ObjectivesThe factors determining individuals’ self-reported behavioural responses to direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs were explored with an emphasis on ‘at-risk’ individuals’ responses.DesignNationally representative cross-sectional survey.SettingCommunity living adults in New Zealand.Participants2057 adults (51% women).Primary outcome measuresSelf-reported behavioural responses to drug advertising (asking a physician for a prescription, asking a physician for more information about an illness, searching the internet for more information regarding an illness and asking a pharmacist for more information about a drug).MethodsMultivariate logistic regressions determined whether participants’ self-reported behavioural responses to drug advertising were predicted by attitudes towards advertising and drug advertising, judgements about safety and effectiveness of advertised drugs, self-reported health status, materialism, online search behaviour as well as demographic variables.ResultsIdentifying as Indian and to a less extent Chinese, Māori and ‘other’ ethnicities were the strongest predictors of one or more self-reported responses (ORs 1.76–5.00, Ps<0.05). Poorer self-reported health status (ORs 0.90–0.94, all Ps<0.05), favourable attitude towards drug advertising (ORs 1.34–1.61, all Ps<0.001) and searching for medical information online (ORs 1.32–2.35, all Ps<0.01) predicted all self-reported behavioural outcomes. Older age (ORs 1.01–1.02, Ps<0.01), less education (OR 0.89, P<0.01), lower income (ORs 0.89–0.91, Ps<0.05) and higher materialism (ORs 1.02–1.03, Ps<0.01) also predicted one or more self-reported responses.ConclusionsTaken together, the findings suggest individuals, especially those who are ‘at-risk’ (ie, with poorer self-reported health status, older, less educated, lower income and ethnic minorities), may be more vulnerable to drug advertising and may make uninformed decisions accordingly. The outcomes raise significant concerns relating to the ethicality of drug advertising and suggest a need for stricter guidelines to ensure that drug advertisements provided by pharmaceutical companies are ethical.

One of the problems of pharmaceutical distribution companies (PDCs) is how to control inventory levels in order to prevent costs of excessive inventory and to prevent losing customers due to drug shortage. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to propose a novel method to forecast sales of PDCs. The presented method is a combination of network analysis tools and time series forecasting methods. Due to lack of enough past sales records of each drug, an explorative network based analysis is conducted to find clique sets and group members and to use comembers’ sales data in their sales prediction. Afterwards, time series sales forecasting models were built with three different approaches including ARIMA methodology, neural network, and an advanced hybrid neural network approach. The offered hybrid method by applying each drug and its comembers past records facilitates capturing both linear and nonlinear patterns of sales accurately. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated by a real dataset provided by one of the leading PDCs in Iran. The results indicated that the proposed method is able to cope with low number of past records while it forecasts medicines sales accurately.

Objective: Direct‐to‐consumer advertising of prescription medicines encourages individuals to search for or request advertised medicines, can stimulate taking medications rather than making lifestyle behaviour changes, and may target individuals with poorer demographic and socioeconomic status and riskier health‐related behaviours. This study thus explored whether responses to medicine advertising vary as a function of lifestyle behaviours, and demographic and socioeconomic factors. Methods: Data were collected through an online survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,057 adults in New Zealand. Multivariate binary logistic regressions were used to explore whether lifestyle behaviours, including nutritional habits, alcohol consumption, illegal drug consumption, physical activity, attitudes towards doing exercise, as well as demographic and socioeconomic status were associated with self‐reported behavioural responses to medicine advertising. Results: Individuals who had unhealthier lifestyle behaviours were more likely to respond to medicine advertising. Conclusions: The findings raise concerns regarding the misuse or overuse of medications for diseases that may otherwise be improved by a healthier lifestyle. Implications for public health: To improve public health and wellbeing of society, we call for regulatory changes regarding advertising of medicines. Where applicable, lifestyle changes should be advertised as potential substitutes for the advertised medicines. Interprofessional collaboration is also recommended to educate individuals and convey the value of health behaviour changes.

Purpose This paper aims to reveal the challenges and problems of technology commercialization in an industrial development organization in Iran. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objective of this paper, a mixed-methods case study was used. Initially, 15 in-depth interviews with technology commercialization experts were conducted and 43 themes were extracted as problems of technology commercialization. The outcomes of the interviews informed the development of the questionnaire. Subsequently, a survey of 205 experts was performed to examine the responses obtained from the interviews. The main problems were identified through exploratory factor analysis and evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis. Findings Seven factors are identified as the main difficulties of technology commercialization, including weakness in the commercialization process, challenges of the business environment, weak organizational structure, inefficient project management, ineffective cooperation with non-governmental sectors, failure to collaborate with stakeholders and conflicting political behaviors. Practical implications The outcomes of this research inform the organization’s managers of the poor conditions and barriers of the technology commercialization process. The findings also help managers to overcome the challenges that are under the control of the organization. Originality/value This paper contributes to the knowledge on technology commercialization by exploring the main factors that form barriers to and difficulties of technology commercialization in an industrial development organization and suggesting appropriate solutions.