Journal of Medical Marketing: Device,Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical Marketing

Concerned about the high incidence of medical errors, The US Food and Drug Administration's Human Factors Engineering Group of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has begun an aggressive approach to consider the impact of Human Factors (HF) in medical device design and labelling. In Australia and Europe, government activities also include HF in the labelling of pharmaceuticals. The CDRH is encouraging manufacturers to apply HF during design and development. The agency also verifies that HF is being considered when the manufacturer's design validation documentation is reviewed as required by the Quality System Regulation. Including Human Factors throughout the product life-cycle will increase product acceptance, prevent costly post-market ‘upgrades’ and offer a new competitive advantage. Examples from one HF provider and a medical device developer are provided.

Mainly due to technological advances, today's consumers are demanding more knowledge concerning their health. In addition, they are becoming more aware of health problems and treatment alternatives. As a result, healthcare providers are turning towards the Internet as a new tool, by which consumer needs and demands may be fulfilled. This new strategy has prompted the number of public hospitals with presence on the Internet to grow dramatically in Spain in the last few years. The special nature of this new means of communication as well as its early stage of development in the Spanish market however, make it necessary to assess whether these hospital websites are being properly orientated to the client. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyse how public hospitals in Spain are currently using their websites as a means of communication with their patients and clients. Since the results of this analysis demonstrate that these public hospital websites are still far from the ideal concept of market orientation, recommendations for improving their design and management are finally proposed.

The study shows how the medical marketer can understand the current market and jumpstart creativity through a deconstruction exercise. That is followed by conjoint measurement, which identifies strengths and weaknesses of the deconstructed elements. Text elements were created by deconstructing messages appearing in current websites, thus providing a competitive assessment. Visual elements were taken from appropriate stock photographs. Respondents evaluated short concepts created by systematically varying subsets of text and visual elements dealing with arthritis. On a total panel level, no elements performed very well or very poorly. Greater differentiation and patterns emerged from segmentation based upon the pattern of utility values. Four concept response segments emerged: Segment 1 (interested but not differentiating beyond basic interest), Segment 2 (seeking a healthy life), Segment 3 (seeking a social and support network), and Segment 4 (seeking to treat an actual condition). Segments 3 and 4 both showed strong responses to a variety of text and visual elements. Responses to visual elements were consistent with response patterns to text elements.

This is a descriptive study over a duration of two years, assessing the impact of the quality gaps, and the quality of work life (QWL) index on the performance of a state hospital department. The medical and paramedical staff of the Patissia Eye Clinic in Athens, Greece were enrolled in the study and the QWL index for each health-care provider was estimated. Providers with higher educational backgrounds or higher ratings in the hospital hierarchy presented with better scores in the QWL index. A random sample of 400 glaucoma patients was interviewed and responded to predetermined questionnaires. Quality gaps in the overall diagnostic and therapeutic approach were detected mainly in the ‘responsiveness’ and ‘empathy’ quality dimensions. The performance of the department was evaluated by assessing the percentage of patients with satisfactory target (intraocular pressure, or IOP) as an objective index of efficiency, the percentage of patients with satisfactory alertness as an objective index of quality, and the percentage of patients with satisfactory compliance as a prognostic index for long-term efficacy. The QWL index and the quality gaps had a direct impact on the ‘alertness’ and the ‘compliance’ of the patients, reducing the overall performance of the department.

This paper considers the role of Trade Partners UK, which is the ‘export support arm’ of the DTI. Trade Partners delivers its services through the 45 Business Links in England, helping firms to internationalise their business and to export their products and services. Within the organisation, there are a number of sector specific International Trade Advisers with Life Sciences expertise most relevant for medical marketers.

This short paper provides an overview of the challenges that pharmaceutical marketers face in a market that is undergoing enormous global change.

Recent work by the author with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has included a global survey of customer relationship management (CRM) in the pharmaceutical industry. One interesting finding was the growing interest in the application of digital technology in the whole area of CRM. The question faced by organisations is how to market to individuals, to physicians or to smaller segments. It is in this context that this paper looks at the evolution of digital strategy.

Most people have an idea of what intellectual property rights are. Essentially, anything that has been created by a person's mind is something to which they may have a valuable legal right. In the abstract, it's relatively easy to think of people having rights to their intellectual property, but more important is to relate those rights to different, broader aspects of marketing, which this paper aims to do.

This paper sets out to answer a simple question: How might companies in medical markets create better marketing strategies? It is an overview of the author's PhD Research at Cranfield University under the supervision of Professor Malcolm McDonald, one of the world's leading authorities in the field of marketing strategy. Reflecting the author's industry background, this research concerns itself only with medical markets such as Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices and Diagnostics and reflects primary research in approximately 60 companies in the medical products sector.