Pharmaceutical Marketing: Personalized Medicine | Marketing Management Case Studies

Details

Case Code : CLMM037
Publication date : 2009
Subject : Marketing Management
Industry : Pharmaceutical
Length : 04 Pages
Price : Rs. 100

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Key words:

Pharmaceutical marketing, personalized medicine, blockbuster drug, blockbuster model, drug development, product pipeline, targeted marketing. niche, ethics, Pfizer, Merck, Lipitor, Vioxx, Torcetrapib, NitroMed BiDil

Note

1: This caselet is intended for use only in class discussions.
2: More comprehensive case studies are priced at Rs.200 to Rs.700 (US $5 to US $16) per copy.

Abstract:

In 2007, Apple Inc. raised many eyebrows by reducing the price of its much hyped iPhone by one-third within 10 weeks of the launch. While some analysts felt that adoption of such market skimming strategies and subsequent price cuts by companies selling technological devices was nothing new, others felt that Apple's decision to reduce the price so drastically just a few weeks after the launch was a public relations fiasco. As a section of the early adopters of iPhone voiced their resentment, Apple went into damage-control mode.

Issues:

  » Reasons for the increasing interest in personalized medicine
  » Issues and constraints in marketing personalized medicine
  » Ethical aspects in marketing personalized medicine

Introduction

Since the early 1990s, researchers had been working on identifying variations in genes (the unit of heredity in living organisms) that would provide the basis for developing personalized medicines. Personalized medicine is the use of detailed information about a patient at the level of genes to tailor therapy or preventative measures particularly suited to that patient...

Questions for Discussion:

1. What, according to you, are the reasons for the increased interest in personalized medicine? Do you agree with analysts that the era of blockbuster drugs is over? Give reasons for you answer.

2. Do you agree with analysts that the arrival of personalized medicine would change the rules of pharmaceutical marketing? If so, in what way would the marketing of personalized medicine differ from that of the other pharmaceutical drugs?

3. Discuss the ethical issues surrounding the development and marketing of personalized medicine. Consider yourself a person is charge of marketing one of the first personalized medicine brands. What actions would you take to ensure the successful launch of the brand considering that you expect the launch of the drug to spur a hot of debate on the ethics of marketing a personalized medicine?