SFKKB9061U Pharmaceutical Marketing

Volume 2013/2014
Education
MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences - elective, MSc in Medicinal Chemistry - elective, Cand.Scient.Pharm. - elective, Cand.Pharm. - elective
Content
  1. The course will be divided into two sections:
Section 1 - Introduction to the pharmaceutical marketing drivers and disciplines Section 2 - Targeted marketing

In section 1you will be introduced to:
  • the industry, the players, the influencers and decision makers
  • the fundamentals of marketing of drugs as well as the regulatory and ethical dimensions.
  • the product life-cycle of pre-launch, launch and post-launch
  • the techniques to ensure faster access to the market, deeper and expanded market penetration
  • the marketing development and roll-out process
  • how to differentiate between your drug vs. competitor drug
  • how to identify your communication targets
  • select the appropriate communication channels
  • how to create your marketing messages based on the features and benefits of your drug
In section 2you will work more case-focused on three key communication targets:
  1. the payers,
  2. the patients and
  3. the physicians.
The payers
  • Why do some effective drugs never make it to the market?
  • How do you get access to the market?
  • How do you build a value dossier to justify reimbursement of your drug?
  • How do you operate within the regulatory framework of the market?
The patients
  • Do the patients play a role in the decision making?
  • How do they use digital media to seek information about your drug?
  • How can you interact with the patients?
  • When, why and how is disease awareness programs appropriate?
The physicians
  • What are the most important contact points you will have with the physicians?
  • How do you convey relevant messages to the physicians?
  • What are the high impact communication tools?
  • How do you inform the physicians of your drug, when access to the physicians is becoming increasingly difficult?
Learning Outcome

Formål / Objective

Working with pharmaceuticals, you will inevitably be either exposed to or involved in pharmaceutical marketing. Pharmaceutical marketing is perhaps the most challenging of all marketing disciplines. Very few industries have so many stakeholders involved in the decision making process and few industries are so heavily regulated.

Whether you plan to work with drug development, regulation, medical advising or sales, understanding the DNA of pharmaceutical marketing is of great importance. This course will introduce you to the fundamental aspects of communicating with physicians, patients and payers. You will be exposed to some of the basic marketing tools and use this in factual industry case discussion. In interactive sessions, you will be able to test your own skills within this challenging, yet exciting, discipline.

Målbeskrivelse / Course outcome

By the end of the course,
  • you will have obtained a basic marketing vocabulary and marketing tool kit to operate any position at a pharmaceutical organisation
  • you will know the principal flow in the marketing development process
  • you have been enriched by insight into the key challenges of marketing of drugs
  • you have hands-on experience with how to position and extract key messages for a new drug
  • you know the key stakeholders influencing the drug prescription process
  • you will have tested your skills on how to communicate with the most important marketing target groups
Literature
A compendium will be availabe on the course home page
Course teaching is based on the assumption that students have a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in one of the natural sciences, health sciences or technical sciences.
•Lectures: 32 of 45 minutes
•Workshops: 6 of 4 hours
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 20
  • Lectures
  • 32
  • Practical exercises
  • 24
  • Preparation
  • 72
  • Project work
  • 58
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination
Prøveform / Examination type:
Oral examination (15 min) based on a group developed mini-project (approx. 15 pages).

To be eligible for the examination, the student must have submitted the mini-project and participated in the oral presentation .

Prøvedesign / Examination design
From three assignment descriptions supplied by the course director, you will need to select one examination theme: Pharmaceutical marketing towards 1) payers, 2) patients, or 3) physicians. The assignment description will outline a case-based strategy challenge to be addressed in your mini-project of approx. 15 pages. In the mini-project you are expected to propose solutions to this challenge by including and demonstrating your understanding of relevant models presented and discussed during the course. The deadline for handing in the mini-project is 1 week prior to the oral exam. At the oral exam, approx 5 minutes will be allocated for your presentation of the strategy proposals in your mini-project, 5 minutes to discuss the theory and models used and 5 minutes to discuss the communication tactics and channels
Aid
Only certain aids allowed

  • Permitted aids for exam preparation: All written materials and personal computer

  • Permitted exam aids: Own notes from exam preparation
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Criteria for exam assesment

Beskrivelse af prøven og bedømmelse / Description of examination and assessment criteria

Beståkrav / Pass criteria

To pass the exam, you have to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and application of:
  • the pharmaceutical marketing vocabulary
  • the principal processes in pharmaceutical marketing development
  • the product life-cycle phases and marketing tools for each phase
  • the communication channels

Karakterbeskrivelse / Description of grades

12 - Excellent performance
A profound understanding of the basic discipline of pharmaceutical marketing development. The student demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the vocabulary, predominant marketing techniques and channels in lectures, workshop, mini-project and oral exam.

The student demonstrates:
  • the ability to identify and utilize the appropriate marketing tool for the pre-defined strategy challenge described in the selected theme.
  • the ability to apply the marketing tools in concrete tactical suggestions.

7 - Good performance
A coherent understanding of the basic discipline of pharmaceutical marketing development. The student demonstrates a coherent understanding of the vocabulary, predominant marketing techniques and channels in lectures, workshop, mini-project and oral exam.

The student demonstrates, with few minor weaknesses:
  • the ability to identify and utilize the appropriate marketing tool for the pre-defined strategy challenge described in the selected synopsis.
  • the ability to apply the marketing tools in concrete tactical suggestions.

02 - Acceptable performance
A limited understanding of the basic discipline of pharmaceutical marketing development with a number of weaknesses. The student demonstrates, with a number of weaknesses, a limited understanding of the vocabulary, predominant marketing techniques and channels in lectures, workshop, mini-project and oral exam.

The student demonstrates, with a number of weaknesses:
  • the ability to identify and utilize the appropriate marketing tool for the pre-defined strategy challenge described in the selected synopsis.
  • the ability to apply the marketing tools in concrete tactical suggestions.