Pharmaceutical companies need to focus on prescribing structures
(Published 14 December 05)

Pharmaceutical companies need to focus on prescribing structures to maximise sales and marketing efforts, warns Health Direction.

New research from Health Direction, the NHS business intelligence specialists, has prompted a warning to pharmaceutical companies that prescribing decision-making within the NHS may be even more complex than many currently believe. Health Direction’s market-leading ‘Sophistication Index’, which uses interrupted live NHS data to measure the extent to which PCOs have progressed across a broad range of areas, today reveals that 30% of PCTs do not have a formulary, while the ratio of generics to branded drugs prescribed by different PCTs also varies widely.

Sue Knox, NHS Information Director of Health Direction, cautions:
“Pharma marketers and Healthcare Development teams need to understand the complexities of prescribing in order to really make an impact. You must get to grips with what’s in and what’s out of your control to be able to work with the NHS. Let’s take formularies, for example – where our findings show the ratios between those PCTs which have a strong formulary, those which have a formulary of some kind and those which have none at all, to be almost equally split. If you’re dealing with a PCT which has a strong formulary, how does it change things for you? These kind of questions are critical to success in this market.”

The full findings from the Sophistication Index are as follows:

Formularies

- 30% of PCTs do not have a formulary
- 31% of PCTs have a formulary
- 39% of PCTs are formally assessing the use of formularies

Prescribing of generics

- In 32% of PCTs, between 72% and 78% of drugs prescribed are generics
- In 29% of PCTs, between 78% and 79.5% of drugs prescribed are generics
- In 39% of PCTs, between 79.5% and 86% of drugs prescribed are generics

Use of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

- 37% of PCTs have done little work on the prescribing of NSAIDs
- 55% of PCTs have done some work on changing the prescribing of NSAIDs
- 8% of PCTs have done extensive work looking at NSAID prescribing

Prescribing rates of antibacterial drugs

- 39% of PCTs prescribe significantly more antibacterial drugs than average
- 33% of PCTs prescribe an average amount of antibacterial drugs
- 28% prescribe significantly less antibacterial drugs than average

Sue Knox continues:
“Furthermore, when it comes to generics, we can see how prescribing patterns might influence the focus of pharma companies. Approaching those PCTs which have a stronger commitment to branded drugs may result in greater success for NHS development teams.

“In terms of particular types of drugs, again, the picture across the UK’s network of PCOs is, in essence, a mixed bag. Looking at NSAIDs, for instance, the PCT will want to see GPs prescribing the safest and most cost-effective versions of these types of drugs. How that affects the resource devoted by a pharmaceutical company to this area could be quite significant. In short, understanding the complex ways in which prescribing works within individual PCTS greatly increases pharmaceutical companies’ chances of working successfully in partnership with the NHS.”

About the author

Health Direction Ltd is entirely focused on collecting, processing and analysing high quality UK-based health information for dissemination through intuitive, browser-based products via the internet, company intranet and CD-Rom. Privately owned and run you will find our staff friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. We put customer satisfaction at the top of our agenda.

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