Can DTC be effective enough to overcome environmental barriers?

Aug/27/2008 09:03

There are some great DTC campaigns running right now, Neulasta (I'm Ready), Cymbalta (depression hurts), Detrol (its time to have the Detrol discussion), Cialis (interruptions), Enbrel (you could do more) but one has to wonder if great DTC campaigns are enough to increase business when there are so many environmental factors that can delay or stall treatment?

DTC can influence patients to go to their physicians and ask for a drug, but what happens if the patients insurance company wants the physician to prescribe generics, where available, as a first line treatment? I believe this is one of the reasons that Cymbalta has not been able to capture more share. Patients can now take Cialis everyday but will insurance pay for it and if not are patients willing to pay the out of pocket to take it everyday?

Then there are the economic issues at hand. A lot of patients, according to recent articles, are putting off medical treatment because of economic concerns. Patients who normally might be more proactive with their health maybe delaying treatment because right now they are worried about the economy and keeping employment.

It would be interesting, when tracking DTC ROI, to try include some external quantitative measurements to determine the effect on DTC campaigns. Would it, for example, be better to delay the launch of a new product or a new campaign until certain external economic indicators improve thus improving ROI as a whole?

Surely one of the hardest jobs to do within the pharmaceutical industry right now is strategic business planning. As Yoda said in Star Wars "always in motion the future is..difficult to see". With a general election 3 months away, aging baby boomers requiring more and more health care and the pharma business model in dire need of revision the only constant is change. I hope the current downturn won't stop DTC from moving forward though, there are some great campaigns that are currently in play and I would hate to see them shelved because of other factors beyond marketers control.