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Pharmaceuticals 2001 Sales and Marketing - Pursuit of the Pill Prescribers
Article
By Francesco Guerrera
Published: April 26 2001
It was just an ordinary day last month when 2,700 sales representatives from AstraZeneca were dispatched to every corner of the US. Their mission: to save the Anglo-Swedish drug company from losing a possible $6bn in sales.
The reps were taking part in the US launch of Nexium, one of the most crucial drug launches of recent years. Their job is to persuade doctors to prescribe Nexium, the company's new ulcer drug, in preference to Losec - AstraZeneca's $6bn blockbuster medicine that is likely to lose US patent protection this year, or soon after.
Nexium is a make or break drug for the company. Losec accounts for nearly 40 per cent of group turnover. It is vital that those sales, likely to be eroded by cut price generics, are replaced.
That is why, according to some analysts, AstraZeneca has already lavished a phenomenal $1bn on the launch.
The arrival last month of salespeople at doctors' surgeries, armed with free samples of Nexium and a list of its benefits over rivals, is the culmination of a process that began long ago.
Pharmaceutical companies draw up marketing strategies even before they have selected a potential drug to test in clinical trials.
Astra, which merged with Zeneca in 1999, has been devising its strategy since 1988 when Losec was launched and Nexium was little more than a glint in a scientist's eye.
Martin Nicklasson, executive vice president for the gastrointestinal franchise, says Nexium's development was based on Losec's shortfalls.
"Normally, we would look at the positive aspects of a drug. In this case, we purposely selected indications that Losec was not meeting," Mr Nicklasson says.
Scientists and marketing people worked hand in hand to design clinical trials that would help Nexium prove its superiority. "We asked ourselves: 'What trials will deliver a better drug and a successful launch?'" says Mr Nicklasson.
As the compound progressed through the three stages of clinical trials, marketing experts monitored the results and received feedback from leading doctors. When the drug started to show promising results, the company's branding team was called into action.
According to Luk Vranken, vice president for sales and marketing for southern Europe, branding strategies are usually devised two years before a drug is filed to regulators.
Increasingly, the branding of drugs is like any other marketing exercise: name, colour and packaging must send the same message worldwide. "If Coca Cola sold blue cans in one country, you would not buy them. They are always red with the same slogan: 'Always Coca Cola'. You have to be consistent," says Mr Vranken.
AstraZeneca sifted through hundreds of names with the help of a brand consultant before choosing Nexium. 'Nex' is supposed to "remind people of the next millennium or the next generation in [ulcer drugs] after Losec," says Mr Vranken.
Colour and packaging come next. AstraZeneca plumped for purple pills or capsules, in some versions contained in a practical purple wallet like package.
The colour is designed to establish a link with Losec - known in the US as "the purple pill". It also helps to distinguish Nexium from the all white generic versions of Losec.
The logo was suggested by a patient. Catharina Gustafsson, Nexium's global brand director, says one trial patient expressed a feeling of coolness and freshness at being relieved of his stomach problems. That feeling was translated in the moving dots of different sizes that make up the logo.
The promotional literature sent to physicians uses a more robust image: a muscular man in shorts in a running motion with wheels in place of feet. The idea is to convey the concept of fast relief from ulcers.
Yet all the promotional material would come to nought without the thousands of salespeople trained to persuade doctors of Nexium's advantages.
The marketing message of the drug, like Losec a proton pump inhibitor, or PPI, is: "Evolution beyond all PPIs." It may be somewhat less catchy than "Always Coca Cola", but it has been drilled into reps during countless training sessions.
"The message is clear. We will make Nexium the most comprehensive and successful launch in the pharmaceutical industry's history," says. Mr Nicklasson. AstraZeneca shareholders hope his confidence is well founded.
Back to Nexium and Proton Pump Inhibitors Articles
References:
April 2001
specials.ft.com/pharmaceuticals2001/
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