Pharma Marketing 2020: Maximising product launch success amid complex legislative change
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Pharma Marketing 2020: Maximising product launch success amid complex legislative change Successful product launches are crucial to pharma’s future. Social media and online channels in theory provide a cost-effective way to reach physicians, yet in practice, only very targeted approaches work. As new data-protection legislation makes it harder for pharma to identify and communicate with the most relevant prescribers, firms must carefully select appropriate platforms through which to optimally connect with their audience.
The Challenge: drug launch success is becoming harder to achieve
Successful product launches are becoming to those most likely to prescribe it, and
harder to achieve. Nearly half of product those with the greatest influence on usage
launches over the last 8 years have under- and uptake. They must do so in a manner
performed; a quarter don’t even get halfway that engages their target audience, using
to their sales target (Bain & Company). channels that this audience trusts and is thus
Continued pricing pressure, increased most likely to respond to.
competition and more demanding consumers
provide some reasons for these failures. Digital marketing has opened up many new
Insufficient understanding of customers’ ways to engage physicians, beyond the
needs and poor targeting have also played traditional sales rep visit. After a slow start
a role. Yet as returns on R&D investment due in part to healthcare-specific challenges,
dwindle, optimizing new product launches is pharma firms have embraced these
becoming ever more crucial to pharma firms’ alternative channels, for two good reasons:
sustainability. they provide a lower-cost alternative to boots
on the ground, and physicians prefer them.
The average cost of bringing an asset to
market has increased from $1.2 billion in Yet just as the pharma industry has fully
2010 to close to $2 billion in 2017, according embraced digital technology, and as evidence
to Deloitte (Evolving the Product Launch of its effectiveness builds, consumer privacy
Paradigm, November 2018). Yet average peak concerns have begun to limit its reach. New
sales are falling – from $820 million to just data protection regulations such as Europe’s
$470 million over the same period. And those General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
peaks are taking longer to reach, just as and the forthcoming California Consumer
competition shortens the average exclusivity Privacy Act (CCPR) require pharma firms
period any new drug might enjoy on the to have rigorous procedures and policies in
market. According to Bain, that window of place to ensure the data they acquire, rent or
opportunity has halved to four years, on use meets regulatory standards. The result:
average, from eight years in the 2000-2004 effective physician targeting has become
period. more difficult and risky, just as its importance
to product launch success becomes clearer.
Granted, these are averages. There are
exceptions and outliers – notably the growing Pharma companies promoting late-stage
cohort of personalized medicines that enjoy (Phase III) drugs to physicians face a variety
higher development success rates, or the of challenges. Yet there is also good news:
specialised treatments for rare diseases that the growth of digital marketing and its
may benefit from longer exclusivity. But these effectiveness.
products remain a minority.
Multi-channel marketing is key to product
For most pharma companies, the importance launch success
of targeted, cost-efficient marketing and Multi-channel marketing is the mainstay
outreach campaigns during the pre- and of successful campaigns and strong,
peri-launch period has never been greater. sustained product uptake. An effective
Pharma need to effectively and clearly multi-channel approach is based on a deep
communicate the benefits of their product understanding of the target customer, the
2 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMcreation of channel-specific content, and in 2016 felt that their digital ads had failed
on using a platform that offers physician- to meet expectations, and almost all
level engagement data – for instance, social acknowledged that their digital campaigns
networks used exclusively by healthcare reached people outside their intended target
professionals (PM360/Feiler). Successful audience (WARC AdWaste Troubles B2B
multi-channel campaigns can help boost marketers, 2016). That is not just wasteful
top-line sales growth by 10% and/or reduce (for the sponsor) and annoying (for the
promotional costs by up to 25%, according to unintended recipients) but is also more likely
BCG. to fall foul of tightening consumer privacy
laws. (See next section).
These figures are very meaningful in the
context of greater R&D costs and afore- The pharmaceutical industry spends billions
mentioned challenges to achieving expected each year marketing to physicians – some
uptake. companies spend more on marketing than
on R&D. Yet much of this messaging fails to
Physicians are increasingly selective in the connect in a personalized, meaningful and
sources and types of information they access thus effective way. The result is lost sales.
and trust. Several surveys (DRG, Deloitte)
show that they do not want to be overtly Meanwhile, other wasteful processes such
sold to; instead they are seeking a partner in as inefficient decision-making are also
care. Physicians seek transparent, objective costing businesses hundreds of millions
and accurate information about product of dollars annually. McKinsey in April 2019
efficacy, clinical outcomes and related clinical surveyed over 1200 managers across various
guidelines. They increasingly seek out, and businesses to reveal a potential 530,000
value, their peers’ opinions and insights. They manager days wasted each year (worth
are more likely than three years ago to trust about $250m in wages) due in large part
pharma websites – but only because these to ineffective use of data and an inability
contain more non-promotional content. to separate signal from noise – the smaller
(DRG) volumes of quality data from the vast
swathes of meaningless information.
Avoiding Waste: quality over quantity
Not all digital campaigns succeed. Studies Physicians are digital citizens
show a steep decline in participation the Physicians rely increasingly upon the internet
more communications a doctor receives; and other digital tools to access information
information overload, or the wrong kind of and insight about products and conditions.
information, can be counter-productive. That 80% use smartphones in their interactions
can affect not just today’s campaign, but with patients, according to McKinsey
the impact of any future messaging from (Transforming Pharma Commercial Models
a given organisation. Quality matters more in the Age of the Digital Citizen, 2016);
than quantity; consumers see an average of almost the same proportion type keywords
over 5000 advertisements per day, take note into Google to obtain medical information.
of just 3% of them, and engage with a mere Almost half of doctors share online videos
0.2% (12) (Forbes, 2018.) and insights with their peers – a proportion
that is likely to grow further as a younger
Almost three quarters of business-to- generation of physicians begin their careers.
business marketing executives surveyed
3 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMDigital campaigns are cheaper than underpinning competitor therapies? Once
traditional sales methods, and enable pharma such studies are published, they can use
to efficiently and quickly reach a larger, digital channels to assess the impact they
more geographically dispersed audience. have on doctors’ prescribing behavior.
According to a 2019 survey by Decision
Resources, only 54% of doctors surveyed had From then on, it becomes a virtuous circle.
met a rep in person during 2019; 39% said Establishing trusted engagement platform
they had had no interactions with reps at all with physicians in turn enables industry to
over the prior six month period. address any challenges most directly and
effectively. For example, if a product requires
A virtuous circle: effective targeting, a complex diagnostic, comes with tricky
relevant content, trusted channels reimbursement requirements, or presents
Against this backdrop, pharmaceutical compliance hurdles, pharma can direct their
firms need to ensure they are engaging resources to appropriate solutions. According
with the most appropriate audiences, that to Bain & Co., 40% of physicians’ brand
they understand those audiences’ needs preference is attributable to factors beyond
and concerns, and that they use the best- the product itself, such as support services,
suited channels to share thoughtful, adapted patient-identification tools and to services
content. This will in turn generate quality that facilitate connecting physicians with
metrics and feedback, informing future trusted peers.
messaging and outreach, and future product
development. Digital channels and related health tech
solutions are also enabling pharma to engage
Alongside careful physician targeting, with other stakeholders, including payers and
pharma must also ensure they use the patients. This helps companies build a more
most effective messaging to ensure launch complete picture of its various customers’
success (Bain, 2017). Doctors are most needs and priorities, and, ultimately, to
likely to respond to information delivered develop more valuable solutions.
via trusted channels, backed up by strong
clinical evidence. By building their messages Legislative and governance challenges
around reliable, clear clinical data supporting Careful customer segmentation and a deep
the particular efficacy, safety and/or understanding of the target audience are
convenience advantages of their product, now well-recognised requirements for a
pharma companies can maximise the impact successful drug launch. Yet it is now much
of their therapy on patients’ lives and build harder to obtain and use physician contact
healthier, more trust-based relationships with information, thanks to increasingly stringent
prescribers. consumer data privacy rules.
If pharma firms can establish effective The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA),
communication channels with prescribers, which comes into effect in January 2020,
they can also gain insights into the most sets out how companies may gather and
effective post-launch tactics. For example, use consumers’ data. Designed to protect all
what kinds of studies are required to fill consumers from unwanted or inappropriate
in remaining gaps in the data? How to messaging and marketing, these rules
ensure that the flow of supporting data is will have a profound impact on digital
more compelling and relevant than those advertising.
4 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMThe CCPA requires companies that collect concerned about the security of their
consumers’ (including physicians’) personal personal data, experts predict similar
information to easily and clearly allow those moves among other US states. At least 20
consumers to request the specifics of that are already considering legislation of their
information, understand how it will be used, own (2019 – eMarketer) In a bid to avoid a
and to opt-out of the further sale of that complicated patchwork of state-level data
information. Importantly, those rules apply protection legislation, the Association of
not only to personal information collected National Insurers and related groups are
directly via a website, for instance, but also to attempting to create a nationwide data
names or lists purchased or rented from third protection initiative setting clear rules
parties for marketing purposes. around personal data protection (Privacy for
America initiative).
The CCPA is already impacting pharma’s
communications with physicians and other Privacy laws’ impact on pharma
stakeholders, since companies will be Most pharmaceutical companies already
required to have tracked personal data usage work with personal health information under
since January 1, 2019. the HIPAA Act of 1996. This governs clinical
trial data, and would, in some instances,
The CCPA is broadly similar to the General supercede CCPA.
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
introduced in Europe in 2018. Small But the broader-reaching CCPA laws
differences exist, though: CCPA contains mean pharma must ensure they employ
no Europe-style ‘right to be forgotten’, and only high-quality, carefully sourced data
requires consumers to ‘opt-out’ of data and personal information across all their
collection if they wish, rather than a GDPR- activities, including marketing and outreach.
style ‘opt-in’. They must have transparent, clearly-worded
data privacy and governance policies, and
Some of the Act remains vaguely-worded must build the resources necessary to
and confusing, experts say (Fast Company). audit personal data collection, storage, use
But the direction of travel is clear. Consumers and sharing, both internally among digital
have more control over their data and how marketing teams, and among partners.
it is used; at the extreme, the CCPA allows
individual citizens to sue a company for mis- Companies must think twice about who they
use of personal data. That means any of the partner with. They should become choosier
43,000 physicians in the California Medical in their collaborations, and have a further
Association could sue a pharmaceutical incentive to work with smaller volumes
company following an email campaign. of high-quality, targeted data rather than
broader data-sets that may be more likely to
Nor is the CCPA likely to remain limited to fall foul of the new rules.
California. As the public grows increasingly
5 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMThe Solution: targeting healthcare professionals within a trusted,
peer-to-peer social network
Faced with the dual challenge of achieving of domain specialists. The Skipta Diabetes
more efficient, targeted marketing amid Network, for instance, reaches 300,000
tighter privacy laws, pharmaceutical firms healthcare providers involved in the care and
preparing for a drug launch need partners treatment of diabetes, including primary care
that already reach highly relevant audiences, physicians, endocrinologists, cardiologists,
and are trusted by them. They need partners neurologists and pharmacists.
that understand and can help overcome the
challenges to effective communication in the The Skipta platform provides a secure,
digital era. private space within which verified physicians
and other verified healthcare professionals
Skipta is the leading social network may collaborate and learn from each other.
for verified healthcare professionals, Physicians use Skipta to keep up to date
organized into 25 specialized communities with industry relevant information, to
covering over 700,000 verified healthcare educate themselves and to advise on or
professionals in the US. This represents share experiences with their peers. Skipta
a 78% of all US physicians. These fosters clinically-driven conversations and
communities are focused around specialists, collaborations amongst physicians. These
such as cardiologists, paediatricians or peer-to-peer discussions may be among
dermatologists. Discussions may also specialists within a particular community,
extend to particular disease states, such as or focused on physicians treating a specific
diabetes, or migraine, bringing in a range disease.
WHY PHYSICIANS USE SKIPTA
• To stay informed of current issues and developments in their field
• To consult with colleagues on challenging case studies – in real time
• To engage with medically-relevant content from leading organisations and
biopharma companies
engaged, through tailor-made multi-channel
Skipta was designed for healthcare tactics created to suit their campaign
professionals seeking education and objectives.
engagement with their peers. It also helps
pharmaceutical marketers to promote their Skipta is easily accessible across a range of
products, and their brand, to the physicians connected devices – smartphones, tablets
or healthcare communities that matter most. or desktops. This enables pharmaceutical
It reaches physicians where they are most firms and healthcare marketing agencies
6 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMto optimize their multi-channel marketing or a feature within “Showcase”, dedicated to
approaches, creating product packages that content around a particular brand. Physicians
are tailor-made to meet clients’ campaign are engaged with interactive content ‘in
objectives. stream’ - within their community’s social feed.
Pharmaceutical firms may choose to sponsor
An integrated, tailor-made campaign a quiz or competition, or a topical discussion,
may include banner ads, branded emails, leveraging a particular community’s brand
messages within e-newsletters or broadcasts, equity (e.g. ‘Cardiology Connect’).
SKIPTA ADVANTAGES AS PHARMA’S DRUG-LAUNCH PARTNER
• Highly relevant, captive audience of healthcare professionals – covers 78% of US
physicians and 60% of US healthcare providers
• 25 clearly organised healthcare communities enable precise targeting. ICD 10 Data
allows further narrowing to target physicians that are treating the same condition
• Foster and analyze conversations about relevant disease states and treatment
options within various healthcare professional groups
• Analyze perceptions of, and barriers to, particular treatment options and how these
compare across discussion groups
• Explore which topics garner the most attention among physicians in peer-to-peer
discussions
• Understand which healthcare professionals are engaged in particular campaigns
Further, Skipta already meets the stringent communities. This can help refine the
data protection standards introduced messaging or channels in order to achieve
by CCPA. In choosing to become part maximum impact.
of the Skipta community, physicians opt
into clear rules around data privacy and The platform allows drug manufacturers
security. Pharmaceutical firms choosing to to narrow down their target audiences, to
communicate within that community thereby the level of individual or small groups of
minimize or eliminate the risk of contravening influential HCPs. This helps deepen pharma’s
data protection laws, and reduce the need understanding of customer needs.
to conduct detailed personal data audits of
their own. Messaging early to maximise launch success
Understanding how physicians want to be
Skipta can also help pharma companies engaged, and the particular pain points they
measure the impact of their multi-channel and their patients are experiencing, provide
campaigns on prescribing behavior within pharma firms with a huge advantage in
particular specialist or disease-focused preparing their drug launch.
7 / November 2019 INFO@SKIPTA.COM + @SKIPTATECH + SKIPTA.COMSkipta offers an unique opportunity to target https://econsultancy.com/with-pharma-
precisely, with minimum waste, the most sales-rep-contact-on-the-decline-physicians-
relevant audiences. By engaging with these turn-to-the-internet/?MessageRunDetai
professionals when a drug enters Phase lID=853875631&PostID=8627647&utm_
III trials, pharma companies can optimally medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io
position their product to best meet physician https://www.pm360online.com/multichannel-
needs, thereby supporting strong sales marketing-with-physician-level-data/
and sales growth. During and after launch,
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2014/
the messaging and channel mix may be
biopharmaceuticals-marketing-sales-
continuously adapted and personalized
breaking-through-the-noise.aspx
according to evolving market dynamics,
needs and clinical evidence. https://decisionresourcesgroup.com/
news/124633-decision-resources-group-
The result: the best possible chance of 2019-epharma-physician-report-finds-u-s-
a drug launch that meets, or exceeds, physicians-increasingly-too-busy-to-see-
expectations. pharma-sales-reps/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/
References: williamcraig/2018/05/08/the-importance-of-
https://www.bain.com/insights/how-to- quality-over-quantity-in-digital-content-
make-your-drug-launch-a-success/ marketing/#4b299c073edf
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/ WARC Ad Waste troubles – 2016 – only as
Deloitte/ch/Documents/life-sciences-health-
care/ch-lshc-Pharma-Launch-paradigm.pdf PDF….see also reference below
https://econsultancy.com/seven-big- https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/
challenges-facing-healthcare-marketers/ news/marketers_expect_to_waste_quarter_
https://www.warc.com/content/paywall/ of_their_budgets/40178
article/event-reports/how_the_california_ https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
consumer_privacy_act_impacts_ functions/organization/our-insights/decision-
pharma/124462 making-in-the-age-of-urgency
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/ https://www.emarketer.com/content/will-
pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our- ccpa-have-gdpr-like-effects
insights/transforming-pharma-commercial-
models-in-the-age-of-the-digital-citizen
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