HOLISTIC MARKETING

Julia Saul reports on IIR PharmaMarketing '94 Conference

Ask Jean-Pierre Garnier, chairman designate of SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals "what's changing in pharmaceutical marketing?" and he's likely to answer "everything." In fact he may even go on to tell you that those pharmaceutical companies not making the right move now will fall by the wayside. Current health care reforms are threatening the industry's success on a worldwide scale.

In the UK and USA, health care reform is seen to be politically advantageous, forcing the apparent price of the drugs bill down, and kidding the public into believing it is getting better value for money. There is little risk of retaliation from physicians, and public perception of the pharmaceutical industry is that it is excessively profitable. In the words of Dr Garnier, all this makes the industry "an easy chicken to pluck."