Patients Are Not Widgets – They Are Our Consumers
Patients Are Not Widgets – They Are Our Consumers
Who really are the customers for pharma?
This weekend I was reading an article ‘MIND YOUR LANGUAGE TO CATALYSE THE PATIENT REVOLUTION’ from the British Medical Journal (BMJ). It expressed deep concern for the patients. “The voices of patients and citizens were lost amid responses to the pandemic that were too self-absorbed to consider the views of the people (meaning patients) it affected the most”. (1) The article goes on to say that: “What doctors or other health professionals want isn’t necessarily what patients want.” (1) A deep chasm exists. And Pharma India must acknowledge this.
Pharma over the world, till very recently, never considered the end users of their medicines, the patients, as their customers. Pharma missed the point that patients are the payers and the revenue generators for pharma.
Fortunately, the mindset is changing over the last decade. Patients are given the importance they deserve.
As Ted Levitt said over 62-tears back, marketers should know in which industry they are operating and who the customers are. Pharma is realizing that patients, along with the doctors are the customers. The BMJ article goes on to say that “If the patient revolution is to be accelerated, health professionals must be the catalyst.” (1)
Pharma India is in the midst of two fundamental transformations. One is moving towards the patient-centric model of marketing and adopting patient-oriented strategies. The other is phygital transformation. These two changes are essential,?as patients are getting more and more internet savvy and are sometimes even ready to challenge the doctors. And the patient-centered marketing model needs phygital transformation.
The traditional commercial approach of the last hundred years based on a numerically strong sales force, ready-to-approach doctors, and uninformed patients are a passé. A Fierce Pharma article says “Yesterday's patients, who only got pharma information filtered through their doctors, are today’s informed consumers who actively participate in their own healthcare - and shouldn't be ignored. Pharma marketers have to become better at creating more consumer-marketing customer relationships”.?(2)
This Fierce Pharma article further says “For pharma today, it can’t just be about getting patients on medicines and keeping them on. Once a person and physician have gone through the work and decision-making to use a particular medicine or device, it’s the job of pharma to see the value that person now has as a lifelong customer.”
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When you map the patient journey, there are ample opportunities for a pharma company to step in and help both patients and doctors at every stage of the patient journey. Doctors are the catalysts for patients’ health outcome. The transformation that patients are consumers for the pharma industry is evolving fast. Patients are not widgets – they are our consumers.
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Citations:
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1.???Abbasi K. (2002) ‘MIND YOUR LANGUAGE TO CATALYSE THE PATIENT REVOLUTION’ British Medical Journal. Available at: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1071. Viewed on 29 April 2022
2.???Bulik BS. (2019). FORGET THINKING ABOUT 'THE PATIENT.' PHARMA'S SHIFTING TO CONSUMER-CENTRIC MARKETING INSTEAD. Available at: https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/pharma-follows-tech-marketing-evolution-consumer-relationships-agency-exec. Viewed on 22 March 2020
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CEO, Advisors in Medico-marketing & Management
2 年Pharma companies working with patients is desirable indeed but regulatory have strict rules. Balancing the act needed. Formulation dosing, easy absorption and packaging are the tools
CEO, Advisors in Medico-marketing & Management
2 年The products being complex, in medical world the consumer of medicine traditionally is a customer of Doctors and Retailers. Barring Vitamins and possibly other nutritional range it is difficult for to approach patients directly. Vaccine could be another range. The patients can think of purchasing product of a particular company but on his own cannot decide which product. That needs prescription. Thus companies can and should promote them as a brand - quality conscious to Doctors and perceived as their care takers by the patients. Considering patient benefits comes in several ways. Previously L asparaginase was available as 10000 units vial. Prescribed in pediatric patients, a lot of quantity was wasted. To avoid that iv technicians would tie up two patients. Parents would pay alternately. Dosing was on alternate days. The problem arose if a child is sick and will miss the dose. The parents of other child getting dose had to purchase full vial. Company came out with additional formulation of 5000 unit vial which solved the problem. Working on such problems by being alert in the field & working on feedback makes a huge difference. Positioning of Pharma needs Demarcation of ambit of work hence requires special skills.