Exploring The Impact Of Pharmaceutical Marketing On Prescribing Behaviour Of Doctors In India: A Critical Review

Abstract

Misleading information, incentives, and unethical trade practices have been identified as ways to increase prescriptions and sales of drugs, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which defines drug promotion as all activities performed by manufacturers or distributors that influence the prescription, supply, purchase, or use of medicines. The pharmaceutical sector in India has seen a significant transformation in the past few years. Many factors, including rising health care expenditures on pharmaceutical goods and a rapidly changing regulatory environment, have pushed pharmaceutical firms to rethink their marketing techniques. The pharmaceutical business is using a variety of sales and promotional (PR) channels to persuade doctors and patients that their products are safe and effective. Pharmaceutical corporations use a variety of strategies to persuade doctors to prescribe their products, including direct-to-consumer advertising, direct-to-physician samples provided by medical representatives, advertising in medical publications, gifts, conference sponsorships, and more. Because of rising costs, there is a growing worry about prescription practices that may be hazardous or even nonsensical. Accordingly, firms are focusing all of their marketing efforts on persuading physicians to prescribe certain drugs and brands, given the present industry competitive landscape. Medical representatives give incentives such as conferences, seminars, national and international sponsorship, and incorrect medical information to influence prescription habits. There are a variety of unethical business tactics used by manufacturers, pharmacists, and medical representatives; nevertheless, the discovery that pharmacists are important factors in this system and provide patients with medication information was particularly interesting.