Globalization, Evolution and Emergence of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Are Emerging Markets the Next Pharmaceutical Marketing Frontier?

Analysis of Information About Medicines Available on Facebook

There are many anxieties have been shown and perceived by the experts for SMP of medicines. This procedure of DTCA can be reciprocated, and one of the reason is the platform is uncontrolled; the advantages of the medicines could be exaggerated compared to the disadvantages. Also, patients can share their own experience of using medicine on social networking sites. There is a high probability for the patients to be exposed to ambiguous, contradicting, and confusing information about medicines on social media. Our focal point is to inspect how drug pages in social media influencing the overall population or web-based media clients. We tried to investigate the data available on Facebook pages of popular drugs. Many social media users often go through the content posted on social networking sites. Patients and their family members are likely to be exposed to drug product claims while looking for information about medicines of a specific disease on social media.

Digital Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: A Perfect Storm of Rapid Evolution and Stagnant Regulation Comment on "Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters"

The adoption and use of digital forms of direct-to-consumer advertising (also known as "eDTCA") is on the rise. At the same time, the universe of eDTCA is expanding, as technology on Internet-based platforms continues to evolve, from static websites, to social media, and nearly ubiquitous use of mobile devices. However, little is known about how this unique form of pharmaceutical marketing impacts consumer behavior, public health, and overall healthcare utilization. The study by Kim analyzing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notices of violations (NOVs) and warning letters regarding online promotional activities takes us in the right direction, but study results raise as many questions as it does answers. Chief among these are unanswered concerns about the unique regulatory challenges posed by the "disruptive" qualities of eDTCA, and whether regulators have sufficient resources and oversight powers to proactively address potential violations. Further, the globalization of eDTCA via borderless Internet-based technologies raises larger concerns about the potential global impact of this form of health marketing unique to only the United States and New Zealand. Collectively, these challenges make it unlikely that regulatory science will be able to keep apace with the continued rapid evolution of eDTCA unless more creative policy solutions are explored.

The rise of digital direct-to-consumer advertising?: Comparison of direct-to-consumer advertising expenditure trends from publicly available data sources and global policy implications

Background

Pharmaceutical marketing is undergoing a major shift in the United States, in part due to new transparency regulations under the healthcare reform act. Changes in pharmaceutical marketing practices include a possible shift from more traditional forms of direct-to-consumer advertising towards emerging use of Internet-based DTCA (“eDTCA”) given the growing importance of digital health or “eHealth.” Though legally allowed only in the U.S. and New Zealand, eDTCA poses novel regulatory challenges, as it can cross geopolitical boundaries and impact health systems and populations outside of these countries.

Methods

We wished to assess whether changes in DTCA and eDTCA expenditure trends was occurring using publicly available pharmaceutical marketing data. DTCA data was analyzed to compare trends in aggregate marketing expenditures and to assess if there were statistically significant differences in trends and magnitudes for data sources and DTCA sub-categories (including eDTCA). This was accomplished using regression lines of DTCA trend data and conducting pairwise comparisons of regression coefficients using t-tests. Means testing was utilized for comparing magnitude of DTCA expenditure.

Results

Data from multiple data sources indicate that aggregate DTCA expenditures have slightly declined during the period from 2005–2009 and are consistent with results from other studies. For DTCA sub-categories, television remained the most utilized form of DTCA, though experienced trends of declining expenditures (−13.2 %) similar to other traditional media platforms such as radio (−30.7 %) and outdoor ads (−12.1 %). The only DTCA sub-category that experienced substantial increased expenditures was eDTCA (+109.0 %) and it was the only medium that had statistically significant differences in its marketing expenditure trends compared to other DTCA sub-categories.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that traditional DTCA marketing may be on the decline. Conversely, the only DTCA sub-category that experienced significant increases was eDTCA. However, to fully understand this possible shift to “digital” DTCA, improvements in publicly available DTCA data sources are necessary to confirm changing trends and validate existing data. Hence, utilizing the newly implemented U.S. physician-payment expenditure transparency requirements, we advocate for the mandatory disclosure of DTCA/eDTCA in order to inform future domestic and international health policy efforts regarding appropriate regulation of pharmaceutical promotion.

Ethically constrained optimization of dynamic capabilities: towards sustainable global health

Purpose

– This study aims to explain how sustainable global health presents an emerging new form of competition and socio-political and functional pressure for which strategic organizational renewal is a prerequisite for the organic resilience and co-evolution of pharmaceutical firms with their environment.

Design/methodology/approach

– Through a meta-theoretical analysis in which theories themselves become the unit of creative synthesis, a wider framework is developed to allow a comprehensive and nuanced reinterpretation of the neo-institutional theory and the resource-based view. In focus is the practical utility and relevance of such theories within emerging economies where pharmaceutical firms respond to market and institutional changes.

Findings

– The imperative for organizational change is very much dependent on the combination of ethically constrained managerial choices as well as entropic institutional pressures that allow firms to successfully adapt to their dynamic environment. This is achieved through legitimization and sustained competitive advantage, the results of innovation and contextually relevant differentiated value propositions.

Social implications

– Contrary to popular perceptions, recent developments demonstrate that the simultaneous pursuit of efficiency and ethical preferences is possible, irrespective of the institutional matrix within which change occurs. Managers should, therefore, tap into the niche opportunities offered by favorable entropic pressures.

Originality/value

– The novelty in this paper is the framework it provides for analyzing the massive role played by the micro-political power of managers and how the goals they pursue become fundamental to what the organization becomes as it coevolves with the turbulent era of emergent health needs.

Prescription drug coupons: evolution and need for regulation in direct-to-consumer advertising

Pharmaceutical marketing in the United States had undergone a shift from largely exclusively targeting physicians to considerable efforts in targeting patients through various forms of direct-to-consumer advertising ("DTCA"). This includes the use of DTCA in prescription drug coupons ("PDCs"), a new form of DTCA that offers discounts and rebates directly to consumers to lower costs of drug purchasing. Our examination of PDCs reveals that the use and types of PDC programs is expanding and includes promotion of the vast majority of top grossing pharmaceuticals. However, controversy regarding this emerging form of DTCA has given rise to health policy concerns about their overall impact on prescription drug expenditures for consumers, payers, and the health care system, and whether they lead to optimal long-term utilization of pharmaceuticals. In response to these concerns and the growing popularity of PDCs, what we propose here are clearer regulation and regulatory guidance for PDC DTCA use. This would include review for appropriate disclosure of marketing claims, increased transparency in PDC use for pharmaceutical pricing, and leveraging potential positive benefits of PDC use for vulnerable or underserved patient populations.