MARKET ANALYSIS
Marketing Strategy — Making sense of industry dynamics: Is there still value in strategic group research?
Graham Leask outlines the principles of strategic group theory and its role in practical strategy making in the pharmaceutical industry. Changes in attitudes over time perhaps explain why strategic group research has been unappreciated and frequently produced conflicting results. Strategic group research offers a valuable way to classify firms by their strategy and this paper provides industry strategists with a roadmap to derive practical benefit from strategic group analysis.
Marketing Innovation — Medical device prices follow the experience curve
Alan Brown, Brian J. Meenan and Terry P. Young review the 'experience curve' and the interaction between cost and volume in medical device pricing. The benefits to be gained from wider use of such curves by manufacturers and by health technology assessment organisations, particularly for reimbursement are presented.
Marketing Masterclass — The rigours of regulatory approval: Successfully navigating a pharmaceutical brand name through the global regulatory environment
Developing a product's brand name is more than just a matter of creative inspiration. Beatrice Ellerin and John Breen review the key issues around naming drugs including regulatory review and approval. The FDA and EMEA seek clear, safe names in order to prevent prescribing errors. Over 40 per cent of names presented to regulators are turned down. The authors provides practical advice about preparing for and managing the regulatory review and appeals process, describe the key issues of interest to regulatory bodies and present a framework for approaching name validation research.
Marketing Masterclass — Category captain management: An alternative to the blockbuster model?
Bill Trombetta
Faced with an erosion of the blockbuster model, pharmaceutical marketers are seeking new approaches, especially related to the promotion of niche products or when working with smaller segments of the market. Bill Trombetta introduces the concept of Category Captain Management, which approaches a customer not as a supplier of physical products, as a strategic partner. Through supporting customers in improving service and performance and helping patients to better manage a disease or condition, pharmaceutical companies become valued partners.
PAPER
A new intelligent tablet reminder device — Do health professionals find it of therapeutic value?
Using an online survey of health professionals, Arne Christensen, Lona Louring Christrup, Paul Erik Fabricius and Ebba Holme Hansen studied the acceptance and utility of an innovative tablet-dispensing device. Approximately 80 per cent of respondents provided very favourable assessments of the device functions with respect to reminder, feedback and protection of tablets. Similar positive assessments were found for the device's usability and design. The majority of respondents perceived the device as a possible useful aid to patients.
PERSPECTIVES
Between strategy and change: Reformulating the medicines industry in an enlarged Europe
Rossen Kazakov explores the role of strategic innovation in the search for sustainable competitive advantage. Using concepts drawn from economics and the academic strategy literature, this paper seeks to develop an ideal balance between understanding the perspective of the purchasers of healthcare services, the perceived value of health products and services and the point of interaction between supplier and buyer interests. This thinking is set in the context of changes in health policy and the enlargement of the European Union.
MARKETING CASE
Individualised health marketing using SMS — A smoking cessation case
Claus Møldrup describes a smoking cessation advertising campaign using a SMS health marketing message. Benefits of this approach include the already widespread use of SMS, the opportunity for interaction and the independence from time and place. Over a four-week period, 10,565 people were exposed to the 'Test yourself to see what kind of a smoker you are and get help to stop smoking' SMS campaign. This case study demonstrates the utility of mobile telephony, and SMS in particular, in engaging consumers with individualised health promotion activities.
Douglas Schein and Kerry Gilzene provide case commentaries sharing insights on the practical application of new technologies in health promotion.
Recruitment Perspectives
The future of R&D leadership
With less than 20 new drug approvals in 2006, the focus is squarely on the productivity of pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D. Taco van der Feltz reviews the attributes of the effective R&D leader making the case for a well-rounded skillset bridging strategy, scientific excellence, and talent and human capital management skills.
ResearchWatch
Brian Smith reviews recent research on cognition and decision making in product development, pharmaceutical logistics, a recent NBER report by Danzon on the economics of the pharmaceutical industry, DTC advertising and entrepreneurship in a global economy.