Pharmaceutical/pharma marketing is the last element of an information continuum, where research concepts are transformed into practical therapeutic tools and where information is progressively layered and made more useful to the health care system. The health care system is responding to the evolving trend toward integrated health management by implementing a multi-disciplinary approach to health care. Pharmaceutical companies are responding with personalized and improved offerings that have been fine-tuned to address patients’ specific needs throughout the health care value chain.
Health care technology is the key to enabling a patient-centric approach. This approach could perhaps be achieved using predictive analytics tools, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to help determine which patients are at the highest risk of hospital readmission.
Patients today require a different approach to addressing their health problems. Mobile technologies, social media, the cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are just some of the new realities that are disrupting health care today.
The costs of Pharma Marketing are substantial, but they are typical of high-technology industries that must communicate important and complex information to sophisticated users. These costs are offset by savings resulting from proper use of medicines and from lower drug costs owing to price competition.
Becoming visible, active partners in consumers’ management of their health might feel like an ambitious target at the moment, but technology evolves fast. In just a few years, the early health tech-adopting pharma companies may have earned the right to sit beside consumers in their homes.
Investing in emerging technologies isn’t without risk. For pharma firms in particular, regulatory considerations do not come without risk. Still, for those firms that embrace the power of technologies and put the customer first, the opportunity is endless.
For example, a care plan for a Parkinson’s patient could include a “chip on a pill” to monitor drug-taking. This, along with a smartwatch or other sensor to monitor a patient’s condition, could set the stage for more robust engagement with health care professionals.
Other technologies could provide the ability to send reminders about prescribed treatments and appointments. Such services are likely to improve outcomes beyond the need for expensive specialty drugs. Medication will always play a role in improving patient outcomes, but when it is combined with greater personalization and targeting, there’s no limit to what can be achieved
