RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC -- 11/03/09 --
Like many other marketing
activities within the industry, pharmaceutical speaker programs -- and the
physician-industry relationships that they consist of -- are under attack,
most recently by the Boston Globe.
The Globe article discussed payment information released by Eli Lilly and
questioned the ethics of doctors speaking on drugs for pharmaceutical
companies. It accused speaker bureau participants of being simply
marketing mouthpieces.
But not all research backs this conclusion. A new study released by
Cutting Edge Information, "Pharmaceutical Speaker Programs: Measuring ROI
and Communicating Value," shows that pharmaceutical companies are moving
away from marketing and promotional talks and focusing more on education.
A major catalyst for the switch to educational presentations is physicians
who rely on industry education to stay current on treatment options. They
are uninterested in listening to marketing talks -- and speakers are
increasingly uninterested in delivering them.
"For many physicians, industry-sponsored talks offer the opportunity to
learn the most recent and most extensive research from the organizations
doing the trial work," said Jason Richardson, president of Cutting Edge
Information. "In many areas, industry-sponsored learning events are the
primary alternative to CME-accredited events, which are often less specific
discussions or a general disease-state lecture."
The study also finds that in the shift away from promotional events, many
speaker bureaus now include only those physicians who have developed
clinical relationships with the company and have researched the drug.
These physicians are also incorporated into the development of the
presentation and review the slides with the company's medical personnel.
"Many of the companies we interviewed support these speeches' educational
focus by staffing the events with medical personnel who are deeply familiar
with the science," said Jordan Stone, the report's lead author. "These are
not sales departments' recruits speaking. These are physicians with a
research background, working with the medical side of pharmaceutical
companies to maintain an educated medical community."
"Pharmaceutical Speaker Programs: Measuring ROI and Communicating Value"
(http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/pharma-speaker-programs/) discusses
strategies of leading life science companies to make their speaker programs
more effective and to prove department value. It includes metrics on
program costs, methods to improve speaker bureau management, and analysis
of speaker program trends.
A complimentary brochure of the report is available at
http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/pharma-speaker-programs/.
Contact:
Stephanie Swanson
(919) 433-0212
Email Contact
