Research on Marketing Strategies of Product D — a Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Drug for Pharmaceutical Company A

Gu Pu,Wei Tingting,Wu Zhi’ang

(School of Business Administration,Shenyang Pharmaceutical University,Shenyang 110016,China)

Abstract Objective To put forward some suggestions on the marketing strategies for chronic myelogenous leukemia in a pharmaceutical enterprise.Methods Based on the development status of the pharmaceutical industry and the SWOT analysis of a company’s product,the marketing strategies were formulated to provide theoretical basis for pharmaceutical enterprise to adapt to the new medical reform.Results and Conclusion Nowadays,due to fierce competition,in order to expand the new market,enterprises should implement the strategies of new products,centralized management and professional training.Meanwhile,the effective marketing strategies should be formulated and strictly carried out according to the conditions of the pharmaceutical company.

Keywords:pharmaceutical company; chronic myelogenous leukemia; marketing strategy; economic benefit

With the rapid development of social economy,people pay more attention to their health.Therefore,the pharmaceutical industry has achieved new and considerable development,becoming an important industry in China’s national economy[1].Consequently,the competition in the industry grows increasingly fierce.Since the aging population is emerging globally,China has also entered the aging society since 2000.Epidemiology shows that the median age of patients diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is generally at the age of 45 to 50,and the aging society indicates that the number of patients with CML will further increase[2].

In order to expand new market in the fierce competition and serve numerous patients with CML in China,this paper,starting from the recent development of the pharmaceutical industry,analyzes the product D which is used to treat CML in pharmaceutical company A and puts forward some suggestions on the marketing strategies.

1 The introduction of company A and product D

1.1 The introduction of company A

Company A is an innovative pharmaceutical group integrating scientific research,production and sales which has an outstanding influence in the field of liver health.With the rapid development of enterprises,the company’s investment in research and development is gradually narrowing the gap with multinational enterprises,and the annual investment in research and development has reached 1 billion yuan.Its products cover a wide range of therapeutic areas,including liver disease,digestion,respiration,infection and tumor.Among these products,14 of them have made the profit over several hundred million yuan.In addition,the company has made outstanding achievements in the field of neoplasms and hematologic neoplasms,and its products in the field of hematologic neoplasms are widely recognized.

1.2 The basic information of product D

As the second generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors,product D has a new molecular structure that can effectively prevent the progression of CML,and solve the problem of imatinib resistance and drug intolerance.It has resulted in high rates of complete cytogenetic response and progression-free survival among patients with CML in the chronic phase.Most of its adverse reactions are mild and controllable,which provides guarantee for the patient’s medication compliance[3].Therefore,product D is currently one of the most important drugs used in the first-line and second-line treatment of CML.

The population of China has grown fast since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,and the population has ranged from 540 million in 1949 to 1.39 billion in 2019.The annual incidence of CML is relatively low at a rate of 0.36-0.55/100 000 in China.However,with such a population,there are a large number of cases of CML in China every year.It can be known that the future market potential of product D is bound to be huge[4].

1.3 The current marketing strategy of product D

Due to the low medical level and insufficient medical facilities,there are fewer CML patients in small scale hospitals.For hospitals in first-tier and second-tier cities,doctors agree to treat CML patients with imatinib and product D.Product D has been segmented by the market.Currently,it is mainly sold to hospitals in first-tier and second-tier cities.Therefore,doctors play an absolutely dominant role in the treatment of CML.First,patients have to get a prescription from a doctor,then they can buy the drugs.According to this condition,the current aim is to give priority to the outpatient department of hematology,supplemented by hospitalization.The target doctors are mainly chief and deputy chief doctors.Besides,the main target market of the product D is the tertiary hospitals in large cities.

2 SWOT analysis of product D

2.1 Advantages

2.1.1 The advantages of company A

Company A has the following advantages.First,it has a good market share in the region.Thus,certain customer resources and brand awareness in the region have been formed.Second,it can provide academic support to doctors in their research field so that they can offer optimal solutions for different patients.As a result,a special product line has been formed,and the company has been widely recognized in the blood field.

2.1.2 The advantages of the drug

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network(NCCN) Guidelines recommended that product D and nilotinib have the same efficacy as the original drug,and they are both the first choice for the second-line treatment of CML.In 2009,mutation tests were performed on patients with imatinib for CML or Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.The results showed that the proportion of mutation types insensitive to product D was only 20%,while that of nilotinib was 44%[5].In addition,patients taking nilotinib may have adverse reactions such as affecting glucose metabolism.Therefore,patients with abnormal glucose metabolism diseases should not use such drugs.Besides,the patients have to pay more attention to their diet and the time of taking for nilotinib.But as to product D,most adverse reactions are mild and controllable,and product D can improve patient’s compliance.

2.2 Disadvantages

2.2.1 The disadvantages of company A

The coverage of regional market is not big,so it gains a small market share.Besides,the personnel for company’s product promotion is relatively scattered.Because no professional promotion team has been formed,this product cannot cover the surrounding areas.

2.2.2 The disadvantages of the drug

As the old products were on the market earlier and the market promotion was in place,so it occupied a large market share.It means doctors have been used to using the original products.On the contrary,the marketing promotion of product D is not good compared to the original ones.

Although the price of the product D has been reduced,the annual treatment cost is still about twice as high as that of imatinib.Besides,the medical expense of using imatinib has already made it difficult for most patients with rural cooperative medical care to maintain.The treatment cost of product D will make them even worse.

2.3 Opportunities

The growth rate of global drug market (Fig.1) has dropped below 4%,with a severe slowdown.The reason is that the investment in the research and development of new drugs from foreign pharmaceutical enterprises is gradually increased,but the research and development time becomes longer.Therefore,the speed of researching innovative drugs is greatly reduced.Moreover,most of the previously patented drugs have expired,resulting in slower growth in the pharmaceutical sales market.However,Chinese people began to pay more attention to their health on the basis of the improvement of their living standards.So the investment in medical care has also increased substantially.Therefore,the domestic pharmaceutical industry has been growing much faster than the global pharmaceutical industry.

According to the NCCN guidelines in 2017,patients’ risk score is medium or high risk,they should firstly choose product D which can benefit them more.With the rapid development of China’s economy,the medical insurance system has been gradually improved,and the reform of the medical system has been continuously promoted.Therefore,product D was listed in the national medical insurance catalog in 2017.

Fig.1 The sales and growth rate of global drugs

2.4 Threats

After the reform and opening up,large foreign companies entered China,which led to the increasingly fierce competition.Faced with the new management and marketing advantages of foreign companies,as well as the competitive advantages of original research products,domestic enterprises had to accept unprecedented challenges.The nonstandard behaviors of domestic small pharmaceutical enterprises make the competition much bitter.The government has increased the restrictions on prescription drugs and the implementation of medical insurance policies,which has brought new challenges to domestic pharmaceutical industry.

The continuous price reduction of product D,nilotinib from original research enterprises and the launch of generic drugs have made the market competition much fiercer.Experts in China still agree that imatinib is the first choice for treating patients with CML.What is worse,they have insufficient understanding of efficacy of product D.Most of the market for second-line treatment of CML patients is still occupied by nilotinib,the original drug.

3 Marketing strategies of product D

According to the above market analysis of product D,company A should pay attention to the improvement of market share and the professionalism of personnel.Meanwhile,they should seize the opportunity and make good use of the advantages.In order to maintain the existing market share,they also need to continue to develop new markets to ensure greater growth and pay attention to the factors such as word-ofmouth,publicity,doctors and price.The success of the marketing strategy will directly lead to the success of the enterprise.Therefore,a series of complete marketing strategies of product D must be made.

3.1 The strategies of product

The products in different cities have various cycles,so the marketing strategies shouldn’t be the same in all cities.The strategies shall be made and implemented based on the analysis of the product cycle and the local conditions.In recent years,the diagnosis and treatment of CML have been mature in China.The patients could gradually go to the hospitals in lower-tier cities.So increasing the use of product D in third-tier cities or county-level cities is the focus of promotion.The full coverage of second-tier cities is the key to success.The adoption of the product by the hospitals of grade A of third level in second-tier cities can drive the promotion of the product in grade A of second level.The third-tier cities are still at the stage of introduction,so the doctors have not formed the habit of prescribing this product.Therefore,the efficacy of the product should be introduced at the department meetings to promote its popularity and market demand.

3.2 The strategies of price

After the product is launched to the market,it should be priced with the purpose of cooperating with other means for marketing promotion[6,7].Though its price is not advantageous[8],this model can help to popularize the product and gain some loyal followers[9].As an enterprise with a sense of social responsibility,aiding the patients from impoverished families can reflect its commitment to social responsibility.

3.3 The strategies of place

If the promotion and a good sales team in the region are set up,the products will be consumed rapidly.Therefore,the hospital supplies should be guaranteed timely to avoid out of stock and lack of medicine.For some areas,reimbursement can be compensated in designated pharmacies outside the hospital,where the scope of drug distribution can be increased to facilitate patients to purchase drugs easily.

3.4 The strategies of promotion

3.4.1 Academic meetings

The choice of the meeting theme should comply with the market positioning of product D.The meeting theme can be decided in a flexible way according to the present marketing strategy in order to promote the brand image of company A and provide a platform for the patients and doctors to exchange views[10].The types of meetings can include the department meetings,city conferences,roundtable conferences,patient education meetings and academic seminars.

3.4.2 Promotion from the media

Medical science is a continuously developing discipline and doctors must read many authoritative journals from domestic or abroad.These are the core journals such as those beginning with the word China and they can help them in their own field.If the articles about product D were published in the paper media,it would form more far-reaching and convincing influence.

3.4.3 Collecting and sharing of cases

In their routine work,salesmen can collect the cases of CML treated by product D.Then the data of cases can be shared at the city/roundtable conference to help doctors make reasonable schemes of drugs.At the same time,such cases can improve the result of the treatment and medication experience of the doctors.

3.5 The strategies of marketing personnel management

3.5.1 Setting up a high-quality promotion team

The original model that the salesmen were dispersed in different offices managing several products simultaneously should be changed.They should form an independent product sales team to publicize the product with joint efforts.The promotion manager and product manager are under the leadership of a regional manager.At the same time,the management system of salesmen can be strengthened by linking the sales volume and the performance assessment with the help of a sound awarding and punishing system.The existing report management system can be improved to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the data in the report forms for purchase,sales and stock[11].

3.5.2 The training of salesmen

Before the salesmen take up their posts,they will be trained about the corporate culture,knowledge of medicines.Then human resources will give them an assessment in a unified manner.Only those who meet the requirements can take up the posts.The orientation training can enable them to obtain corresponding professional qualification.

3.5.3 The training of drug knowledges and medical knowledges

Each sales person in the company is required to have solid knowledge of drugs.Before the salesmen take up their posts,they will be trained about the effective ingredients,storage conditions,indications,medication knowledge,common adverse reactions and regular way of handling drugs.At the same time,medical knowledge training is carried out regularly for salesmen after they take up their posts.Thus,they can have a better understanding of disease and communicate the efficacy of drug with doctors in a more professional way,facilitating the reasonable use of drugs.

3.5.4 The training of communication skills

Salesmen are the first business card given to the outside world for an enterprise because they represent the image of the enterprise.The salesmen with effective communicating skills can help to promote their own and even the company’s image,which in turn can improve work efficiency.There shall be a professional communication skill training team,which regularly trains salesmen with simulation exercises,and then the trainer gives individualized guidance to them based on their different characteristics.

3.5.5 Establishing an assessment system

The assessment at different stages is the key to guarantee and consolidate the result of the training.In order to ensure the professional quality of the salesmen,the knowledge of drugs,communication and visiting skills should be assessed regularly.The written assessment is made up of the medical products knowledge and the salesmen can score according to their answers.The examination of the skills in paying visits will be conducted with simulation exercises between the salesmen.After that,the professional trainers can offer guidance and give marks based on their performance.The strict assessment system will urge the salesmen to study voluntarily and help them to make progress.

4 Conclusions

In a word,brand-new ideas in marketing drugs and exploring reforms are the only way for pharmaceutical companies to realize their long-term goals.Under the circumstance of fierce competition,pharmaceutical companies must make scientific and effective marketing strategies to expand new market.Enterprises should start with product quality,professional training,reasonable pricing and academic promotion.Meanwhile,based on their own conditions,they can implement these strategies strictly,with the purpose of enhancing their economic benefits and sustainable development.