Healthcare Marketing Predictions

We really are living in interesting times, with 3D printing of drugs, Artificial Intelligence, mapping of the human genome, and Nanobots soon being able to replace food completely for humans. Also, with 25 companies creating driverless cars, in the next decade or so, no doubt, human drivers will be outlawed to reduce road traffic accidents.

 

 

That got your attention, I’m sure. What I mean is that all marketing becomes digital, so we won’t differentiate between digital and non-digital. Even TV is digital now. Reps even use digital to understand their customers’ activities and inform them of what they need to discuss with individual doctors in order to influence them. Even print media is now digital, and all have a digital companion if they still use paper. Digital is not just a platform – it is everything now.

 

 

I have been saying this for years. In fact, in 2009, we made a recommendation to a Pharma CEO that they stop marketing their product by brands (as they had numerous brands cannibalizing each other) and instead have indication specific reps who could guide doctors by the patient issue to the right product, rather than just going in and selling a product to the doctor.

 

 

With such aggressive cost-cutting on Pharma prices, teams will start to move their old fashioned linear pricing models to ones utilizing Artificial Intelligence analyzing outcomes, and value data rather than the old ‘willingness to prescribe’ approaches used in the past. By moving to a more sophisticated pricing model, teams will be able to get far more widespread access and not have the failures seen from drugs such as Zaltrap.

 

 

There has been a transition (pushed largely by costs of hospital treatment) in moving Healthcare from the hospital to the home. Assisted home Healthcare delivery will become more commonplace and Pharma need to consider how to make their products more home-friendly.

 

 

Patient adherence and compliance has been an issue for Pharma for many years. Many solutions have emerged to tackle the problem but most we are still not 100% sure are working. Now with chip-in-a-pill we can know for sure if the patient takes their drug. This is more important than ever before because of the fact that drugs do not work in patients that do not take them, and the move to money-back guarantees for drug performance being currently imposed in the US by some hospitals (e.g. St Jude’s). So if Pharma are being reimbursed on drug performance, we need to ensure that the patients are actually taking their drugs.

 

 

Related to the above, many conditions rely on a specific molecular pathway and gene expression. So, in clinical trials, there will always be a percentage of patients with a condition for whom the drug is not as effective due to having a different gene expression. By ensuring the right patient gets the right drug, we as an industry will be able to prove our efficacy and our value to the patient outcome.

 

 

We are applying Artificial Intelligence to both offline data (ATU and market research data) and digital data (e.g. from Google analytics, Marketo, Hubspot, unstructured social listening data, and call centre data), and creating tailored dashboards that extract insights from whatever critical questions have been asked and which can be updated in real-time. This provides a deeper level of understanding for marketers to identify patterns and make connections that are not uncovered by other analytics, and allows a 360 degree view of customer engagement and personalization.

 

 

The algorithms and digitization of AI is improving daily, and those thinking they have time to assimilate what is going on will be heading into troubled waters. The algorithms Eularis uses currently did not exist 3 years ago and the algorithms Eularis will use in the coming year will also be constantly innovating and improving. So those waiting too long to get on the AI boat may be left so far behind that it will be difficult, or impossible, to catch up.