Project Experience

From OTC to DTC to E-Commerce

Client Situation
As more biopharmaceutical companies gear up to outsource their drug development through business-to-business arrangements… as they develop drugs faster using web-based clinical trials.. and as they sell their products via the Internet, many companies are struggling to understand who, what, where and how. Our client is a US-based pharmaceutical marketing group that sought to understand the near-term strategies of another established drug company's current and future allergy/antihistamine business. As these players shift from promoting their products to physicians or PBMs, and direct their efforts toward consumers as well, understanding competitive e-commerce strategies is crucial.

Fuld Approach
We learned some surprising information - for example, the creation of a new, 200-300 person sales organization to detail several new drugs expected in the next few years. Though the competitor was gearing up for the Internet-based sales many companies expected, it obviously was not dropping its more traditional commerce techniques. We were also able to learn the company's overall strategies with regard to product detailing, product-line extensions, product launches and pricing, and research investment in new therapies and classes of compounds.

Benefits and Implications
The intelligence we provided about the competitor's plans and strategies helped the client to prepare appropriate traditional and web-based responses to market challenges. For more information about e-commerce in the healthcare industry, contact either Anthony Nagle at tnagle@fuld.com or Cynthia Gerber Tomlinson at cgtomlinson@fuld.com