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e-Detailing Moves Into Mainstream
e-Detailing Moves Into Mainstream
e-Detailing Moves Into Mainstream
(Published: 05 July 2002)
Colin
Williams
Pharmiweb
This article is based on a review of
presentations at Eyeforpharma's conference "e-Sales & Marketing in Pharma
Europe 2001" held 22-24 October 2001 in Amsterdam.
Faced with
spiralling marketing costs, reduced product lifecycles, and an increasing
reliance on "blockbuster" drug launches, pharmaceutical companies are turning
to Internet technologies to help them more effectively market and sell their
products and develop new channels to an increasingly complex customer
base.
The challenge faced by pharmaceutical executives attending
eyeforpharma's e-sales and marketing in pharma conference in Amsterdam this
week, is to identify how new communications technologies can provide their
firms with a crucial competitive edge, and keep tabs on their rivals
initiatives.
The buzzword of the conference was e-detailing - using
Internet-based communications to provide a value-added marketing channel to
reach prescribers and complement the activities of pharma firms' expensive
networks of sales reps. Alisdair Mackintosh, of Cap Gemini Ernst and Young,
told the conference that there were clear signs the traditional model of
constantly expanding networks of sales representatives – a model
essentially unchanged for 40 years – was reaching the end of the
line.
He said the latest research suggested that "putting more and more
reps on the road" was a model "close to the point of inflexion in many big
markets". In the US alone the number of pharma reps has almost doubled over the
past decade, while the number of physicians has remained fairly static. More
and more reps are chasing essentially the same number of physicians. Some
estimates suggest that 40% of details simply "fail at the reception
desk".
Yet the growth of sales forces continues, fuelled by the rise of
blockbuster products whose launch spends can exceed $500m. Mackintosh pointed
out that the global marketing spend on Claritin alone last year exceeded that
of Coca Cola. "The industry is becoming more like the Hollywood movie
industry," said Mackintosh. "The importance of time to peak sales is crucial."
The promise of e-detailing is to use communications technology to maximise the
effectiveness of marketing and detailing efforts and offer physicians a range
of convenient interactive channels.
One company that has been in the van
of deploying e-detailing is Aventis, which has developed a range of e-detailing
initiatives in different markets, including: live two-way video detailing,
Internet-accessed continuing medical education programmes, e-mail exchange,
e-newsletter and information access sites. Kirk Schueler, senior
vice-president, e-business at Aventis Pharma, told the conference that Aventis
was "just beginning virtual detailing," but the initial results have been
encouraging. In the US and Germany Aventis is now offering video-detailing
(v-detailing) in partnership with IPhysicianNet – using a broadband
connection and webcams to allow a physician to have an interactive video detail
with a pharma rep on their computer screen.
IPhysician.Net says its
video detailing shows a 14% increase in purchasing by using the tool. Schueler
said he anticipated "similar or better results". Whereas a traditional
face-to-face detail typically lasts about four minutes, Schueler reported
Aventis' US e-detailing sales centre launched in June, found that
physician-requested calls were lasting 12-14 minutes, in which 3-4 products
were discussed and far more online visuals were used.
Other detailing
initiatives presented included programmes based on mobile personal digital
assistants (PDAs), linking pharma firms to both physicians and their patients.
Timo Ahopelto, chief executive of mobile technology firm CRF Box told the
conference that a trial involving the launch of a new insulin therapy and pen,
in which 20 physicians each recruited 25 patients who were issued a Palm PDA
had had generated revenues of $310,000.
"Wireless, real-time patient
monitoring is a key detailing tool for pharmaceutical marketers," said
Ahopelto. "This is potentially going to change the way we conduct marketing and
clinical R&D programmes." Other speakers argued that a lot more value was
still to be realised from existing technology investments and maturer
technologies, such as portals and websites. Ruth Stone, of First Consulting
Group, told the conference "a lot of technology has yet been implemented to
full advantage"
This message was echoed by Professor Leonard Lerer,
senior research fellow at Insead Healthcare Initiatives. He questioned how many
physicians would ever use channels such as video detailing "10 perhaps 20%, we
don't know". Instead, he argued that "segmentation is the key to e-detailing"
and said pharma companies need to develop the best offering for different
market segments, reaching these segments through multiple channels - which in
many cases, he suggested, will be quite simple. Professor Lerer concluded the
combination of customer relationship management (CRM) and e-detailing, if
integrated and correctly implemented, will be essential components of 21st
century pharmaceutical marketing. For Mackintosh the key change from the
initial hype of e-business two years ago is that most pharma firms have now
placed e-business in their mainstream business divisions, rather than within
stand alone business units. "E is starting to move into the
mainstream".
Further information:
www.pharmiweb.com,
www.detail-direct.com
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