationship
between industry and physicians is complicated, often criticised and has raised
ethical concerns within the profession. But while physicians need new products to
treat their patients and pharmaceutical companies are able to develop such
products, the two groups will need to interact.

Pharmaceutical companies and physicians do interact frequently and in a number

of ways – sales representative visits, medical conference attendance, research
funding, speaker engagements and continued medical education (CME) funding, to
name a few. These tactics, however, need to be part of an overall strategic
approach that can be determined by gaining a greater understanding of physician
attitudes, beliefs, needs, motivators, prescribing habits and preferred information
channels through research.

Sales representatives will remain the most important vehicle for communicating
with physicians - they are the face of the company and are able to provide
individualised information that drives prescriptions. Much has been written about
sales force effectiveness - too much to cover here - but marketing teams can
support their representatives by implementing strategies that create an environment
that removes potential prescribing barriers and surrounds physicians with positive
product reinforcement.

In summary
Marketing strategies will play an important role if Asia is to realise its potential.
These strategies, however, should be tailored to the region and its countries.
Moreover, they will need to encompass not only the physician audience but also
increasingly the influencers who have the power to make or break a product.
Finally, pharmaceutical companies will need to become experienced in navigating
the consumer space with prescription products and ultimately turning
pharmaceutical marketing into brand marketing.
PROGRESS REPORT :

As the research is on promotion strategy and its tools which require to contact
Marketing Representative of both the company in reference to this I have met those
people for the collection of information regarding the particular. I have also tried to
gather the information about the efforts they put for implementation of the strategy
and the tools they are provide with. Usually they meet me in field as they are busy
in the Doctor chamber so I have to approach them over there. I have tried to collect
latest information regarding the strategy implied.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:-

www.pharmafocusasia.com

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org

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