A look into new marketing strategies for blockbuster drugs

Steve & Bonnie - we found this report on the website of pharmaceutical business intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information. We thought this line was the most telling of all: "Not all drugs are able to benefit from a mature promotional infrastructure or a strong clinical profile – so blockbuster product teams must work diligently to provide their brands with comprehensive marketing efforts that underscore drugs’ strong attributes and surmount their downfalls."

Below is the entire summary:

"The blockbuster drug model drove the pharmaceutical industry to great heights for decades. In the current pharmaceutical market, however, blockbusters are becoming few and far between. In what can sometimes be a search for pharma’s holy grail, the difference between discovering a blockbuster and the next me-too product often comes down to experience and expenditure.

Blockbusters are not simply born out of large pharmaceutical companies’ expansive pocketbooks. Instead, it is their past experience commercializing drugs in varied markets with large patient populations that has taught blockbuster brand teams how to avoid common pitfalls. The blockbuster brands profiled in Cutting Edge Information’s latest study have experienced, savvy promotional infrastructures that support drug launches every step of the way with expert solutions.

Furthermore, blockbuster drugs rely so heavily on acceptance from the medical community, that it’s no wonder why they deliver the massive returns that make them blockbusters. Blockbuster brands are consistently supported by efficient, streamlined thought leader development programs designed to win the medical community’s acceptance and propel the drug to rapid peak annual sales.

The following recommendations and conclusions were among Cutting Edge Information’s top study findings:

Invest in thought leader development to generate widespread market acceptance prior to Launch.
Cutting Edge Information analysts identified thought leader development as a critical component to blockbuster brand teams’ successes. Blockbuster brand teams tap the medical community early in development and continue to invest in opinion leaders for a number of purposes, including publications planning, speaker opportunities and continuing medical education...

Assign marketing resources to overcome unique blockbuster brand challenges
Every brand comes to market under unique marketing circumstances. Not all drugs are able to benefit from a mature promotional infrastructure or a strong clinical profile – so blockbuster product teams must work diligently to provide their brands with comprehensive marketing efforts that underscore drugs’ strong attributes and surmount their downfalls. To accomplish this feat, companies deliberately and strategically allocate resources to a marketing mix that best compliments their objectives. Therefore, competitors can learn much about a drug’s profile by looking at the brand team’s budget allocations...

Market research dominates early-phase US commercialization spending
Early in a drug's lifecycle, project and brand teams' primary objectives are to start outlining the competitive landscape, identify unmet needs and spot potential problem areas that could inhibit a drug's US commercial development in the years ahead. Marketers tackle these challenges with market research, which is one of the best tools brand teams have at their disposal early on. US resource allocation analysis shows that market research spending dominates early marketing budgets…

Negotiate co-promotion agreements to overcome a lack of European promotional infrastructure, extend commercial reach and increase market penetration in Europe
To expand their reach in Europe and to fully penetrate the market, five of the six European brand developers have either signed co-promotion agreements or plan to do so. These brands, each with its own unique combination of European promotions experience and infrastructure, sought co-promotion partners with the promotional capabilities and European presence that best complements their situations…

Advertising spending consumes 12% less of European marketing budgets than global spending
One core marketing strategy that brand teams approach differently in Europe is advertising. The absence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising in Europe means companies must shift the strategies they use to promote key product platforms in the US and other markets. Instead of relying so heavily on advertising to spread the word of their products’ clinical merits, European brand teams instead target influencer and prescriber networks through other channels, including advisory boards, symposia, congresses, thought leader relationships and their sales forces…