A prescription for direct drug marketing

A prescription for direct drug marketing

“The billions so far laid out on direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs have mostly failed to deliver. Yet the successes of a few companies show that failure is hardly inevitable.”

The McKinsey Quarterly, 2000 Number 2

Policy relevance:

The EU is currently reviewing its pharmaceutical legislation. The Commission’s proposal for reform includes the authorisation of direct-to-consumers advertising for prescription medicines. This proposal is very controversial, and strongly contested by patient organisations who claim that this would cause a rise in health care spending. This article gives some insight in the problems encountered in the US market, where DTC marketing is authorised since 1997.

Main conclusions:

• Despite the promise held out by direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing, it hasn’t produced the results most drug makers had hoped for, and there is scepticism about whether it will ever take off.
• A number of difficulties have contributed to the failure of DTC marketing:
  • Many pharma companies lack the internal organisation and cultural flexibility to develop effective consumer-marketing approaches;
  • Pharma companies waste money on short-term DTC campaigns that typically prove ineffective;
  • Senior managers often lack insight into consumer behaviour;
  • Advertising agencies find it hard to work creatively within the regulatory constraints of the DTC marketplace;
  • DTC campaigns sometimes strain relations between drug makers and the medical profession;
  • Drug companies often see their marketing campaigns rejected by the Food and Drug Administration, because they do not contain a “fair balance” of information about benefits and risks of the medicinal product, driving marketing costs up even more. DTC drug marketers are uncertain about creating acceptable ads, as guidelines from the FDA remain vague.
• Pharma companies need to go through a cultural revolution: they must realise that their skills promoting drugs among physicians are not transferable to consumer marketing.
• Pharma companies should start identifying which drugs in their portfolio would benefit most from DTC marketing (e.g. a drug whose patent is approaching expiration). Next, the company should consider the extent to which patients can influence the choice of the drugs prescribed for them.
• When constructing the marketing strategy, pharma companies have to integrate the DTC effort with the other elements of the marketing mix (professional marketing, etc.). They must also determine the level and mix of expenditures. It is important to realise here that a sustained and consistent effort is required, rather than wasting money on a one-time advertising blitz.

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