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IMS Health released data today indicating that pharmaceutical drug sales growth will slow globally to between 4% and 6% down from 7% last year. Generic drugs and patent expirations will continue to pressure brand drugs.
However, drug sales globally are expected to be up for 2010, growing 5% worldwide. Much of the growth is expected to come from China and India. One challenge for leading biopharma companies will be the large amount of fake drugs in these countries as well as established generic competitors. Successful branded biopharma products need a solid reputation for safety and superiority if consumers are to be expected to pay substantially more for them.
IMS Health predicts that the top disease therapy growth areas will be: diabetes, cancer, HIV, and multiple sclerosis.
http://bit.ly/Pharma_Forecast_2010
http://bit.ly/Drug_Sales_2010
This past week was the FDA discussion session on Social Marketing for biopharma communications. (See our Summer/Fall 2009 BioPharma Pulse Newsletter for more details). The meeting was so popular 800 people tried to attend but there was only space for 350. The main theme from biopharma was concern about lack of clarity in FDA expectations.
With perfect timing, SCIP and the American Marketing Association held a joint meeting this past week as well to discuss Tapping Social Media for Market Analysis in the New York City metro region. Panelists included Darryl Ort of the marketing agency Plaid, Tom Anderson of Anderson Analytics, Brook Aker of Expert System USA and Fred Wergeles of CT Chapter chair of SCIP. This meeting was also well attended, emphasizing the growing importance of social media and the need to professionals to keep on top of it. Panelists discussed how to effectively use social media to converse with customers. The main goal is creating a positive awareness of a brand and listening to what consumers have to say. Savvy companies use the feedback in creating strategies and tactics. However, using social media poorly can backfire and leave negative brand impressions.
From an intelligence point of view, social media makes gathering information about ones own brand and competititors brands feasible and beneficial.
Social media is here to stay. The key question is where to spend you marketing dollars.
