Role of Doctors in Influencing Patients' Preference Towards Pharmaceutical Brand

pharmaceutical, determinant, detailing, healthcare

Professional intermediaries, mainly physicians, have a significant influence on the pharmaceutical marketplace, where consumer (patient) decisions are highly influenced by the professionals. Unlike usual consumer goods, doctors make a big difference to the choice of medicines and prescribe them as per their brand recommendations, not only the end-users. Drawing on literature from healthcare marketing, behavioural economics and medical sociology, this paper talks about the role that doctors play in a multidimensional way on influencing the preferences of their patients for a particular pharmaceutical brand. This study reveals the pathways that transform physician authority into patient brand adoption by drawing on an extensive literature review and analysis of the various influencing mechanisms, such as prescribing behaviors, doctor-patient communication, the influence of pharmaceutical detailing and trust. The paper also looks at the ethical issues involved in the relationship between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry, and suggests that a conceptual framework that can be used by healthcare marketers and policymakers to better understand the ways in which brand preference is formed in the pharmaceutical market can be developed.  Results indicate that physicians continue to be the primary external determinant of drug choice, with their impact in terms of trust, authority, repeat prescribing and the imbalance in medical knowledge. The paper ends with some suggestions for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare practitioners and regulators concerning the harmonization of marketing practices with patient welfare.