final lay out module ass

8/9/2019 Final Lay Out Module Ass

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About GlaxoSmithKline

GSK was formed in 2000 by the merger of GlaxoWellcome

(formed from the mergers of Burroughs Welcome &

Company and Glaxo Laboratories), and SmithKline

Beecham (from Beecham, and SmithKline).

As the second largest pharmaceutical company in the

world, based on net income, the company had sales of

22.7 billion and made a profit of 7.8 billion in 2007.

It employs around 110,000 people worldwide, including

over 40,000 in sales and marketing.

Its global headquarters are GSK House in Brantford,London, United Kingdom, with its United States

headquarters based in Research Triangle Park (RTP) in

North Carolina and its consumer products division based

in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

The research and development division has major

headquarters in South East England, Philadelphia and

Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina.


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The company is listed on the London and New York stock

exchanges. The single largest market is in the United

States (approximately 45% of revenue), although the

company has a presence in almost 70 countries.

This case is about the innovative marketing strategy

adopted by GlaxoSmithKline Plc. (GSK) for Requip.

Requip is a drug for Parkinson's disease (PD).

GSK created a new market for Requip by targeting the

drug at a previously lesser known disorder, the 'restless

legs syndrome' (RLS).

GSK, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company,

made good use of public relations and its marketing

muscle to make promote awareness among doctors and

patients about 'restless legs syndrome'.

After gaining approval for marketing the drug as a

treatment for RLS, the brand experienced strong growth.

GSK's effort at marketing Requip for RLS had drawn

criticism from various quarters

Critics felt that RLS was a "concocted/invented" disorder.

Marketing Module Assignment Page 2


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What is a restless leg?

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a neurological disorder

characterized by unpleasant sensations in the legs and an

uncontrollable urge to move when at rest in an effort to

relieve these feelings.

RLS sensations are often described by people as burning,

creeping, tugging, or like insects crawling inside the legs.

The most distinctive or unusual aspect of the condition is

that lying down and trying to relax activates the

symptoms. As a result, most people with RLS have

difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.

Some researchers estimate that RLS affects as many as

12 million Americans. However, others estimate a much

higher occurrence because RLS is thought to be under

diagnosed and, in some cases, misdiagnosed.

Some people with RLS will not seek medical attention,

believing that they will not be taken seriously, that their

symptoms are too mild, or that their condition is not

treatable. Some physicians wrongly attribute the

symptoms to nervousness, insomnia, stress, arthritis,

muscle cramps, or aging.



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RLS occurs in both genders, although the incidence may

be slightly higher in women. Although the syndrome may

begin at any age, even as early as infancy, most patients

who are severely affected are middle-aged or older.

What is Parkinsons disease ?

A movement disorder Parkinson's disease is a movement

disorder of the central nervous system, which includes

your brain and spinal cord.

In your brain, certain cells make a chemical called

dopamine, which carries messages between different

areas of your brain. Some of the areas tell your body how

and when to move.

In some people, these brain cells are damaged or lost and

no longer make enough dopamine to carry the messages.

Movement may become difficult, resulting in symptoms

(also known as "motor symptoms"), which are diagnosed

as Parkinson's disease.

Chronic and progressive Parkinson's disease is chronic,meaning that it lasts for a long time. And it is progressive,

meaning that symptoms advance from early to moderate

to advanced stages.

The symptoms of PD and the speed at which it progresses

are different for each person. Parkinson's disease is a

condition for which currently there is no cure. But you can



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manage your symptoms with medications. As symptoms

progress, your treatment may be modified.

There are over 6.5 million cases of PD worldwide.

In the United States alone over 1.5 million people are

believed to have PD

About 60,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

As the average age of the general population increases,

the frequency of PD will continue to increase.



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Q: 1 Understand the issues andchallenges faced by companies in

managing the product lifecycle of a drug

Faced with high R&D costs, an impending onslaught of

patent expirations, mega-merger mania and increasing

consumer demands for improved medications,pharmaceutical companies are relying more heavily on

advanced drug-delivery technologies to help them sustain

the high growth and profit margins they have been

experiencing since the 90s.

With more than 300 products coming off patent in the

next years and increasing generic competition, they are

under intense pressure to replace these losses with newor improved drugs.

Against this background, pharmaceutical companies are

recognizing that drug delivery technologies are a powerful

strategic marketing tool to differentiate products and

extend product life cycles, thereby overcoming many

marketplace



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Challenges

They are pursuing stronger alliances with drug -delivery

companies, including acquisitions, to enable them to

develop superior drugs and remain competitive.

The application of drug delivery is a valuable, cost-

effective life cycle management resource. By infusing

drugs with new and innovative therapeutic benefits, drug-

delivery systems extend products profitable life cycle,

giving pharmaceutical companies competitive and

financial advantages, and providing patients with

improved medications.

Advanced drug-delivery technologies can improve a

products clinical and commercial value, differentiate a

product, and serve as an effective resource to outdo



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competitors. Clinically, they improve the

pharmacoeconomics of drugs by reducing adverse effects,

identifying new indications, and improving therapy,

safety, efficacy, convenience and compliance.

Giving product a competitive edge

Enabling or accelerating market entry

patents expiring

Drug-delivery companies will play an increasingly

important role in the future of pharmaceutical marketing,

as pharmaceutical companies recognize new ways they

can be used to extend a products life cycle and sustain

profitability. There will also be an increasing demand for

more technological advances in drug delivery to meet

new drug challenges in the future.

Q: 2 understand how GSK created a new

market for its drug Requip

GSK began running ads between September 2004 and

November of 2005 to raise awareness of RLS. Glaxo

began by advertising the disorder to doctors in medical

journals.

The ads started months before the company had

regulatory approval to begin selling ropinirole (known as



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Requip in the U.S.). It then sent specialists to discuss the

condition with general practitioners. It sponsored

seminars and continuing education in desirable locations.

The Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation in the U.S.

similarly started promoting the medication and raising

awareness. And GSK set up a website, called

restlesslegs.com as a resource for people with RLS.

After gaining approval for marketing the drug as a

treatment for RLS, the brand experienced strong growth.

In the process, the company created a 'blue ocean' that it

was expected to own for a long time.

GSK's marketing efforts were widely appreciated by

marketing experts, doctors and patient advocacy groups.

Experts were particularly impressed by GSK's initial un-

branded ad campaigns that strove to increase awareness

about the disease. Some doctors and patient advocates

praised GSK for raising the profile of a disorder, which

they considered under-diagnosed and under-treated.

GSK defended its marketing of Requip. The company

contended that it viewed sharing medical information on

diseases, including RLS, as a part of its mission. GSK said

that people should not trivialize RLS as it was a real

medical condition that afflicted a number of patients

around the world



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"Glaxo began its blitz by advertising the disorder to

doctors in medical journals months before the company

had regulatory approval to begin selling requip for RLS.

Then, it sent specialists to discuss the disease withgeneral practitioners, who usually see RLS sufferers first.

"Awareness of the syndrome rose within months of

Glaxo's first TV ads, says the Restless Legs Syndrome

Foundation, in Rochester, Minn. It had about 2,600 visitors

a day to its Web site before the Glaxo ad campaign. Two

months later, about 4,500 people a day were visiting, says

Georgiana Bell, executive director of the foundation."

Even this WSJ article left something important out here.

Q 3: Understand the ethical issues related

to marketing of Requip?

RLS was a "concocted/invented" disorder, and GSK had

resorted to disease mongering to promote the sales of the

drug. GSK's marketing of RLS had many conflicts of interests as

http://www.rls.org/http://www.rls.org/http://www.rls.org/http://www.rls.org/


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it was allegedly using patient advocacy groups and key opinion

leaders to further its marketing agenda.

In order to increase Requip's sales the company used Glaxo's

marketing machine, which persuaded many consumers and

physicians to accept restless-legs syndrome, or RLS, as a real

condition warranting treatment."

Glaxo began its blitz by advertising the disorder to doctors in

medical journals months before the company had regulatory

approval to begin selling requip for RLS. Then, it sent

specialists to discuss the disease with general practitioners,

who usually see RLS sufferers first.On May 5, 2005, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

approved Requip for the treatment of RLS. Soon after the FDA

approval, Glaxo hired an army of sleep-disorder specialists and

invited general practitioners to dinner at fancy restaurants

across the U.S. to hear them speak about Requip

It also used key opinion leaders (KOLs), such as sleep

specialists, to raise awareness about RLS and the scope for

Requip among general practitioners (GPs). GSK's efforts to

increase awareness of RLS and its efforts to get requip

approved for RLS got a lot of media attention, creating

publicity for the disorder as well as the drug.

GSK had created a market for RLS by aggressively marketing

the disease through sales force visits to doctors,

advertisements in medical magazine, and DTC advertising. The

company was accused of disease mongering and critics alsocontended that there were many conflicts of interest in GSK's

marketing of Requip in RLS.

Disease Mongering



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GSK were inventing new diseases in the quest for profits, a

practice they called disease mongering. They accused the

industry of creating a number of newly-defined medical

conditions such as RLS, sexual dysfunction, erectiledysfunction, sleeplessness, social anxiety disorder, irritable

bowel syndrome, etc., to keep their revenues moving

northward.

Conflict of Interest

some critics contended that GSK was expanding the market for

its drugs with the help of patient advocacy groups. In addition

to the incident involving ESG in the UK, GSK had attracted

criticism for using RLSF to allegedly forward its marketing

agenda...

Criticism of DTC advertising

some experts believed that disease mongering was more of a

problem in the US as DTC advertising was allowed. Critics

contended that such ads exploited the consumers' health

fears...

Summary



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This case study reviews the strategy and tactics utilized

by GlaxoSmithKline for the Parkinson's indicated

product, Requip/Adartrel, to manage the life and

commercial success of the brand through re-branding fortreatment of Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).

Executives and managers can use this research to gain

insights into methods for reinvigorating sales of a

mature product.

Success Drivers

Coordinated Marketing Efforts Created the Groundswell

for Requip's Commercial Success

Patient Advocacy Helped Bring Awareness to the Restless

Leg Condition That Aligned with Launch Goals

Effective Patient Advocacy Starts Well before Launch

Help Advocacy Groups Advance Disease State Awareness

along Fronts

That Align with New Product's Strengths Condition

Branding Advances Disease State Understanding andExplains New-Method-of-Action

Employ Condition Awareness Campaigns before Launch

to Target Both Patients, Physicians and Payers

Address All Disease State Critical Success Factors to Set

the Marketing Roadmap

Take Preventive Measures to Avoid ""disease

Mongering"" Label from Hurting the Brand Proactive Media Outreach through Science and Human

Interest Stories Spur Public Interest in the New Product


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