Apr/26/2007 08:02 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
I'm a DTC
marketer and proud of the job that I do. There
are principles that I live by and maybe it's time
for others to think about their own principles
before making decisions that could impact the
lives of thousands of patients. At some point in
everyone's career you are going to have a draw a
line in the sand for what you beleive. It could
be a matter of getting a paycheck or losing a job
but we all have to held accountable to the
highest standard; ourselves. Here is a list of
the principles which I use everyday in my career
as a pharma and health DTC marketer.
Read
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Tags: DTC Marketing
Apr/20/2007 12:14 Filed in:
Internet
& DTC Marketing
Lilly's
Cialis.com was identified as the pharmaceutical
product site with the highest percent of visitors
requesting a prescription
after
visiting, a new study says. And why not ? When
I developed the website I did exhaustive
research into what customers wanted on the
website and included content written by
thought leaders. This is more evidence that a
good interactive strategy can provide a great
ROI if it is done right. Read
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Tags: Internet, Media, TV
Apr/20/2007 12:01 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
James Citrin's
book, Zoom, details how some exceptional
companies are navigating the road to the next
economy. Of course pharma is nowhere to be found
on the list of exceptional companies and you
shouldn't be surprised. Pharmaceutical marketing
is stuck in an age of old marketing practices
where spending mega dollars on TV seems to be the
only tactic they know. Read
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Tags: Pharma organization
Apr/17/2007 06:20 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Amgen
Inc.'s drug
Aranesp didn't reduce the need for blood
transfusions in anemic cancer patients and was
linked to a nearly 45% increase in deaths
compared with patients taking a placebo. That's
really bad news for Amgen the maker of Aranesp
but there are a number of issues that go a lot
deeper here. When did Amgen know and why didn't
this data show up in the initial, and ongoing,
clinical trials? Lot's of questions that need to
be answered and someone needs to be held
accountable. Read
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Tags: Amgen, Aranesp
Apr/13/2007 01:25 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
The DTC National
just wrapped up and although I didn't attend it
seems that once again it's the same old show with
DTC marketers. More case studies, more "we did
this" and this was the result. There were some
people who tried to make DTC marketers aware that
the familiar landscape is changing and changing
dramatically but I am sure that most of this fell
on deaf ears. DTC marketers haven't yet realized
that the power has shifted to consumers and that
marketers messages are largely being ignored.
Still with TV dying a slow death the media buyers
should be thankful that there are so many stupid
people in DTC marketing who continue to worship
the almighty TV spots Read
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Tags: DTC Marketing
Apr/11/2007 06:31 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
The Food and
Drug Administration said proposed prescription
painkillers should fill an unmet medical need for
patients who have no other "relatively safer"
alternatives, suggesting Merck
& Co.'s bid
to have a Vioxx-like successor drug approved in
the U.S. faces a tough road. But who is to say
that a new drug fills an unmet medical need for
patients who have no other "relatively safer"
alternatives ? This author feels that this action
by the FDA is a dangerous precedent that could
quickly lead to major issues for consumers,
insurers and pharma companies.
Read
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Tags: FDA
Apr/10/2007 06:09 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Could Pfizer
have an expensive failure on their hands with
Exubera, the first inhaled insulin? It seems like
a lot of people think so including some Wall
Street analysts who are revising the sales
forecast for Exubera way down. Pfizer has changed
the selling of Exubera from the pain management
division to the CV division but what Pfizer
hasn't learned that in order for a product to be
adopted by the market it needs to be easy to use
and convenient. Exubera unfortunately doesn't
have any of these traits and companies like Lilly
which have inhaled insulin in development are
taking notes from Pfizer's mistakes.
Read
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Tags: Pfizer
Apr/09/2007 02:22 Filed in:
Current
DTC
What can we do
to make DTC more effective? Well let's take a
category where there is intense competition,
cholesterol control. Lipitor of course is the
market leader and is the first $10 billion
product but lately others are trying to make some
inroads against the market leader. Brands like
Vytorin for example are using the POD that
cholesterol comes from two sources the food you
eat and your family history of high cholesterol.
Here is what I believe could be a very effective
campaign that would require pharma companies to
become collaborators for the good of
patients. Read
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Tags: DTC Marketing
Apr/07/2007 10:15 Filed in:
Current
DTC
So in order to
make patients more comfortable with a
prescription pain reliever Pfizer has decided to
compare the dangers of Celebrex with OTC pain
relievers. Notice to Pfizer: when the side
effects use words like death and bleeding maybe
its better not to use DTC advertising with
consumers. You see consumers have very short
attention spans and don't think logically they
think emotionally. When they hear words like
"death" and "bleeding" they are going to build a
negative association of your product in their
minds. This is marketing 101 under the chapter
called "DUH" !
Read
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Tags: Pfizer, Celebrex
Apr/07/2007 09:59 Filed in:
Current
DTC
How much worse
can DTC get? Well there are the horrible ads for
Rozerem featuring a beaver and Abe Lincoln and
now there are ads featuring doo-wop for Astelin.
Doo-wop? Yes guys wearing black sweaters with the
letters of Astelin spelled out singing a doo-wop
song. The only thing that I can think of is that
the creative person on this account has a major
drinking problem and is mired in the 50's. Again
the consumer is left to decide "what the hell is
this ad all about" and I am thinking that there
is no lifeguard on duty in the pharma marketing
talent pool. Read
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Tags: Astelin, Current DTC
Apr/03/2007 03:02 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
I read a lot of
BLOGS that have to do with pharma and DTC but in
order to truly appreciate the problems of big
pharma one has had to experience it first hand.
the endless meetings, the micromanagement the
throwback thinking and a culture that leaves dead
weight in place while people who want to think
outside the box move on to more challenging
positions. Think this is wrong? Well let me tell
you a story about my first years at
Lilly.... Read
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Tags: Pharma organization
