With best-selling pharmaceuticals like Lipitor set to lose their patent in the next five years, are new generics are poised to replace more expensive brand names?
A Guardian article notes that the industry predicts that yes, generics are a large part of the future of pharma.
We’re doing a lot of pharmaceutical study here at Attentio, too. And we have a slightly different understanding of the future of generics in pharma.
Buzz about pharmaceuticals makes up one of the most consistent areas of online WOM (word of mouth) growth. Patients and health care consumers are increasingly aware of their choices in both pharma brands and generic products. They go online to discover pharma products and services that are old and new, local and foreign, and—more importantly—good and bad.
When a brand beats out the generics in WOM, it’s because the brand has a relationship with its consumers, the patients that have tried and come to trust the brand. Tried and true brands have proven their efficacy.
Trusted brands have beat fears about side effects or potential complications. People rely on certain brand name pharmaceuticals more than they trust their local hospitals or even their national public health systems. They trust these brands because these brands have worked, are working, and will, patients prophesize, continue to work.
Patients reveal their bias towards beloved brands in the buzz. In forums, blogs, and message boards dedicated to conditions, illnesses, and general health, certain brands trample their competitors in patient reviews, in online WOM, in buzz.
And in sales.
Buzz can make or breaks a brand’s reputation in pharmaceuticals. P2P communication (patient to patient) divides the good, the bad, and the ugly in available medications. Patients dissect the side effects and the relief that a pharmaceutical brings when added to a patient’s health regimen. This kind of word of mouth reputation will hopefully encourage pharmaceutical companies to build better medications, filling the global health market with quality products and services, rather than just quantity.
September 16th, 2008 at 7:18 am
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November 10th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
My name is Giulia White and i would like to show you my personal experience with Lipitor.
I have taken for 9 years. I am 60 years old. I took 20 mg for 9 years and I told numerous physicians about my pain and stiffness and was told that I had arthritis and to keep taking it. I left it at home by accident when we went on vacation and within 3 days, the pain in my legs began to go away. After 2 weeks I knew it was a very dangerous medication. I went to my new physician and he wanted me to try Pravachol. Afer 4 days on it, I was in a fog and thought I had the flu. I have been off it for just 36 hours and feel better. I am an RN and should have known that I was experiencing side effects with Lipitor, but you listen to your Doctor because you trust him. I now tell my patients to trust what their bodies are telling them. Statins can’t be good for anyone but the drug companies!!!!!!!!!! They keep lowering the recommended levels so that almost everyone is considered to have “high” cholesterol. If someone is 30 and on this for 30 or 40 years there is not telling what the long term effects will be.
I have experienced some of these side effects-
Joint and Muscle Pain / Stiffness.
I hope this information will be useful to others,
Giulia White