Design of online healthcare systems

Abstract

Medical Representatives play a major role in pharmaceutical industries in terms of promoting pharmaceutical products to the physicians. The role of physicians in deciding the therapy is still dominant, but in some areas like OTC brands, patients have more and more power to choose between the products. Other important target customers are the pharmacists, hospitals, wholesalers, governmental forces and so on. Pharmaceutical companies direct their medical representatives’ efforts towards physicians. The medical representatives efforts directed at physicians comprise personal selling through representatives’ detailing; sampling (provision of drugs at free of cost); physician meetings and events; advertisements in medical journals; conducting CME/RTM also. The new trends of pharmaceutical marketing are affected by the trends of the pharmaceutical industry itself. The number of new innovative drugs is less and less in connection with the increasing R&D (Research & Development) costs. The development cost of a new drug (including the research cost of the unsuccessful substances) is around 800 million USD. According to industry experts, R&D is no longer the industry’s driving force for growth. Even if the new drug is more effective and has less side effect (this is the pivotal elemental of the drug’s quality) than the other ones available in the market that is not the only factor which its success. To remain profitable, for a drug producer, developing its marketing activity of medical representatives may be the key of success.