Have You Become a Stepford Marketer?

With the democratization of clinical data release via the Internet, the idea that specialists, especially early adopters, are waiting to be detailed about the features and benefits of highly anticipated therapies is so last century. Simply put marketers need to prioritize communicating ‘how to get the product’ to physicians over how well it works!

Today, marketers of highly anticipated therapies need to recognize that maximizing launch uptake doesn’t revolve around the detail aid, but around the successful communication of your practice support services designed to facilitate access to your product. The implications to your launch readiness review can be profound:

• Communication – Focus during the initial weeks after approval shifts from efficacy and dosing towards outlining service levels and guarantees of turnaround times for prescription adjudication
• Materials – Priority to get in the hands of the representatives is no longer the detail aid, but the actual prescription start forms that serve as the intake vehicle for prescription access
• Promotion – ‘Now Available’ advertisements are replaced with ‘How Available’ so targeted prescribers can see the simplicity behind accessing your product and the breadth of pharmacies participating in your program
• Targeting – Total office call becomes a mandatory given the multiple players within the office that are involved in the actual pull-through of the prescription
• Training – Launch Meetings no longer have a token 30 minute presentation on Access Services, but an entire day is dedicated to training field personnel on the intricacies of the access program

How do we know this to be true? At ROF, we’ve had the opportunity to participate in and distill keen insights from some of the biggest biopharma launches in our industry.

Come learn from our accumulation of launch readiness insights.

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Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Marketers increasingly frustrated by the limitations of the package insert and desperate to seek value-added services, have tried to engage their target HCPs by offering content that extends beyond the product itself. When examined, this attempt to reach beyond the product has been met with resistance.

In assessing the marketing effectiveness of a HCP CRM program from a biotechnology company, ROF quantified huge perceived credibility gaps among HCPs on a variety of non-drug content topics. An illustrative quote from a physician pinpointed the issue.

“I view the manufacturer as the experts on their product
(e.g., effectiveness, access, side effect management, administration)
but this does not extend to other content areas.”
At ROF, we refer to this as the ‘zone of credibility.’ HCPs pointed out in the research that there are timelier and more credible sources of information for such common content areas as:

• Disease state information
• Clinical data releases
• Conference information and meeting summaries
• KOL Interviews
• Practice & Treatment Guidelines

In short, HCPs viewed the elements above outside the manufacturers zone of credibility and therefore, discounted (or more likely, ignored) the value the manufacturer was trying to provide.

On the flip side, our research confirmed the content areas that are considered within the brand’s zone of credibility as measured by HCP responses. These areas included:

• Dosing and administration
• Side effect management
• Patient assistance
• Benefits coordination and reimbursement services
• Clinical trial information about your brand
• Patient education materials

You may be asking yourself, why is this the first time I’m hearing of this? The answer is few brands actually quantify the zone of credibility afforded by their customers. However, once you clearly define the credibility zone for your brand, the marketing effectiveness of your commercial investments can only increase.

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According to Wikipedia . . .FIFO is an acronym for “First In, First Out.” It’s typically reserved for Accounting, but I’d like to apply this concept to new product adoption by today’s physicians. In the mad rush to meet forecasts, the idea of advocating appropriate use in professional marketing communication is often sidelined. In fact, marketing teams often estimate brand use in patients that were not even studied in clinical trials because physicians might use the product there and they can expand their sales potential by doing so.

This strategy, however, is wrought with complications. You see, the FIFO Principle in pharmaceutical marketing is that the likelihood of a new product being adopted into a physician’s armamentarium is directly linked to the outcomes experienced by the first few patients prescribed the product. In other words, the characteristics of the initial patients (“First In”) and their corresponding results determine whether your product begins to become habit or is jettisoned (“First Out”).

So, what’s the launch product marketer’s answer to the FIFO Principle? Appropriate Use – being crystal clear on patient selection from the outset with physicians. It’s not just about ‘painting a picture’ for the field representative to aid in selling. It’s about pointing out which patients can benefit from the product the most based on the results of rigorous clinical testing. The “First In” (FI) of the FIFO is essential in determining commercial success. A few obvious tips that continue to be ignored:

• Study Population – Clearly communicate the patient types included in your pivotal studies. The physician shouldn’t expect great results when prescribing your product in a sicker patient population.
• Line of Therapy – If you’ve been approved ‘first-line’ or in treatment-naïve patients then emphasize this in your promotional materials. Just be sure you’re definition of first-line is aligned with the physician’s definition.
• Comorbidities – If the clinical trials for your brand excluded specific patient types, don’t be afraid to tell your prescribing physicians about that. There is always a chance that a comorbidity can compromise clinical success.

Think about it . . . as an industry, there is a strong tendency to open up the experiential patient pool at launch as wide as possible just so doctors can get some product use and drive the sales trajectory. But driving initial use in the wrong patient will not sustain brand growth. FIFO is pervasive in pharma and the marketing landscape is littered with its casualties. Just look around.

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