A Public Health Crisis In The United States

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

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GROUP MEMBERS:

ISRA’A BINTI WAN DAUD MATRIC NO. MR121108

ATEFEH JAMSHIDIAN MATRIC NO. MR111207

NGUASONG GERALD MATRIC NO. MR111229

NASRIN IZADIAN MATRIC NO.MR121137

LECTURER NAME:

DR. FAUZIAH SH AHMAD

COURSE CODE: MRC 1313

SEM 1/ OCTOBER 2012

Introduction:

Cambridge Science Pharmaceuticals was an international health care company with focus on developing, manufacturing and marketing of products that treat metabolic disorder, gastrointestinal diseases, immune deficiencies, as well as other chronic and severe medical condition that received more than 25$billion in sales in 2007. Printup,the company’s senior director marketing had been in charge of next U.S. product launch of CSP ‘s newest prescription drug called Metabical that is really useful for people with excess weight based on their BMI.BMI scale: Body Mass Index scale shows the relationship that exists between weight and height and is appropriate men &women both. There are three categories as follows:

25-30

30-40

Over 40

overweight

obese

Severely obese

In 2008, there was not any special prescription-drug option for the first segment, although A plethora of over-the-counter (OTC) weight-loss drugs existed, only the OTC drug Alli had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Metabical was the first prescription drug that has been confirmed by FDA for overweight individuals And most of costumer reached their goals to reduce their weight by week 12.

External Environmental Analysis

Excess weight is considered a public health crisis in the United State of America, with approximately 65% of the entire adult population categorized as overweight, obese or severely obese. For instance ,Between 1976-2000,the U.S. experienced an significant rise in the number of overweight and obese adults .According to one survey, the population of overweight rose from 31.6% in first period (1976-1980)to 34% in the last one(1999-2000).

1-General Environmental Analysis

Social:

As a result of health risks, overweight individuals suffer from an important social problem as well as quite difference and people who are overweight fell like social unpopular. Also, overweight individuals could have the negatively impacts due to this problem in their life ,as excess weight has been found to negatively influence hiring decisions ,wages and promotions .being overweight is related to a number of serious health elaboration and according to the AOA(American obesity Association),in 2005,it is the second leading of preventable death in U.S. Between 1976 and 2000, this country experienced an important growth in the number of overweight and obese adults .For example,by2000,34% of the population was considered overweight,25%were categorized as obese and 4.7% fell into the severely obese group .Also, referring to educational factor shows that people with poor education level(less than high school) had the highest prevalence of obesity. By comparing two main factors (age &gender)in the U.S., men had the highest prevalence of obesity with 67% where it was 62% for women. Also the percentage of U.S. adult population that was overweight increased steadily with age for both men and women which had highest amount between men age 65 to 74 (77.2%) and women age 55 to 64 (73.1%).

Results from another marketing survey released some noticeable facts from the overweight market as well in 2007 shown in coming table:

Selected Results: 2007 Marketing Survey

Dissatisfaction with current weight

Visiting a health care yearly for exam

Interesting to have healthy lifestyle

Trying &failing to lose weight in past five years

Dissatisfaction with current weight-loss option

men

65%

30%

40%

30%

35%

women

75%

50%

55%

60%

65%

overall

70%

40%

47%

45%

50%

According to table, women are more interested to losing their weight and the program in this area than men obviously

Economic:

Based on survey that provided demographic information, adults in U.S. with income less than 25.000$ had the highest percentages of obesity (32.5%)in 2001.and ,this factor went to lower amount of percentage by increasing income level of people.

Income level

Less than 25000$

25000-40000$

40000-60000$

More than 60000$

2001(obesity)%

32.5%

31.3%

30.3%

26.8%

Technological: loss medicines such as Meridia, Xenical, Alli, Belviq, Qsymia and Metabical propose a noticeable solution with some side effects. Some products that is called off- the-counter (OTC) including herbal based products like hoodia, green tea extract, chitosan and bitter orange are not regulated by the FDA because of their supplemental and herbal nature. The products vary and to date the dietary technology is still in the research stage of developing a refined medication which is 100% side effect free

2-Industry Analysis

Technological: CSP researchers created Metabical as a first prescription drug that consists of some other component included calosera, new appetite-suppressant compound with a revolutionary fat-blocking and calorie-absorption agent, meditonan to have a powerful pill that works in low –dose formulation . Metabical required to be taken only one pill per day compared with its main competitor called Alli that was a reduced-strength version of the Xencial by taking one pill each meal. Also, side effects of Metabical

Was as same as Alli, like gastrointestinal conditions, loose stools, increased defection when users consumed high levels of fat and calories. So, these factors are competitive advantages for Metabical cause more costumers became interested this.

Economical: To produce support program, CSP estimated to spend 2 million$ in year 1 that is followed to by 200000$ for developing them in next years.

Market Analysis: A market analysis studies the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. The market analysis is also known as a documented investigation of a market that is used to inform a firm's planning activities, particularly around decisions of inventory, purchase, work force expansion/contraction, facility expansion, purchases of capital equipment, promotional activities, and many other aspects of a company. The market analysis for this case as a follows:

Market segmentation:

The relevant market is an integral part of the whole market, on which the company focuses its activities. To identify and classify the relevant market, a market classification or segmentation has to be done.

According to last statistics of health cares in the U.S .increasing of weight is changed to major problem for adults special for women due to this reason, individuals with having this problem created a segment for CSP. In fact, we with 68% population who are obese or overweight had the highest rate in the world.

In this case, participant included 1000 men and 1000 women age that were between 18 to 70 .that 70% of them (75% women and 65% men) were not satisfied with their current weight.

1. Evaluation of Mission:

In clinical trials, Metabical proved to be safe and effective in weight loss for over-weight individual and it is the most successful product launch to date. FDA has approved it to be the first prescription drug for overweight individuals (i.e., those with BMI of 25 to 30). Metabical developed a vital positioning strategy and associated marketing communication plan.

Prrintup had planned to build a strong positioning for successful product name in market and not focused for successful launch but also a long term steady demand.

2. Evaluation of Objectives:

Printup aimed to place Metabical in the market to be superior to any weight loss solution as well as to be effective in achieving significant weight loss for overweight individuals.

Therefore, Metabical had achieved a great result on individuals with BMI 25 to 30 who have lost about 15 to 26 pounds and to challenge individuals to reach their weight loss goals in approximately 12 weeks.

3. Functional Areas:

a. Marketing:

Segmentation - Target Markets:

Market segmentation is able to provide the basis for the selection of target markets which for the Metabical's targeted customers are general members of the public at all overweight (BMI 25-30) ages who seeking for a body weight loss products. Additionally people who have an awareness of particular social issues which concern them such as side effects and protection are also targeted as potential customers. Firstly the Metabical provides natural weight loss drug pills that fit for both women and men. In this sense the general public from all age groups can be seen as potential customers. Secondly the most important variable in defining possible segmentations is based on psychographic characteristics namely lifestyle. In additional the Metabical brand is a quite safe for healthy products based on FDA approval and its future brand image will be closely linked with the campaigns it pursues in light of its corporate social responsibility objectives.

Customers & health care providers are the most important goal for Pintup. Therefore she organized and conducted comprehensive testing campaigns in the first year to focus heavily on both customers & health care providers.

In marketing printup should follow four channels to achieve a successful marketing plan; Promotion and Public Relations, Sales Force, Production, and Human Resources.

One of the best decision that Printup had made is to allocate half of the first year income for Marketing budget especially DTC advertising. She also hired a well known celebrities endorses for product publicity (i.e., Valerie Bertinelli for Craig & Sally Field for Boniva) to target Direct-to-Customer (DTC) advertising such as TV, online, radio, print media.

DTC ads:

"Losing weight is tough. You don’t have to do it alone. Let Metabical and your health care provider start you on the road to healthy weight and better life"

It is significant to attract the Health Care Providers who advice and guide patients to use Metabical with their subscriptions. Health Care Providers such as professional medical community. Print placed her ads in leading medical publications and online physician resource information.

Ads: "give your overweight patients a safe alternative fed diets and dangerous OTC drugs. Introducing Metabical- a clinically proven weight-loss drug".

Promotion and public relations considered to be one of the marketing tips. Printup worked hard toward better performance and started to Mail for 100,000 health care providers, to organize online contest to allow users to compete in losing a BMI’s highest percentage. She joined social networking sites to create buzz about Metabical and social media as a part of communication strategy. She participated in the medical educational events and plan to mail for 100,000 health care providers.

Printup resorted to the sales force in marketing as well. To work with the directors of sales is kind of sales force to develop sales scripts & presentations providing clinical information. There will be a good outcome on visiting targeted medical officers and meet the health care providers personally to provide product awareness.

b. Production

Metabical drugs combined a new appetite-suppressant compound, calosera, new fat- blocking and calorie- absorption which cause dramatic weight with fewer side effects. It is a combination to produce a dramatic weight loss for overweight Individuals; work with low dose formulation and reduce stress on heart and liver functions.

c. Finance

4. Evaluation of Marketing Strategies

A. Target Market,

Providing a viable positioning strategy need to have the right target market, CSP had carried out a comprehensive market study of overweight individuals in the year 2007. Under the market analysis, also Barbara Printup performed a study to analyze psychographic segmentation of the overweight individuals. The result showed that the women demonstrated the most different segmentation.

Psychographic segmentation

segment

Age

Education

Income

Look like a movie star

I8-30

High school

< $ 40,000

Healthier

35-65

Collage

$80,000+

Wear my skinny jeans

25-40

Collage

$50,000 -$80,000

Losing weight in easy way

45-65

Collage

$40,000 -60,000

According to the findings from market study, market research and psychographic, the target market for Metabical is as following in the table:

Target market

Women with age ranging from 25-65

Women with household income between $50,000 - $80,000

Women with college education and above

Specifically for overweight individuals with BMI of 25 to 30

Concern with health issues caused by overweight and actively tryingto lose weight

Willing to change current behavior and to live healthy lifestyle

b. Product Strategies

Metabical is the first drug which approved by FDA especially for overweight with BMI of 25 to 30.clinical research showed that Metabical is safe and has a great impact on losing weight. The clinical experiment proved that a lot of individuals reached to their weight lose goals by week 12.So, CSP need to decide on the best form of packaging by considering, what will be the number of pills, which would be included in each pack.

Packing the whole twelve week supply in one package will cause higher pricing and it can be unaffordable for some of the customers. So it will affect the number of the buyers. Even though the twelve-week supply will enable the customers to complete the twelve-week cycle in 3 months in a row but it will limit the potential customers only to those who can afford the entire medication program with one-time pay. Therefore, it is advisable to pack Metabical with one pack for four week supply which can make it affordable for everyone. However, one month packing has a high risk As such, it is also suggested to have another packaging with 3 pack for 12 weeks supply and as value added, a CD contain comprehensive support program is attached to it. By attaching the comprehensive support program to the 3 pack of twelve week supply it can definitely attract more customers especially those with higher income bracket of more than $80,000.

C. Pricing Strategies;

Metabical is a new medication and market penetration is crucial to ensure product is acceptable by consumers. Pricing is another important factor in determining the success of Metabical first we are going to compere Metabical price with its competitor such as Ali:

Estimated retail price dosage treatment

$3 to $5 Per pill

1 Pill Per Day (Metabical)

12 Weeks (90 Days)

$120 Per Pack / $2.40 Per Pill

1 Pill Per Day (Alli)

50 Days

ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE

Revenue

Per Month

$2 Per Pill

$60

 

$3 Per Pill

$90

$4 Per Pill

$120

$5 Per Pill

$150

$6 Per Pill

$180

Revenue per

year

$720

$1,080

$1,440

$1,800

$2,160

.

To sell at $90 per month is too low because Metabical is a prescription drug

.To capture a larger group the price should not as high as $150 per month

. $120 per month would be the right price for a four weeks supply

Based on the above information, Metabical price at $120 per month which we assume would be the right price for a four week supply.

D. Distribution Strategies

being a prescribed weight loss drugs definitely the distribution channels are limited to places such as Drug store, Pharmacy, healthcare Providers, Specialty Store such as, Guardian ,Watson and the latest trend is the sale on internet. This is an FDA approved product; so, it can be easily marketed through any channels since it should be available at all pharmacies and medical outlets.

E . Promotional Strategies

Advertising Strategies

The director of the company believed that they should allocate huge budget to DTC advertising through public Media during year 1. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is a new phenomenon in the drug industry due to the introduction of guidelines by the FDA in 1997 that opened up the flood gates to the drug advertisement. A sum of $13.0 million had been allocated to this purpose. The advertisement should be based on motivation concepts that absorb people to participate in this kind of loose weight drug, for instance losing weight is very difficult to do alone, so Metabical and the healthcare producers can easy it for you. According to this view the Metabical tagline is "Losing weight is tough, you don’t have to do it alone. Let Metabical and your healthcare provider start you on the road to a healthy weight better lifestyle".

 Metabical’s advertising strategy should also target the professional medical community which is the healthcare provider. For example, they could create a campaign by printing ads in leading medical publications and interactive ads online related to health issues in order to raise awareness the individuals about the advantages of Metabical.

2. Selling Strategies

The firm made sales tem including 32 of sales reprehensive who distribute the company product to 3200 medical offices also this team prepare the products detail for the health care providers. Their daily plan is visiting 4 offices already they provide clinical information about Metabical to explain them .but the firm needs to increase its sales force team to help the other 100,000 health producers around the world.

2. Public relations/Publicity strategies

Promotion budget included of both healthcare provider and end customers the plan was designed in 2 steps:

A. before Metabical launched; mailing pamphlet about the information of drugs and also sending cards as a sample of support program to 100,000 healthcare providers.

B. reaches to the market globally, this viral marketing involves internet sales, social network such as facebook, twitter and blogs in order to create buzz for Metabical. In fact, CSP should set up a team on this viral marketing campaign in order to reach customers faster and cheaper globally.

4. Sales Promotion Strategies

The total amount that Metabical invest on public relation activities is about 4 million in total.

Well-timed prelaunch and at launch press releases Two high-profile medical education events and a series of podcasts aimed at physicians

SWOT ANALYSIS

No

Case Fact

Remark

Threat

1

FDA approval

strength

2

Safe and effective in achieving significant weight loss

strength

3

Less harmful as compared to other weight loss drug

strength

4

One pill per day

strength

5

Average course treatment lasting 12 weeks

strength

6

Combination of calosera and meditanan created dramatic effect for weight loss

strength

7

Strong and comprehensive marketing strategy

strength

8

Experience marketing and R&D team

strength

9

Allocation substantial amount of money in marketing budget.

strength

10

Negative side effect-like gastrointestinal discomfort

Weakness

11

Not effective for individual with BMI less than 30.

Weakness

Opportunities and Threats

No

Case Fact

Remark

1

Comprehensive support programme

Opportunity

2

Health care plans to including metabical in the prescription drug programs

Opportunity

3

65% of adult population categorized as overweight, obese or severely obese

Opportunity

4

No prescription drug option for overweight segment on this categorized (BMI 25- 30)available in 2008 except drug Alli approval by FDA

Opportunity

5

Marketing research record indicates the high interest of people wanting to lose weight.

Opportunity

6

Increasing herbal and dietary supplements

Threat

7

FDA imposed stigent regulation due to negative side effect case

Threat

8

Deceptive marketing claim

Threat

Identification of Problems

Our problems are to identify the following factors;

1. Marketing segment

2. Who are the group of consumers we should target?

3. How to position the Metabical in the market.

Our marketing segment should be based on overweight persons belong to BMI range of 25 to 30.This is because overweight persons constitute the highest number of persons associated with the problem of overweight, obese and severe obese. This record is seen in the Market research conducted for the following periods, 1976 to 1980, 1988 to 1994 and 1999 to 2000.This records indicated overweight patients between 1976 to 2000 was recorded 67%, obese rate was 60.2% and severely obese was recorded from 1994 to 2000 7.6% no data was available for the first period for this analysis.

Secondly this group of patient consists of individuals who want to change their behavior to live a healthy life style with these individuals having an income level of 25.000 – 80.000 USD, which they can afford to buy following the prescription. Since their aim of reducing their weight is to be healthier. Metabical will be the best choice to for them considering the fact that a prescription will be made by CSP and follow up the patients to see that they get the drug as prescribed.

Our targeted group includes overweight individuals who ranged from 17-70 years old and their educational level should range as from the following classification which includes less than high school, high school and some colleges, with income level between 25.000 -80.000 USD + 25 until 65 year old. Our second targeted group is the health care providers.

Positioning statement;

For persons trouble with overweight problem.

Metabical is a prescribed weight drug.

A drug which provide the most superior weight- loss solution safe alternative drugs and even helping you to make a healthy life.

The fact that the drug had has approval from FDA as a safe drugs, prove by clinical researchers as a drug which is given significant weight loss than other and instructed to take only one pill a day.

Development of alternative strategic for marketing communication of Metabical, We shall focus more on the direct to consumers. The following factors mentioned below are additional strategies we have develop to help the promotion of Metabical.

Consultative selling, Prinup can train her sales team to play the role like that health care provider but be as internal health care attendants. This way more patient would be aware of the drug and would develop automatic interest to buy the product.

In public relationship, Printup need to be generous; this means that she need create more relation for the selling of Metabical. Attend meetings with ways to make prospects success full.

Create clubs with the name of Metabical. For instant Metabical Florida, Metabical TEXAS

Sales Agents, she should increase the number of sales team and modify the situation of their commission and also taken into consideration point No 1 in public relationship above.

The above factors are only to improve the awareness for DTC and not for health care providers. The strategies already put in place for the health care provided are considered worthy to do the job.

Following the strategies put in place for Printup for both DTC and Health care providers and the ones we have just included. We will see that Printup objective of the launch of Metabical will be achieved.

We recommend that Print up should use a strategies put in place for Health care providers and consider the points we added for promotion to direct consumers. This way more intention will be geared toward the overweight individuals.