GSK mobilizing for push into ITP market
ITP is not a big market. It is estimated that somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people in the US have the health condition which causes low platelets with symptoms like excessive bruising and bleeding. Awareness of ITP seems to pretty high with people who have the disease but GSK and Amgen are fighting for market share with new drugs that have been launched within the last year.
GSK is taking to offensive with a series of teleconferences with a health care professional including a question and answer session. Normally this type of marketing tactic would cause regulatory and legal people to cringe and it will be interesting to see how GSK handles people who may talk about an adverse event or specific product questions. It is however a great way to engage a small but vocal market.
The Platelet Disorder Association has a very active discussion board and Facebook page but I noticed that there are also a lot of topics devoted to off label use of other drugs by physicians as well as the use of herbs and vitamins. While this kind of talk makes drug regulatory and legal people reach for Pepsid the fact is that regardless people are talking about these treatments and any site that brings people together to talk about treatment/disease options is doing a good job. Consumers and patients are not going to take what is posted on these sites as gospel but it is a stop on the journey to learn more.
Facebook
page has over 561 members which is damn good
for a disease
with only 40-60K people in the
US
GSK's unbranded
site, Low Platelets.com, is a great consumer site
with a video by a nurse that clearly and easily
communicates what ITP is and how to ask your
health care professional about ITP. When I asked
my physician if he knew anything about ITP he
only knew what it was but said that he had never
seen any cases nor anyone asking for tests for
ITP.
Making ITP easy to understand and say with a
nurse who have
over 10 years of experience with
ITP.
There are no big markets anymore, now it's about tribes or microtrends which are small clusters of people that are brought together by their beliefs and attitudes rather than demographics. People often complain that big drug companies often ignore small markets but in this case GSK is doing a great grass roots job of reaching out to patients of ITP.
