Determinants towards Doctors’ Prescribing Intention of Branded Medicines: A Case of Antibiotics in the Sri Lankan Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

Restrictions on Promoting, Advertising and Sales along with differences in perception on branded and generic medicines have made pharmaceutical market a unique marketplace. In Sri Lanka, the situation is more complicated as most of the Allopathic Medicines are considered ‘Prescription only’. Hence, there is a concern whether there could be a competitive advantage in branding of pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka. However, the world Pharmaceutical Market has increasingly come to understand the importance of Pharmaceutical Branding. Doctors have been identified as the most influential group for customers’ purchase decision of a particular brand of medicine. In Sri Lanka, only few studies have been specifically dedicated to pharmaceutical marketing and to the authors’ knowledge, little research has explored doctors’ prescribing intention of branded medicines. The overall objective of this study was therefore to examine the determinants towards doctors’ prescribing intention of branded medicines (Antibiotics) in Sri Lanka. Quantitative data was collected by means of a survey questionnaire administered to a representative sample of 120 MBBS qualified doctors in District of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Inferential statistics revealed that Brand Loyalty and Quality of the Medicine are the factors having a strong effect on Doctors’ Prescribing Intention of Branded Medicines in Sri Lanka. Demographic profile of doctors’ shows significant impact on prescribing intention. Affordability to the Patient and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of the Pharmaceutical Company are not significant in Sri Lankan context. These insights will help pharmaceutical marketers to develop better pharmaceutical marketing strategies and policy makers to develop measures to achieve better clinical effectiveness with economic efficiency in prescribing medicines in Sri Lanka.