Correspondence: Giles D. Moss, Pharma Brand Logic, 1 Europa Business Park, Maidstone Road, Milton Keynes, MK10 OBD, UK. Tel: +44 2081333018; web: http://www.pharmabrandlogic.com

¹is the immediate last Vice President Operations Europe; Region 1 for UCB Pharma, a Belgium-based global top five biopharmaceutical company. His previous brand management experience includes multiple product and therapy areas but notably the launch of Taxol^® and prelaunch of Coreg^® in the UK, creation of the UK Stepwise™ (Lamisil^®) DTCa campaign and managing Keppra^® as Head of CNS Global Marketing and Medical Affairs when it grew from $50m sales to $450m in global sales. Giles is a pharmacist and holds an MBA from Henley.

Received 13 August 2008; Revised 13 August 2008.

Abstract

Many consumer brands last decades, and even centuries, while pharmaceutical product brands last only years. When assessing what factors influence brand domination vs brand decline, it is clear from consumer research that pharmaceutical brands should enjoy longevity. These positive factors are, however, outweighed by the short period of exclusivity offered by patents, a fact that can lead to superficial brand management. There are numerous causative factors that can be attributed to declining consumer brands and these again are a useful tool in assessing brand management within the pharmaceutical industry. All aspects of declining brands can be observed within pharmaceutical markets but the vast majority of industry effort goes into managing only two facets, patent expiry and safety issues. Strategic brand management could utilise much of the consumer brand theory to strengthen core skills and extend the longevity of pharmaceutical brands beyond their current perceived boundaries.