Sales & Marketing

Novartis and Cadient served up a very successful unbranded campaign on YouTube. Pharma should take note of this Web 2.0 victory.

After watching similar legislation barring data mining for Rx info get shut down in Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont changes tactics and amends its law.

Unlike Vioxx, Vytorin works exactly as explained in its now-famous food-and-family ads. So why are people up in arms against the drug? Experts ponder what went wrong.

In a surprising but not completely unexpected move, FDA announced last week that its Prescription Drug User Fee Act was dead on arrival. Feds cite lack of funding as main reason.

New report finds that neither sales reps nor patient requests are the deciding factor when it comes to physician prescribing habits, information is-the more the better.

New study finds that risks and side effects don't get their fair share of time in television advertising. The authors cry out for more educational information in DTC ads--but is it necessary if the ads aren't breaking the law?

We asked seven industry experts to talk about today's best (and worst) pharma icons

Welcome to the new employer's market for reps. The Hay Group's annual survey reports how, as the primary sales force contracts, so too does its pay.

GlaxoSmithKline locks up MediaCom as its only ad-buying/planning provider. The agency will handle GSK's massive ad spend, which last year hovered around $1.1 billion.

Drug manufacturer shakes things up with new Web site that functions as an open book into the world of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The company hopes that its transparent approach to design will be a lesson to pharma companies still fearful of online media.

There was a large minority of physicians who said they did, in fact, favor a DTC moratorium of some length. So the question is, why didn't it happen?

Top pharma brand experts discuss today's issues: safety, compliance, corporate branding, combatting generics, and more.

With ads on topics ranging from addiction to disease states, this year's Rx Club Award winners connect creativity with emotion

The impact of high-quality online training tools would be difficult and costly to replicate offline given the dynamic and interactive aspects offered

Lynn Upshaw posits that marketing with integrity is key to success in these skeptical times. To do so, a company has to live its brand. In his book, Upshaw tells you how.

The direct-to-consumer marketing campaign for havidol, a drug for dysphoric social attention consumption deficit anxiety disorder, is drawing lots of public reaction. (but neither the drug nor the disease is real.)

Choosing a name for a new pharmaceutical product used to be a pretty straightforward proposition. Twenty years ago, most drug names were descriptive or functional in nature; they relied on the indication, therapeutic category, or generic name for their creative direction.

The hard work being done by the industry to prove its commitment to patients and better health is being hampered by its reputation of unreliability

With Exprience and A new means of measuring impact on patient behavior, branders have never been in a better position to make their strategies work

Sometimes looking back is a way to look forward

New search engine gives consumers the ability to manage all their health needs from a central location--and offers pharma the opportunity to reach new patients through targeted search ads

These are challenging times for senior operations executives who support sales, marketing, and managed markets. The pipeline shortfall, drug-approval delays, and increasing regulatory complexity have squeezed budgets while raising revenue targets. The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) has caused some of the most far-reaching changes in the sales and marketing landscape, as government purchasing power creates both new opportunities and greater restrictions. In addition, traditional modes of selling have saturated the market, and the sales model the industry knows and loves is no longer so effective.

Very few drugs live forever. Barring remarkable scientific advances and radical market dynamics, most drugs hit old age-and sharply declining sales-several years before their patent expires. But some drugs go out with a bang, not a whimper.

You have to admit: Mark McClellan, MD, has quite a resumé. But after you've been the commissioner of FDA and the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), what comes next?

If you've been thinking of online video as a toy or, worse yet, as something that's going to happen at some point in the future, let me offer you a picture: Me, a target pharma customer, on the elliptical machine at the gym, watching, no, not CNN or Katie Couric, but "Nephrology Consult 101, Unusual Causes of Renal Failure" and "Internal Jugular Central Line Placement," a pair of free video podcasts I downloaded from the Yale School of Medicine.