Drug Companies’ Financial Support for Patient Education Rises to 16% of Brands’ Marketing Budgets Following Launch

Patient communication and education efforts rise throughout products’ commercialization and launch cycle, finds Cutting Edge Information

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Drug companies allocate 11% of their brand team budgets to patient communication and education spending between Phase 3a and market approval.

“As brands move from development toward launch, they shift from market prep activities to advertising and promotion expenditures. The channels for these promotional expenditures varies depending on the brand’s target audience.”

According to a study published by Cutting Edge Information, patient education spending rises after launch. Following, pharmaceutical brand teams increase the percentage of their budgets that they allocate to patient education to 16% between product launch and six months post-launch.

“Launching Pharmaceutical Brands: Formulas for Commercialization Success” reveals that for many brands – especially first-in-class products and those overcoming safety issues within the therapeutic area – patient education offers a significant promotional opportunity. Patient education line-items include patient outreach, patient advocacy, adherence and disease management programs.

“The majority of companies follow similar patterns when launching pharmaceutical products,” said David Richardson, research manager at Cutting Edge Information. “As brands move from development toward launch, they shift from market prep activities to advertising and promotion expenditures. The channels for these promotional expenditures varies depending on the brand’s target audience.”

One brand profiled in CEI’s study – a women’s health product – exemplifies this pattern. This brand allocated only $100,000 toward patient education efforts between Phase 3a and market approval – lower than the average $150,000. However, financial support increase post-launch, rising to $3 million – more than 5 times the $521,000 average.

“Launching Pharmaceutical Brands: Formulas for Commercialization Success” can be found on Cutting Edge Information’s website (http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/marketing/pharmaceutical-brand-launch/). This report details resource allocation across three critical time periods for 15 profiled pharmaceutical and medical device brands. This benchmarking report allows pharmaceutical executives to:

• Use benchmarking data from 15 pharmaceutical brand profiles to identify successful investment levels and patterns among comparable brands
• Avoid the pitfalls of underfunding critical launch activities – and overinvesting in others
• Plan brand budgets and win valuable resources for commercialization and launch efforts

For the latest research on global pharmaceutical marketing and brand launch strategy, contact Cassie Demeter at [phone] or visit http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/.