M's the Word: Why is your drug special?
If you want to give your product extra horsepower, get involved in the development.
By on Sep 6, 2010If you want to give your product extra horsepower, get involved in the development.
I like cars. I like Italian cars very much.
I looked at a Ferrari f430 a couple of weeks ago, and debated whether I could afford it, or whether it is better to have a pension fund. It was a close call.
But, of course, it set me thinking. We are all very familiar with the huge success of Lipitor to become the biggest drug of all time in a crowded market.
Now, I really do not know if this is true, but I have heard it from enough people to believe it.
There is no major difference in lipid lowering capability among the cholesterol-reducing drugs.
The clever thing is that Warner Lambert did their research with a higher dose and set a benchmark of efficacy.
Other companies cranked their doses up following launch to match the lipid-lowering ability, and, of course, most patients do not need the high doses, but the impression was established.
Warner Lambert had a Ferrari; other companies had a Volkswagen.
In finished form, it had a 12-cylinder engine and a turbo and was just as quick as the Ferrari, but parked next to it outside Sainsburys you know which one you would take.
And, of course, for most people, Sainsburys is the destination. That should mean the Volkswagen was the right choice, but you can get quite a lot of shopping in a Ferrari.
So you bought the dream that one day you would park outside the Casino in Monte Carlo and the Volkswagen just would not cut it.
Is the moral of this story marketing pharmaceuticals is like marketing cars? No.
The unique selling proposition of your drug is designed in, not added on later.
If you really are a marketing professional, if you really want to give your product the extra horsepower, look to the science and look at the design stage. Get involved in the development.
If we want to make pharmaceutical marketing special, and if we want to be proud of what we do, we have to have the passion and we have to start thinking early.
And if you cannot get involved in the development of your drug, go and talk to the people who did and find out what they think is special.
It might not be a Ferrari, but VW sell a lot of Golf GTIs.