Hospitals, Pharma

No more bejeweled Botox tees: Pharma swag’s getting purged, so what’s next?

I think it was Prozac that taught me how to ski. Thanks to Zoloft (and having psychiatrists […]

I think it was Prozac that taught me how to ski. Thanks to Zoloft (and having psychiatrists for parents), I became a Penguins fan and Zyprexa kept me flush with pens, scratch paper and lunch bags. It was the 90s, and pharmaceutical swag – and swagger – was at its pinnacle.

Things have changed remarkably since those pre-kickback salad days – no more ski trips – but now hospital systems are purging even the last remnants of the Viagra tchotchkes. Here’s why, according to an article in the Atlantic:

2006 JAMA study showed that even cheap gifts can influence doctors’ prescribing practices. Medical students who received branded freebies were found to be more partial to the drug after the fact. Some states, like Minnesota, and clinic operators, like SMDC, began banning medical swag voluntarily.

But they’ve taken new marketing approaches: Brochures, rebates and digital screen campaigns.

These days, a drug maker might strategically paper doctors’ exam rooms with brochures that feature information about the product alongside rebate coupons.

Drug companies also buy time on digital screens stationed throughout doctors’ waiting rooms. A 2012 article in PM360, a pharmaceutical marketers’ magazine, notes that today’s difficult sales environment requires pharmaceutical reps to be “establishing new marketing channels and enabling multiple touch points,” which can include “direct mail, email, e-detailing, banner ads, search-engine optimization, and digital screens placed in clinical areas.”

Despite drug lectures and dinners still having a kosher label, it’s definitely a tough time to sell for pharma:

More physicians began enacting “no-see” policies toward pharmaceutical sales reps, meaning they refused to meet with the drug promoters, or began requiring them to make appointments. Sales reps were reduced to dropping off drug samples without saying a word to the doctor, and their ranks began dwindling.

Check out the whole article here.

 

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