Parallel Importation: A Pharma perspective

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Parallel Importion has grown hugely in the last few months, but what is it all about?

Read on and be shocked and appalled (and educated... probably)

Crestor to be launched in India - How many boxes will stay there?

Major pharma manufacturer Astrazeneca are planning on launching their major drug Crestor in India, but according to the website "pharmagossip" they will be selling it at 1/5th the price of the product in other markets. In a way this is a smart move, capturing a large slice of the Indian market (1 billion plus people) is definitely worthwhile, however it will be interesting to see what this does to sales of Crestor in higher priced countries.

The last job I had was with a pharma company, and one of the major problems facing the company was importers buying products in Northern Ireland for a cheaper price (circa 20%), shipping them to the republic, and then undercutting the price charged by the Irish subsidiary and keeping the difference in prices. This practice is known as parallel importation, and most people would probably be more familiar with Parallel importation of cigarettes and alcohol - This Christmas saw Northern Irish off-licences see record sales due to a weak Pound.

Astrazeneca say "The launch of CRESTOR® is in line with our India strategy to bring global brands to India at prices affordable for Indian patients", it will be interesting to see how many boxes of Indian priced crestor find their way around the world... I would imagine ALOT will go "missing" and find their way to a pharmacy near you.

Pharmaceutical advertising - is it appropriate? (No)

It goes without saying that great deal of the advertising on American television is rather absurd, but I find that the absurdity reaches a particular high with “Direct to Consumer” (DTC) advertising for pharmaceutical products. Unlike in Ireland, and most of the developed world, Pharma manufacturers are free to put adverts for their blockbuster products on TV so long as they are fair and balanced.

This “fair and balanced” concept means that the advert must devote a good deal of time to the possible adverse side effects caused by the drug – which tends to result in rather ridiculous endings to these ads where horrific side effect - after horrific side effect - are read out.

When I was on my travels recently I saw an advert for the contraceptive pill “Yaz”. (In a side note, I find this ad to be particularly bizarre, the fact that one of the friends starts to talk about the virtues of Yaz in such a scientific way is just... odd)

The FDA, which in theory controls what these ads can and cannot say, forced the makers of Yaz to run a commercial to “clear up” some unclear information in the above ad. My favourite line in this clear up is the following

“Yaz is for the treatment of PMDD and moderate acne, not for the treatment of PMS or mild acne”

...I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent but I’m not quite sure if my brain is able to decide which is worse mild acne, or moderate acne?

The argument behind allowing Pharma to go DTC is that is helps educate the consumer as to the choices available to them, and to be fair I suppose in the case of some commercials this is true. However on the most part the adverts seem to act as a method of scare mongering, listing off a selection of adequately vague symptoms that captures about 75% of the population – do you often feel tired? – angry? – overly happy? - then this is the drug for you... the list goes on

Well some bright spark decided that it might be a good idea to compare the average health literacy score (where there is DTC advertising) with a country where there is not, and for the purpose of this comparison Americas neighbour to the north was chosen. Below is the graph detailing average health literacy by sex of each nation. Now while the data may not be perfect, we can clearly see that the US score is at best essentially the same, and is clearly not superior to that of a country which does not permit DTC advertising.

My personal leaning on this matter are very much toward the non-DTC camp. Healthcare is not really something to be toyed around with, and in my opinion should be left firmly in the hands of qualified healthcare providers. I also understand that in non-DTC countries, like Ireland, the advertising efforts are redirected towards doctors via sales reps, however I think you can trust that a qualified doctor is much less likely to be swayed by glossy pamphlets and a few free pens. (bribing of doctors is another days post).

Healthcare should be kept in the hands of doctors and not advertisers, and let’s hope that someday the US government see that point.

Pfizer boxershorts cause outrage (just not with doctors)

Having worked in a pharmaceutical company in Ireland I can tell you as a matter of fact that the marketing materials left with family doctors range from the boring (pens) to the more boring (post-its), with the occasional branded mug thrown in there to spice things up.

Then along came some enterprising individual in Pfizer Ireland who decided to make a truly original marketing piece, and now by the sounds of things he will be lined up against some wall and shot in the next while!

"This should not have occurred and only did so through the poor judgment of a Pfizer employee" state Pfizer, adding "A full internal investigation to ensure this type of incident does not occur again has already commenced", so something pretty awful must have happened right?

Well, to mark the tenth anniversary of the landmark drug Viagra's entry to the Irish market, a marketer in Pfizer Ireland HQ had the bright idea to send out boxershorts emblazoned with the company logo to family doctors in their database. According to Pfizer "We acted immediately to apologise for this error of judgment and to seek return of the item"... now is it just me or are they missing the boat on this one.

Firstly, they came up with an original piece of marketing, amidst a sea of post-its, pens and mugs, which doctors are bound to remember, more than the usual pathetic stuff doled out to them.
Furthermore the doctors seem to have enjoyed the gift, one doctor "hadn’t had such a good laugh at a time when there weren’t many opportunities to do so". Pfizer admit that as of yet "very few GPs have returned the freepost envelope"

Secondly the little stunt has got the story in the Irish Times, which also draws attention to 1. the fact its the 10th anniversary, and 2. that Viagara is the : "most commonly prescribed drug for the serious medical condition, which has a number of underlying causes including diabetes"... Free advertising anyone...

Brilliant innovative marketing idea, absurd (although perhaps feigned, if they are smart) corporate reaction.