The shift of the pharmaceutical industry from one based on blockbuster drugs to one based on smaller, niche medicines is affecting not just companies’ R&D strategies, but also how companies are marketing their drugs.
We spoke to Rebecca Robins, the global marketing director at Interbrand Health, an international branding agency, about how branding and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry is changing. She has helped brand several big drug blockbusters, including Bristol-Myers’ Plavix, the world’s second largest drug by sales.
One of the main differences that she sees today is that companies “are coming to us earlier in their pipeline” with drugs in their mid-stage development rather than waiting until the late stages as they did 10 years ago. Now facing markets more crowded with competitors, the companies are beginning to shape a brand for its experimental medicine with Phase II data in hand, much earlier than if they waited until they had late-stage study results.
This gives companies “critical extra years to shape and condition the market,” said Robins.
blogs.wsj.com
Pharmaceutical Process Equipment
