18.11.2024
In the first half of 2024, the promotion of pharmaceutical brands has stabilized, showing a moderate positive trend. This article reviews the key indicators and trends in pharmaceutical brand promotion over the first nine months of 2024, analyzing their connection to recommendations from doctors and pharmacists. The data for this report comes from the “PharmXplorer” analytical system by Proxima Research and the PromoTest and RxTest projects.
An analysis of promotional activity based on data from the PromoTest project provides a comprehensive assessment across various promotion channels, target groups of professionals, brands, and marketing companies. Collected analytical data includes mentions of promotions for medications, cosmetics, dietary supplements, medical devices, and baby food.
Promotional activity monitoring was conducted through telephone interviews using a standardized questionnaire involving first-line pharmacists, procurement specialists, and doctors from 17 specialties (including therapists, family doctors, gynecologists, pediatricians, neurologists, cardiologists, ENT specialists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, orthopedists, psychiatrists, dermatologists, endocrinologists, allergists, gastroenterologists, urologists, ophthalmologists, and oncologists).
The analysis includes data on healthcare professionals’ mentions of promotional activities such as medical representative visits, conferences, seminars, POS materials, remote communication (SMS, Viber messages, etc.), mailings (postal and email), phone-based medical representative promotions, events, advertisements in specialized publications, and ads on TV, online, and radio.
Since July 2022, the research has been conducted in 28 Ukrainian cities, excluding Kherson and Mariupol, where monitoring was suspended. Instead, cities with similar populations and doctor numbers, such as Bila Tserkva, Kamianske, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Uman, and Mukachevo, have been added to the study.
RxTest project data was used for prescription analysis, enabling quantitative and qualitative analysis of prescription structures among doctors in 17 specialties (including therapists, family doctors, gynecologists, pediatricians, neurologists, cardiologists, ENT specialists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, orthopedists, psychiatrists, dermatologists, endocrinologists, allergists, gastroenterologists, urologists, and ophthalmologists).
The results from the first nine months of 2024 indicate 5.9 million mentions of all types of promotion* for “pharmacy basket”** products, marking a 6.1% increase compared to the same period last year.
Promotional activity dynamics have generally stabilized after a significant decline at the start of the war. Monthly trends show some seasonality, with a decrease in activity during summer and a rise in fall, particularly in September 2024.
Regionally, promotional activity has decreased significantly in Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions compared to the pre-war period. Meanwhile, substantial growth was recorded in Zakarpattia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Vinnytsia regions.
Mentions of medications were the most frequent, with a larger portion being prescription drugs. Dietary supplements ranked second, demonstrating steady growth over recent years.
Medical representative visits remain the primary promotion channel, followed by remote communication. These channels constitute a substantial share of the promo mix for both foreign and domestic companies. Specifically, Ukrainian companies use medical representative visits and TV advertising more often, while foreign players are more active in remote communication and calls from medical representatives. Conferences, seminars, and advertisements in specialized publications are also among the top five channels by the number of mentions from professionals.
Among specialties, pharmacists, therapists, gynecologists, pediatricians, and neurologists receive the most promotional mentions. For pharmacists, the key channels are medical representative visits, remote communication, media advertising, trade marketing, and advertisements in specialized publications. For doctors, the main channels include conferences, seminars, and calls from medical representatives.
Among pharmaceutical companies, Teva leads in the number of promotional mentions over the first nine months of 2024. Delta Medical ranks second, followed by Berlin-Chemie. Delta Medical leads in the number of medical representative visits and events like conferences and seminars, while Teva is the leader in remote communication. Acino leads in the number of conference and seminar mentions, and Berlin-Chemie ranks first in advertisements in specialized publications.
For drug brands, mentions among pharmacists are led by Olfen, Sumamed, and Decatylen. Among doctors, Sumamed, Olfen, and Forxiga are mentioned most frequently. Sumamed, an antibacterial drug for systemic use, is the leader among pediatricians and therapists/family doctors. Olfen, an anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic agent, ranks first among neurologists, orthopedists/traumatologists, and surgeons, while Forxiga, a diabetes treatment drug, is popular among endocrinologists and cardiologists.
The number of doctor prescriptions has shown a positive trend, reaching 97 million prescriptions (for pharmacy basket categories) in the first nine months of 2024, a 3.7% increase from the previous year.
The top five specialties by prescription count include therapists/family doctors, pediatricians, gynecologists, cardiologists, and neurologists. These specialties generally match the ranks for promotional mentions. According to ICD-10, the primary disease groups for which prescriptions are issued include acute upper respiratory tract infections, hypertension, chronic ischemic heart disease, acute bronchitis, essential arterial hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, acute laryngitis and tracheitis, and acute sinusitis.
Among pharmaceutical brands, Nurofen (an anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic agent) had the highest number of doctor prescriptions, along with the antithrombotic agents Cardiomagnyl and Magnikor.
Pharmacists’ brand recommendation ranking is led by the “cough & cold” products Decatylen and Fervex, as well as the antispasmodic drug Spasmalgon.
In the first nine months of 2024, pharmaceutical companies’ promotional activities continue to grow. Medical representative visits remain a key tool in promotional strategy. Historical monitoring shows two significant declines in visit activity: during the initial phase of Russia’s full-scale invasion (March–April 2022) and the strict quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic (March–April 2020). During the pandemic, the decline in visits was partly offset by an increase in other communication channels, particularly digital ones. In contrast, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, all types of promotion decreased, while a new balance has now emerged, with a significant portion allocated to remote communication.
A promotional strategy requires an omnichannel approach that coordinates different communication channels to ensure consistency and effectiveness of promotional impact on the audience.
By clicking«Submit», you consent to receive email communications about Proxima Research products and services and agree to our Terms of Use. Your data will be processed in accordance with our Privacy Police. You may opt-out at any time.
or
