Anyone who watches television in the United States might logically conclude that this is a nation plagued by allergies, depression, arthritis, cancer and heart strokes. Ads for medicines to address such conditions make it seem as though ailment sufferers outnumber the healthy. Hundreds of advertisements for prescription medications broadcast a drug's name, the troubles it targets and a short list of the most critical risks. And of course, they all end by advising watchers to see their doctors.

The weak U.S. dollar impacted the Top 20 Pharmas in 2008. Many foreign and domestic players were barely able to eke out growth in 2007. Several companies still managed to post solid gains during the year, but even they were haunted by the specter of patent expirations to come.

 * Data is based on 2008 pharma revenues. Dollar amounts are in millions.

Pharmaceutical companies’ primary goal is to change doctors' behavior. Drug marketers work hard to persuade doctors to prescribe their branded drug over generics and other competitors, and to change other medical practices that limit company profits.

To cultivate medical professionals, drug companies may retain a doctor as a spokesperson, position friendly medical "thought-leaders" in the media, or organize free events at resorts and hotels to "educate" doctors about a new disease state or their latest drug. Beyond these strategic efforts, pharmas also depend on the relationship between their sales representatives and medical doctors. To maintain this relationship, often called "detailing," pharmaceutical companies spend up to $8,290 per doctor. The average family doctor receives 28 visits each week from drug reps, who provide free samples, explain new findings from company-sponsored drug trials, and demonstrate the latest innovation in their company’s medical devices.

HealthSaludUSA LLC understands that for a pharma to break through the clutter, it has to be more than just aggressive, it has to provide doctors products and services that deliver measurable results they and their patients can trust.

Direct To Consumer Advertising (DTCA) educates healthcare consumers and allows them to be more active participants in their healthcare. It also calls attention to untreated diseases, gets people in to see the doctor and encourages compliance. But one of the greatest challenges for DTCA is to cover all the things the patient needs to know.
HealthSaludUSA knows that, if DTCA is not researched, developed, promoted and measured correctly, it can cause friction between doctor and patient. Therefore, it must not interfere with the physicians desire to have a relationship with the patent built on trust and respect. What doctors fear most is when patients treat his or her office like "a drive-thru window at McDonald's, where you put in your order and the doctor should fill it."
Research shows that 86 percent of patients recall seeing a DTC ad, and 35 percent talked to their doctors about one. Some 75 percent of those who engaged in a DTCA doctor visit walked away with a prescription for the medication requested; yet, only 5 percent of physicians perceived their DTCA-educated patients as being truly better educated, particularly when it came to understanding risks and benefits of surgery. Nevertheless, DTC advertising has spurred increased demand for prescription pharmaceuticals.
HealthSaludUSA knows that present-day patients/consumers must be reached where they live, work and relax. To this end, HealthSaludUSA ’s suite f proprietary tools maximize traditional and new media communication options to connect with today’s multitasking patients/consumers.

Moreover, as baby boomers begin to enter the Medicare system, there will be a major shift in health care spending from the private to the public sector. In fact, by 2017, Medicare spending is expected to account for $884 billion, slightly over one-fifth of all national health spending. This is up from the projected spending level of $427 billion for 2007. Over the next 10 years, Medicaid is expected to grow an average of 7.9 percent each year, reaching $717.3 billion or 16.8 percent of health spending by 2017.

• Health services companies spent $2.4 billion on direct marketing advertising in 2007,
resulting in $28.7 billion in sales.  The total ROI for each dollar spent was $11.86.
 
• By 2012, health services companies will spend $3.9 billion on direct marketing
advertising and receive $45.8 billion, yielding a slightly reduced ROI of $11.74.
 
• Health services companies allocate a third of their advertising budget to direct marketing campaigns.  Most of this budget is geared toward telephone marketing.
 
• By 2012, these companies will expend most of their advertising dollars on the Internet.  Commercial email, for instance, is projected to grow by almost 25 percent each year from 2008 to 2012.
 
• Direct marketers in the health services industry overwhelming employ direct mail campaigns (89 percent).  About 70 percent are multichannel campaigns.
 
• The primary purpose for health services websites is to provide information about company products and services.
 
• Direct mail response rates to existing customers averaged 3 percent during the past three years.
 
• Lead-generation campaigns accounted for nearly 72 percent of direct marketing driven sales in 2007.
 
• Most direct marketing-driven sales are divided among three channels:  telephone (32.7 percent), Internet (24.8 percent), and direct mail (23.9 percent).

Companies are projected to spend a record $31 billion this year to advertise everything from toothpaste to diabetes devices on the Internet, supporting countless news sites, social networks, video exchanges and blogs.

Television networks, cable channels and Web sites compete for advertising dollars with everything from niche blogs to big media peers like Time Warner Inc and Walt Disney Co. In addition fast-growing Internet companies like Google Inc are snatching up advertising budgets. But new rivals are entering the market. Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator. Verizon Communications and AT&T are looking at advertising opportunities on their video and wireless services, social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are seen as viable Web marketing venues. Even Microsoft Corp is making bold moves into web advertising.

SOURCES: Arizona Sate University 2008; BLS.gov 2008; BizNewswire.com 2009; NielsenMedia 2009; DMA.org; TNS-MI.com 2009