A Marketer’s Life

The healthcare system represents an extremely complex dynamic and due to its size can be a primary driver of a country’s economic engine. Within this industry, a new product must face complex restrictions and the attention of a variety of different parties. Before a pharmaceutical products can be brought to the market, it faces a difficult road from the desk of a scientist to the hand of the consumer. In the dissemination of information, pharmaceutical consultants help to ensure that all those who have an input into the decision-making process are fully aware of all the repercussions.

A pharmaceutical company is far more than just a manufacturer of health products and solutions. As a pharmaceutical consulting firm stresses, the company owes the consumer in general a debt of revelation. Pharmaceutical companies regularly operate on the sharp end of discovery and their revelations may be truly ground-breaking. Without an adequate marketing channel, these findings might never make their way via the regulators to the front-line professionals. Those with a financial interest, especially the all important insurers, will also benefit from a good marketing approach, as they will be made aware of the positive features and benefits associated.

While regulators will ultimately determine if a pharmaceutical product may be made available and will confirm the associated claims, the pharmaceutical company must be able to market itself, its reputation and its products within the ultra-competitive and distracted healthcare industry. There are a lot of vested interests to take into account and some of these interests may promote older or generic medications, sometimes to the general detriment of the patient. Pharmaceutical companies have a clear incentive to trumpet the benefits of their wares in such a noisy marketplace and help to create a dynamic and forward thinking mindset.

Sometimes, the vested interests are very powerful and do not serve the ultimate client best. In popular opinion, healthcare reform is always controversial and the pharmaceutical company would do well to accurately and forcefully communicate its position. The physician takes input from many different sources before he or she makes the decision as to final care, including experience, peer input, education and training, patient history, formularies, techniques and benchmarks - all play their role. Statistics tell us that 90% of the most frequently prescribed drugs are generics and thus it is difficult for pharmaceutical companies to ensure that they are being heard in the right place at the right time. Generally, pharma consulting firms play their part in helping to establish channels and best practices.

Pharmaceutical companies have been responsible for many of the most amazing discoveries in the world of medicine. Cures that would have been unheard-of a generation ago are now commonplace. Much emphasis must be put on marketing “the word” to ensure that our health care continues to improve.

Alan Gillies is the CEO of L2L Consulting, a cutting-edge pharma consultancy firm which specialises in optimising productivity and performance within international companies by applying tailored organisational strategies.

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