Research Steers Troubled Pharma Firms

Pharmaceutical companies are turning to MR departments to help them run leaner organizations in troubled economic times, according to a new report from sector specialist Cutting Edge Information.

The report suggests that market research departments are increasingly 'helping to call the shots' and have 'cemented their strategic importance within drug companies', but must continue to demonstrate their value by showing to new internal stakeholders that 'quality information leads to smarter decisions'.

As an example, Cutting Edge cites biotech firm Amgen, which recently announced the use of a reduced sales force to promote the bone-strengthening drug denosumab. The move resulted from research suggesting that the lion's share of prescriptions for such drugs (85%) are written by just 25% of primary care physicians. Cutting Edge analyst Jordan Stone expands: 'It would seem that using a smaller, targeted sales force in this situation was the obvious decision. Without the analytical insight of their market research department, Amgen probably would have employed the typical but, in this instance, inefficiently large sales force.'

The report, Improve Market Research Impact is based on interviews with top execs from more than 30 companies, and includes:

• US and rest-of-world market research budgets, 2007 and 2008, by company size
• Brand-level market research spending, by development phase
• Market research spending for 13 therapeutic areas, by development phase, and
• info on outsourcing budgets.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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