Pitchman PixabayAccording to Six Trends in ePharma Marketing, Embracing Digital Transformation in the Pharma and Healthcare Sectors, A Marketer’s Guide, some trends have developed which are alarming BigPharma but may spell relief to consumers. Among those are:

  1. Direct-to-Consumer television ads have lost their effectiveness and support. The American Medical Association supports a ban on prescription drug direct-to-consumer ads, and over a span of two years, consumers who asked their doctor about a drug advertised on TV dropped from 21 percent in 2015 to only 7 percent in 2017.
  2. Physicians have lost trust in BigPharma. According to ZS, the number of physicians who will meet with at least 70 percent of pharma sales reps who request a meeting has dropped to 44 percent, down from 80 percent in 2008.  And a Deloitte Consulting study revealed that 75 percent of physicians don’t entirely trust information that comes from BigPharma. In addition one-third of consumers blame doctors for the opioid crisis, so physicians are more wary of prescribing.
  3. Restrictions on social media advertising has forced BigPharma to resort to stealth advertising about wellness and conditions that only incidentally relate to a specific product. As STAT’s Rebecca Robbins explained, unbranded ads are “a stealthy and lightly regulated form of drug marketing focused on educating the public about a health condition — which the pharma company just happens to sell a product to treat.” In one month, for example, Merck spent an estimated $9.9m on ads on HPV and shingles, while Mylan spent an estimated $8.5m on ads about severe allergic reactions. Merck manufactures HPV and shingles vaccines, and Mylan manufactures the EpiPen, for severe allergic reactions.
  4. Drug-pricing controversies have put additional scrutiny on BigPharma from the public, government regulators and physicians.

However, BigPharma is busy exploiting some loopholes including:

  1. According to one survey, millennials are “by far the most receptive to pharmaceutical marketing” of any generation.
  2. Aggressive marketers can exploit electronic health records to influence providers through decision-support systems.
  3. And BigPharma’s pressure on physicians is relentless. According to ZS, each of the 26,000 prescribers contacted most frequently by pharma companies receive around 2,800 contacts per year from the pharmaceutical industry.