Marketing Techniques Of Pharmaceutical Companies Essay Research

Marketing Techniques Of Pharmaceutical Companies Essay, Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

The marketing practices followed pharmaceutical companies attempt to sway consumers as well as healthcare providers to use their products. From misleading direct-to-consumer advertising, to gift giving, the industry has often been accused of pushing the envelope. Marketing representatives from pharmaceutical companies, or “Drug reps” as they have become known in the industry, solicit medical providers in many ways to entice them into using their products. With changing guidelines established by the FDA, inappropriate marketing practices can become costly to a pharmaceutical company, as well as to a provider. In a review of several of the different strategies used by these companies, I will analysis the techniques most frequently used, and how they influence consumers and providers.

BACKGROUND AND SIGNIGICANCE

I have chosen this topic, as I am currently employed as the Office Manager of a 9-physician primary care group. I have seen thousands of these “drug reps” come in and out of the practice. Patient confidentiality is a serious issue. These individuals often stand around patient care areas waiting to pounce on a provider the minute he/she walks out of a room. They show little or no respect for the patients’ right to confidentiality, nor to the provider’s time. They plaster notices offering dinners, tickets to football games, free movie passes, and even bring in lunches for the providers and staff. Many offer to help with practice events such as the company Christmas party. Some pay for physicians’ conference fees in which the physician is able to travel to exotic locations for seminars and educational meetings. Although some of these perks seem wonderful, under regulations from the newly signed Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as well as guidelines established by the FDA, AMA, and the IPCAA, certain limits have to be set as to what can and cannot be accepted. Educational functions must accompany these perks in order to make them acceptable. Even then, there are dollar limits and guidelines as to what the companies can and cannot pay for that must be set. Above all else, the confidentiality of patients needs to be preserved. In the course of soliciting, many of these individuals seem to have forgotten the sole purpose of their existence, is to provide the most effective care for the patients.

DISCUSSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

DIRECT TO CONSUMER ADVERTISING. Pharmaceutical companies promote their products in a variety of ways. There are several different markets these companies are trying to solicit. One, of course is the patient. Consumers are bombarded with television ads for prescription medication. Prior to August 1997, the companies did not even disclose what the product was for. This prompted thousands of patients to call their physicians asking what the product was used for and would it help their conditions. Drug companies were omitting the uses of the drug in order to get around a regulation requiring the disclosure of all benefits and risks of the drug in the ads. Due to the confusion this created, and the fact that these ads were misleading the consumers, the FDA reviewed its policies on broadcast ads. It allowed companies to air a product directly to viewers without requiring the listing of detailed risk information.

While this has helped eliminate some of the confusion, the ads still cause some controversy. Some healthcare providers feel that the ads mislead patients because they fail to give a complete and/or accurate picture. Patients see a serene happy person that suffers (no longer) from the same conditions they have. They see the product as an answer to their problems. The lack of information given to the consumer in a 30 or 60-second advertisement, such as drug interactions and side affects, become a difficult topic for provider to explain to a patient who has false hope. Patients who are successfully being treated on a different regime become interested in trying something new, just because the ad was enticing. Unfortunately, the ads fail to advise patients that changing medications unnecessarily can be dangerous.

Other providers feel that the ads have helped patients become more involved in their own healthcare. Patients ask more questions. They have a better understanding of the other options to consider for treatment of certain conditions. Patients come in for an appointment with more questions and more information than ever before. Physicians often find that patients are researching via the Internet many of the products that they see on TV. Providers often find that it is easier to explain the uses of certain medications to patients who have read up on their condition. These ads have prompted many patients to do just that.

To help alleviate the chance of any misinformation being broadcast to patients, the FDA often reviews the material used by drug companies in these ads, as well as in printed materials. If an advertisement is found to be misleading or false, the agency may take action against the company. The FDA regulates all prescription drug promotions, including the promotional tactics of its sales staff. With this in mind, the threat of a sanction from the FDA often looms over the head of some of these companies and their ambitious salespeople.

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