The Critical Gap in Pharma Omnichannel Marketing

The impact of this regulatory evolution in the Life Sciences industry resulted in a shift from 100% direct- to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising in the first half of the 20th Century to marketing and selling almost exclusively to doctors by 1960.4 With this change, the pharmaceutical sales rep was born.

From the 1950s to the early 1980s, biopharmaceutical companies invested solely in indirect marketing via sales reps, advertising in medical journals, continued medical education events, and other marketing programs targeting healthcare providers (HCPs). However, in the early 1980s, political and social shifts led the industry back to DTC marketing. DTC advertising started with print and television campaigns to increase awareness of underdiagnosed conditions, sponsored by pharma companies ,followed by direct product advertisements. In the mid-1990s, DTC marketing expanded and flourished online, as the world turned to the internet as their primary source of information.