Rx-To-OTC: "No Guarantee Of Success"

The first switches of prescription drugs to over-the-counter statusoften succeeded in taking large market shares, but today, competitive pressures make it much more difficult for such success to be assured, says a new study from James Dudley International.

It costs almost as much to launch a brand which fails as to launch one which succeeds, says the study, Pathways to Success: Setting the New Standard in Rx to OTC Switching. Moreover, it warns, brands which cannot maintain competitiveness longer-term become a drain on resources and slow corporate growth.

Among the factors which are crucial to the success of the switch, the role of the prescription heritage is paramount, it says. Brands which exploit it, and their prescription positioning, will be considerably more successful than those which exploit either one or neither. The next best chance of success is for a brand to create a different consumer proposition to the prescription brand, but based on a substance which has been successful in prescription.