Times are Changing By Daniel Limbach What a difference a year makes. While 2005 will be remembered by pharmaceutical companies as a year of great change, 2006 will be thought of as the year of changing strategies. any pharmaceutical companies that depended on DTC TV advertising to keep their brands in front of the American public are shifting their marketing models to be more targeted and data driven. The marketers of such brands as Crestor, Prevacid, and Viagra drastically cut or eliminated their 2005 TV ad spend compared with 2004. TV advertising is being heavily scrutinized by drug companies. In the first half of 2005, ad spending was down 7% for network TV, 24% for spot TV, and 40% for syndicated TV compared with the same period in 2004, according to MediaPost Communications. Five months after Pfizer pulled its Viagra TV spots in November 2004, partially in response to pressure from regulators, the company experienced a 3.8% drop in new monthly prescriptions. The rate of erosion due to competition has remained steady for Viagra, causing many to conclude that the need for TV ads is greatly diminished. According to some experts, the money saved from TV has been moved to print advertising, particularly newspapers and magazines, where the messaging can go much deeper than a 60-second TV spot. Internet advertising also is experiencing significant growth, but still only accounts for a small percentage of the overall advertising budgets of the big pharmaceutical companies. But 2006 has the potential be a breakout year for Internet advertising in the pharmaceutical world, as companies evaluate new ways to reach consumers and healthcare professionals. The Measure of Success Companies are looking for more accountability from their advertising agencies. It’s not just about buying eyeballs and executing branding campaigns anymore. From one-time ads to entire campaigns, companies are turning to metrics to measure success. Tacconi. Campaign management begins with setting behavioral objectives that define success. Each program is measured according to these objectives using direct or indirect metrics depending on the situation. In some campaigns, success is achieved simply by educating patients to seek diagnostic testing for a disease such as osteoporosis or hyperlipidemia. In these instances measuring the number of patient visits for testing before, during, and after the campaigns can make it easier to measure the success of a campaign. In all campaigns, awareness of the communications and key messages used form the prerequisite for any intended action. Lewis. We do a significant amount of upfront testing before implementing a campaign, including both qualitative and quantitative marketing research. This holds true for professional as well as direct-to-consumer advertising, the majority of the latter being branded print advertising. Specifically for DTC print, we now test our DTC ads quantitatively against norms provided by our marketing research supplier to measure stopping power and message recall. As the predictive power of these norms is well established, this provides us with a relative amount of certainty that we will achieve a sufficient degree of return for our investment. Once a campaign is under way, we can then test quantitatively to evaluate whether the ad is achieving its desired effect. For professional ads, we take a similar approach, although we don’t always test a campaign rigorously once it is up and running. Stern. There are typical measures that can determine reach and frequency for advertising. The Internet allows for very specific measurements in one of two ways. One is to add a suffix to a Web address, such as saizen.com/parents to delineate an advertisement in a specific magazine. Another way is to ask the patient where he or she obtained information about the site or product. This also can be done through a call center. Pascoe. Brand teams should clearly define the intended outcome for any campaign before developing the campaign itself. This includes identifying the relevant metrics for measuring success. As a senior executive, I am most interested in the hard metrics, such a prescription data, market share increases, and so on. Moreover, I am very interested in the softer metrics such as the level of salesforce enthusiasm for the campaign. Verbal feedback from customers also is very powerful, particularly feedback from physicians. Finally, the buzz that a campaign creates in the market can certainly be measured and exploited. While pharmaceutical company brand teams should fully explore and model these metrics before a campaign launches, the results are never really known until the entire campaign is well under way. The key is to build a campaign that supports the brand’s strategic goals, and then constantly measures performance based upon those predetermined metrics. Durrant. Campaigns must be benchmarked and tracked, otherwise there is no way to assess whether a campaign is worthwhile. Some of the measuring tools that can be used are market research by phone surveys, Web-based surveys, and face-to-face focus groups. It’s important to measure brand recognition, specific message recollection, call to action, and other more detailed metrics via market research. It’s often difficult to compare products because each may promote a unique advantage. Furthermore, the perceptions of the general public and the healthcare professionals may be very different as well. One drug may be promoted on its efficacy, yet the perception is that it is the safest. Another drug may be promoted as the safest, yet the perception is that it is the most effective. Competing in a Crowded Marketplace Blockbuster categories offer many therapeutic choices — from lowering cholesterol to treating depression — and so competition for market share can be fierce. It’s one thing when the brand is the only treatment for a specific condition, but it’s an altogether different story when marketing a brand in a crowded arena. Lewis. Most importantly, an advertising campaign must be built from a powerful, brand position that can be owned. If the marketplace is really crowded, share of voice tends to take a backseat to share of mind. In other words, it is unlikely pharmaceutical marketers will be able to dominate a category that’s very crowded, so they have to rely on the campaign to do quite a bit with the likelihood of less frequency of exposure. Advertising from a multitude of competitors may bombard the prospect, therefore marketers can’t just rely on having sufficient reach and frequency. Instead, the campaign must be relevant, unique, and believable, and have both sufficient stopping power to cut through the clutter and be remembered by prospects when it’s time for them to take action. It’s also important, where possible, for advertising to tie in with the other aspects of the marketing mix and the other vehicles being used by the company to promote the product. For professional campaigns, it’s important to align the advertising campaign with the promotion carried out by the field force, the in-office promotional tools, Web-based initiatives, and so on. Durrant. The brand needs a compelling brand proposition. And the brand must deliver on its promise. A well-designed campaign is crisply crafted and articulated consistently across all media. The goal is to own a unique and meaningful proposition in the mind of the customer versus competing brands. Stern. Having an image or message that clearly distances one product from other competitors can drive revenue for a me-too product in a commodity market. Pascoe. Simple, informative, and powerful messaging is essential to differentiate any brand in a crowded market. Attempting to convey too much information is a major mistake. Often, pharmaceutical company brand managers will crowd a single page of copy with too much data, diluting the key messages. Great advertising quickly gets to the point, and it allows the viewer to answer the “why would I use this product” question without having to look too hard. The analogy that I like to use relates to Halloween costumes. If people don’t get it just by looking at you, it’s a lousy costume. Brand advertising works the same way. The End of DTC Advertising (As We Know It) New guidelines and proposals are calling for significant changes in drug advertising. Some pharma companies already are instituting DTC bans for a period of one to two years from launch. Pharmaceutical companies are adjusting their strategies to comply and compete in this new era. Stern. I don’t believe that there will be an end to mass-media DTC, but the beginning of more responsible advertising. It’s never been a good strategy to try to emulate consumer product advertising for medical products that are very complex and require medical understanding. The use of reminder ads and product sponsorship of sporting events, such as NASCAR, has fueled the controversy around drug pricing. Pundits see this type of advertising as irresponsible and as purely promotional without providing consumers or patients with an understanding of what benefits and risks come with that brand — and many times, not even an understanding of what the drug does. This strategy also leaves the physician out of the picture, which does not serve the needs of those who prescribe our products. Some advertisements are now involving doctors in the ads by depicting patients talking with their healthcare provider about their problem. The doctors in the ads also discuss the possible risks with the patient. This not only provides the required fair balance but also shows patients how to discuss these important issues with their physicians. Pascoe. I believe that mass-media direct-to-consumer advertising will continue to play a significant role in pharmaceutical marketing in the United States because consumers continue to demand information. The focus, however, has shifted from simply building brand awareness to a more patient-oriented educational platform. I believe that DTC can be a very powerful instrument in highlighting the appropriate use and risk profile for a particular drug in addition to building brand awareness. Some pharmaceutical companies have taken this education mantra to an extreme, resulting in some highly compliant yet uninspired advertising. The goal should be to strike the appropriate balance. In my view, creativity and compliance can certainly co-exist. Durrant. The calls for change come from a perception that there is a lack of objectivity in DTC ads. What is needed is a more informed dialogue with consumers. The “ask your doctor” ads will change to reflect this. People have been turning to the Internet for information, and the Web will become more important than ever. It’s not the end of direct-to-consumer advertising, but the beginning of a change in how pharmaceutical company marketers provide this information and the expected outcomes. Direct-to-physician advertising will not go away, but there will be a focus on recognition and retention to assist compliance and persistence in an attempt to own mindshare among patients and healthcare professionals. Tacconi. Merck has adopted several practices that we believe lead to high-quality DTC advertising by informing and motivating consumers to ask their healthcare providers about conditions and possible treatment options. It has been Merck’s long-standing practice to voluntarily submit new DTC advertising to the FDA for review and comment before airing or publishing. Merck also acts on those comments, including resubmission of materials where appropriate. Merck believes that advanced FDA guidance provides additional assurance that we are clearly communicating the most important messages and risk information that can be readily understood by consumers. Disease-awareness campaigns are important for informing consumers about conditions and encourage them to see their healthcare providers. Providing patient information for consumers in patient-friendly language in DTC advertising is extremely important. While many of the new PhRMA principles are already standard practice at Merck, we believe they can further enhance the ability of DTC advertising to improve consumer awareness of diseases, conditions, and the availability of treatment options that may improve their health and quality of life. In particular, Merck will no longer use television DTC reminder ads that mention only the name of a product, and has no plans to do so in the future in accordance with the new PhRMA guidelines. We need to use common sense in developing our campaigns and maintain respect for our patients in presenting product information in a comprehensible and balanced way according to approved labeling and make certain that physicians are fully aware of the medicine advertised. The New Tools of Advertising There’s status quo and then there’s new media. Pharmaceutical companies are not early adopters, but they are embracing new tools and technologies to get their messages out. Stern. The Internet offers marketers a great tool to connect with their patients and physicians through an on-demand type of relationship. In a recent study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Today’s E-Patients: Hunters and Gatherers of Health Information Online,” 80% of Internet users, or about 93 million Americans, have searched online for at least one of 16 major health-related topics. In fact, Websites are now the No. 1 source of information about healthcare; 90% of consumers find prescription information online and 40% of consumers do research before making a decision about an over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription product. This medium also allows for more customized promotion in which patients can volunteer to receive more specific information. A Website can provide newsletters or educational content to either medical practitioners or consumers. Through technology, such as flash animation, information can be provided in a way that engages the viewer with sight, sounds, and spoken words that would take a large investment to do via television. Lewis. Given that Internet access is now so common among U.S. consumers — and nearly ubiquitous among practicing physicians — we see the Web as a mainstream channel to leverage for both our physician and consumer promotions. In practice this means campaigns must enable seamless handoffs between offline and online promotional activities. A good example is our “Back to School” promotion for Adderall XR, our product for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which featured celebrity and Adderall XR user Ty Pennington. Full-page consumer print ads featuring Ty’s image ran in national magazines, while Ty banner ads and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) promotions ran on the Web. All promotions referenced a special Ty mini-site that consumers could visit for more information. Here consumers could view video clips of Ty talking about his ADHD and also sign up to receive an information packet. All requests, received both online and offline, were then fulfilled through regular mail. The same principles apply for physician campaigns. For example, interactive selling programs (e-details) are generally aligned to reinforce the key messages being delivered by the sales team. We then enable the salesforce to participate in e-detail recruiting so they can use the program as a way to reinforce key messages delivered in face-to-face calls with targeted doctors. For major medical conventions, we also adapt e-detail programs for use in our booths, thereby enabling reps to use these interactive modules during discussions with doctors on the show floor. For some therapeutic categories we’ve done extensive direct-to-patient (DTP) initiatives, much of which is geared to improving patient adherence. To this end, we’ve also embarked on several activities at the pharmacy level, including partnering with pharmacies to send correspondence to patients who are current users of our medications in an effort to reinforce their decision to start therapy and encourage them to take their medications as directed, and to lapsed users to motivate them to reinitiate therapy. The problem of therapy nonpersistence is not new nor is it unique to our therapeutic areas; the industry has tried numerous approaches in the past with only minimal success. We are investing more in this area than ever before to understand why patients discontinue their medications prematurely and how best to communicate with them. We also use nonbranded patient-educational materials that we provide to physicians that can help them explain medical conditions as well as how conditions can be properly treated. One of the newer tools we are using to deliver our message to physicians is advertising that has an educational and scientific tone. We believe this is an effective way to deliver messages to certain types of specialty physicians. Tacconi. This past fall Merck launched Your Health Now, a new health magazine aimed at consumers and powered by information and insights from The Merck Manuals. Merck is providing Your Health Now as a free resource that provides up-to-date, easy-to-read, unbiased health information that we hope people find useful for staying informed about health issues. Every day, consumers, along with their physicians, are expected to make sophisticated healthcare decisions. That’s why Merck believes it’s crucial to put sometimes confusing health issues into perspective for people. Your Health Now is part of a fully integrated initiative, developed over the past two years. Durrant. Mobile marketing, such as text-messaging campaigns are becoming more popular. Web portals designed for interest groups also are gaining traction. I see opportunities for interactive TV (like TiVo) down the road. The Creative Compulsion Pharmaceutical companies have had to rethink their advertising approaches as regulatory mandates and a changing climate call for fresh ideas. The industry is looking toward new creative approaches to market to its audiences. Durrant. First, business-as-usual doesn’t really exist. Business is always changing. People are always looking for new, creative ideas. The keys are how these ideas are created and harnessed, creating an environment that fosters innovation, as well as how companies respond to changes in the marketplace brought about by others. Stern. Today, successful marketers have to get out of what I call “bricks and mortar” marketing — that is, traditional salesforce delivered materials. The trend in the industry continues to show that sales representatives have less and less time with physicians. Physicians complain that today’s reps are poorly trained and don’t know enough about the science of their own products or competitors. That’s why successful marketers must augment the traditional marketing staples with newer types of programs. One large target audience that many forget about is patients who are already on a medication. Compliance and persistence are areas that present a large financial opportunity. Because data are hard to come by, it is difficult to track return on investments, but conceptually, we know it is there. Online patient-facing programs provide the means to reach patients, maintain an ongoing dialog, and a way to educate them. By getting patients involved with data, letting them interact with what they need to know so they can take care of themselves better, and giving them reasons to take their medication, they are more likely to remember a brand and continue filling their prescriptions. Lewis. We partner with our advertising agencies as well as with the other strategic partners with whom we work. We try to leverage not only their creativity but their knowledge base. In addition, we encourage them, even push them, to come up with creative solutions to both complex and more seemingly straightforward issues we encounter in the marketplace. Mediocrity is unacceptable. Tacconi. DTC advertising remains appropriately the most regulated form of communication that I’m aware of, but if done well, direct-to-consumer advertising can make a real difference in the quality of life for patients. The challenge remains determining which segments of the population would best benefit from the product to be advertised, and then determining how to present the unique attributes of the product within the boundaries of the approved label to be communicated. Medicare Part D — A New Audience Now that enrollment is in full swing, Medicare Part D is making its mark on the industry. In the first four weeks, more than 1 million people have signed up, with as many as 20 million seniors eventually expected to participate. The initial enrollment period ends May 15, 2006. Seniors with existing prescription drug benefits will have to choose to stay with their current coverage or move to a Part D plan; 15 million to 17 million seniors have no prescription drug coverage. Every plan that offers Part D coverage has its own formularies, warded by a plan committee. Patients will have to consider the formularies of each plan when deciding which plan to enroll in, or whether to enroll at all. Pharma companies must address these issues as they develop their advertising strategies. Durrant. Medicare Part D brings new and exciting opportunities to pharmaceutical companies to obtain market share for their brands. There are grey areas still to be reconciled with OIG, such as Patient Assistance Programs. The doughnut hole that Medicare Part D creates could be challenging as well. We should see more tailored advertising, especially as it pertains to communications to payers. It’s important to emphasize the drug’s distinct advantages and its place in the market compared with other drugs in the same space. Pharmaceutical companies that can bring meaningful pharmacoeconomic data to the payers will have a real advantage in the market. Lewis. There is clearly a great deal of uncertainty about the inception of the Medicare Part D drug benefit and how it will affect both pharmaceutical companies and patients. In the near term, we don’t anticipate this will have a significant influence on our advertising strategy. Stern. Serono has been very active in assisting patients and physicians to learn more about Medicare Part D in two therapeutic areas that are outside the typical Medicare-patient type — MS and HIV. Both of these markets have patients who will qualify for Medicare funding, but much of what CMS has done to advertise the new benefit has been geared toward seniors. We have created patient-educational brochures specifically addressing the needs of these MS and HIV patients and information where to go for enrollment. PharmaLinx LLC, publisher of the VIEW, welcomes comments about this article. E-mail us at [email protected]. Fast Facts… n Me-too brand teams spend almost 400% more than the first brand in the class to enter the market. n The average U.S. blockbuster brand spends 49% of its budget on advertising. Source: Cutting Edge Information, Durham, N.C. For more information, visit cuttingedge.com. Advertising Trends in Brief What’s Hot Highlighting side effects in ads (Crestor) Women-oriented cable programming (Lifetime & Oxygen) Internet advertising (WebMD, Search Engines) Unbranded, integrated campaigns (Cardiovascular — Pfizer) What’s Not $100 million branding campaigns DTC ads during a product’s launch phase Erectile dysfunction commercials New drug approvals by the FDA (only 20 in 2005) March 2006 Forum VIEW on Advertising Campaign management begins with setting behavioral objectives that define success. Each program is measured according to these objectives using direct or indirect metrics depending on the situation. In some campaigns, success is achieved simply by educating patients to seek diagnostic testing for a disease. Len Taconni Merck & Co. thought leaders n Cameron Durrant, M.D., MBA. Former President and CEO, PediaMed Pharmaceuticals, Florence, Ky. Editor’s Note: Dr. Durrant’s previous experience includes positions as VP, Global Business Planning and Operations, and VP, Global Infectious Diseases, Global Prescription Business, Pharmacia (now Pfizer). He also has held positions with GlaxoSmithKline and Merck. n Craig Lewis. Senior VP, U.S. Marketing, Shire Pharmaceuticals Group Plc., Wayne, Pa., is a rapidly growing global specialty pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Hampshire, United Kingdom. For more information, visit shire.com. n Richard W. Pascoe. VP and Chief Commercial Officer, Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, Mass.; Ariad Pharmaceuticals is engaged in the discovery and development of breakthrough medicines to treat cancer. For more information, visit ariad.com. n David L. Stern. Executive VP, Metabolic Endocrinology, Serono Inc., Rockland, Mass.; Serono, with global headquarters in Geneva, is a biotechnology leader focused on reproductive health, neurology, metabolism, growth, and psoriasis. For more information, visit seronousa.com. n Len Tacconi. Executive Director, Corporate Communications, Merck & Co. Inc., Whitehouse Station, N.J.; Merck, a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first, discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. For more information, visit merck.com. Dr. Cameron Durrant A well-designed campaign is crisply crafted and articulated consistently across all media. The goal is to own a unique and meaningful proposition in the mind of the customer versus competing brands. From Ads to Action — What’s Driving Consumers? The Internet has shown to be the winning choice for consumers in call-to-action options. When consumers see an ad for a drug, they usually have two immediate options for learning more about the treatment — call a toll-free number or turn to a Website. According to a recent study by Manhattan Research, 6.2 million consumers dial up the toll-free number compared with 22 million who visit the Web for more information on the pharmaceutical product in the ad. While the toll-free number has been a longtime staple as a call-to-action, this shift demonstrates the consumer’s need for immediate, detailed information, which cannot be efficiently delivered over the phone. Information kits are also prevalent in the industry, and are typically sent to consumers upon request (usually by phone, business reply card, or Web form). But comprehensive kits are expensive to print and mail, and cannot accommodate prompt updates, something the Web is adept at handling. Change just one word or image in the messaging after the campaign’s initial launch and the collateral pieces often require additional design, which can blow out printing and mailing costs, and take weeks to turn around. Websites can be changed in a matter of hours. The consumer-oriented Website lillydiabetes.com, for example, has more than 100 Web pages containing useful information about a wide range of diabetes topics, including specific Lilly therapies. Manhattan Research’s study shows that DTC advertising followed by a measurable call-to-action is an effective combination. Not only that, but the consumer’s preference has shifted dramatically from a toll-free number to a Web-based solution as the go-to medium for more information. Source: Manhattan Research LLC, New York. For more information, visit manhattanresearch.com. We try to leverage our partners’ creativity as well as their knowledge base. In addition, we encourage them, even push them, to come up with creative solutions to both complex and more seemingly straightforward issues we encounter in the marketplace. Mediocrity is unacceptable. Craig Lewis Shire Pharmaceuticals Simple, informative, and powerful messaging is essential to differentiating any brand in a crowded market. Attempting to convey too much information is a major mistake. Richard Pascoe Ariad Pharmaceuticals Physicians Chime in on DTC Advertising Ask a couple thousand doctors for their thoughts on DTC ads, and the results will provide a pretty good idea where they stand on the issue. That’s what HRA Research did for five days in September 2005. According to the company’s research, four out of five doctors support some type of moratorium on DTC ads for a period of time after a drug’s launch. They couldn’t quite agree on whether the best approach would be a mandatory ban (43%), a voluntary ban decided upon by each pharma company (33%), or neither (24%). Doctors like how DTC advertising prompts patients to discuss health issues with their physicians. The HRA study found that 65% of the doctors polled experience between one and five patient-initiated discussions about DTC-advertised drugs every week. While some of these discussions are “false positives” by consumers, others really do result in earlier diagnosis and treatment. Doctors don’t like that some DTC ads may not present all the facts and risks involved with specific prescription drugs. They believe some of the ads influence patients’ attitudes to the extent that patients think they need a particular drug when that might not be the case. When a physician and a patient disagree on this, the result is usually not good for either side. Source: HRA Research, Parsippany, N.J. For more information, visit hraresearch.com. Today, successful marketers have to get out of what I call “bricks and mortar” marketing — that is, traditional salesforce delivered materials. Marketers must augment the traditional marketing staples with newer types of programs. David Stern Serono PharmaVOICE Reader Survey Pharmaceutical executives expect a lot from their ad agencies. PharmaVOICE surveyed its readers representing corporate management (35.2%), marketing management (27.5%), product management (13.2%), and sales management (6.6%) to rate agency attributes in each of seven categories. Advertising executives had high expectations almost across the board. What’s clear is that agencies must perform very well in numerous areas to land and keep their accounts. Our survey placed creative expertise at the top of the list for 2006 by a relatively wide margin. Agencies also must demonstrate relevant experience and be strong on strategy. Agencies that have demonstrated success in similar campaigns will have an advantage luring new clients in like therapeutic categories. Next in importance is technological sophistication followed by reputation. The least important agency attribute, according to our survey respondents, is organizational structure. The bottom line is that companies are looking past the organizational charts and reputation of agencies and are focusing on quality and relevancy. According to our respondents, no drastic changes in ad budgets are expected for this year. More executives selected “stay the same” than any other answer when asked about changes in their advertising budgets. Fortunately, few executives expect a decrease in ad spending in 2006. Let’s call it conservative optimism. Internet ad budgets are the most likely to receive healthy increases, followed by journal professional/advertising, and finally direct-to-consumer advertising. As many as 20 million seniors will sign up for Medicare Part D, which officially launched in January 2006. According to the survey, 71.3% believe that the new prescription drug benefit will have a moderate or major impact on how the industry advertises to seniors. Only 3.6% said Part D would have no impact on their advertising plans. Consumers may ask for a drug by name, but if it’s not in their plan’s formulary, it won’t mean a thing. We asked executives whether it is more important to promote a drug to plan committees or directly to consumers. Of the respondents, 44% said each group is equally important. When they expressed a choice, they favored reaching out to plan committees over consumers by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Agency Strategies Extremely Important Very Important Fairly Important Minimally Important Not Important N/A N/A Creative 63% 28% 6% 0% 0% 3% Strategy 52% 25% 14% 6% 0% 3% Reputation 24% 43% 25% 5% 0% 3% Relevant Experience 39% 43% 14% 1% 0% 3% Organizational Structure 5% 28% 42% 19% 4% 3% Past Success in Similar Campaigns 30% 41% 24% 3% 0% 3% Technological Sophistication 25% 43% 27% 1% 1% 3% Budgets In the next 12 months, do you expect your advertising budget for professional/journal advertising to: Stay the same 35.4% Increase by 10% 20.7% Increase by 20% 2.4% Increase by more than 20% 7.3% Decrease by 10% 3.7% Decrease by 20% 3.7% Decrease by more than 20% 2.4% Not applicable 24% In the next 12 months, do you expect your advertising budget for Internet promotion to: Stay the same 25.6% Increase by 10% 20.7% Increase by 20% 11% Increase by more than 20% 4.9% Decrease by 10% 6.1% Decrease by 20% 2.4% Decrease by more than 20% 0% Not applicable 29.3% Medicare Part D How will Medicare Part D affect the pharmaceutical industry’s advertising to seniors? Major effect 42% Moderate effect 30.7% Minor effect 10.2% No effect 3.4% No opinion 13.6% Which is the most important target audience to advertise brands to now that Medicare Part D has launched? Plan committees and consumers (equally important) 46.6% Plan committees 27.3% Consumers 12.5% No opinion 13.6% Source: PharmaVOICE, Titusville, N.J. For more information, visit pharmavoice.com. Note: Total respondents: 91 — pharmaceutical 57.1%; biotechnology 15.4%; biopharmaceutical/biologics 5.5%; drug delivery 2.2%; device, diagnostic, or equipment 4.4%; generic 1.1%; and other (including government agency, association, and university) 14.3%.

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