Daily Research News Online no. 1112 - New Pharmaceutical Research Tool

New Pharmaceutical Research Tool

September 7 2001

A new syndicated tool from research agency, Ipsos-NPD, Ipsos PharmTrends Drug Sample ROI Report, aims to measure the effectiveness of prescription drug samples in promoting sales of new and established drugs to prospective customers.

The Ipsos PharmTrends ROI Report, based on a panel of 16,000 households that captures continuous purchase data for Rx and OTC medications, shows how many samples are actually being distributed to patients and how many of those patients go on to fill prescriptions for those drugs.

Since it is estimated that over US$7 billion worth (at retail) of drugs were given to health care practitioners in 1999 (source: IMS Health, Inc. as reported in Med Ad News), the Ipsos PharmTrends ROI Report aims to allow manufacturers to quantify the impact of their product's sampling efforts compared to their competitors' and to make decisions regarding promotional campaigns.

According to Karen J. Tibbals from Ipsos-NPD, "The pharmaceutical industry routinely uses ROI to evaluate the success of its marketing programs, but has been unable to apply that to the area of drug samples, which accounts for about half of its promotional expenses. For the first time, this new service will help the industry measure the effectiveness of drug samples in generating prescriptions."

The Ipsos PharmTrends ROI Report examines:

The effectiveness of samples for new drugs over a period of time.
The relationship between sample share and fill rate.
The average number of samples received by patients over a period of time.
ROI compared with that of competitive brands.

Ipsos PharmTrends Consumer Panel Drug Sample ROI Report is based on a balanced and representative longitudinal panel of 16,000 households. The panel captures continuous purchase data for Rx and OTC medications. Panellists report the brand of drug each time they receive a sample from a physician and each time they fill a prescription.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.