Marketing Strategies of Big Pharma and Impact of Generics in Healthcare

Abstract

There has been a significant rise in the prices of medicines in the recent past. Major pharmaceutical companies, ‘Big Pharma', argue in favor of this development as it takes a lot of research and resources to bring a drug to market. Once in the market, the primary source of revenue generation for the companies is through sale of prescription drugs. Companies also have to spend a lot of their income on various marketing communication programs to convince their prescribers, even if it comes at costs that are difficult to ignore. This chapter studies the array of marketing strategies that are adopted by Big Pharma in developing and expanding their businesses. It also places these strategies within the context of the fast-growing generics market with its consequent changes to the marketing mix of the industry. While doing so, the chapter also explores and appreciates the various aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, as it presents features distinct from any other.