Total global pharma promotional spending fell 3.4% to $92.2 billion in
2011, according to Cegedim Strategic Data, led by a 4.7% decline in detailing spend.
Pfizer remains the industry's top promotional spender, despite a 12% drop
in spending to $6 billion in 2011. That puts the New York firm well ahead of
No. 2 Novartis, which cut marketing and advertising spend by 10% to $5 billion,
and was followed closely by Merck ($4.9 billion, down 7% over 2010). Just two
of the top ten advertisers in the sector—No. 4 AstraZeneca and No. 6 Boehringer
Ingelheim—increased spending. AstraZeneca marketers saw a 5% bump to their
budgets, which totaled $4.2 billion, while Boehringer dialed up its promotional
spending by a whopping 19% to $3.3 billion.
AstraZeneca's Crestor was the best-supported brand. The statin's $1.1
billion in promotional spend (unchanged from 2010) accounted for 1.2% of all industry
promotional spend. Billion-dollar brands (or thereabouts) included Lilly's
Cymbalta, Boehringer's Pradaxa and GSK's Seretide.
Cuts to sales force numbers continued. Pfizer cut around 11% of its field
force, estimated at more than 20,000, while Novartis wrought a 9% reduction in
reps and Merck cut 7% of sales posts.
Detailing comprises 60% of all promotional spending. DTC advertising, which
makes up 9.2% of spend, rose by a percentage point, while spending on meetings,
which makes up 14.4% of promotional budgets, sank 4.1%, and spending on
samples, which accounts for 10.3% of spend, was flat. Clinical trials, costing
2% of promotional budgets, slid 15.1% in 2011, and professional advertising,
worth .8% of spending, slid 12.5%.
North American promotional spending, down 3.1% to $30.6 billion, followed
many of the same trends that global spending did, with a few exceptions. North
American DTC spend slid 5.4%, while spending on meetings and events, down 4.1%
globally, soared 10.9% in the US and Canada, and clinical trials spend, down
15.1% worldwide, rose 9.1% for North America.
Sales force cuts in North America, where detailing comprises 53% of overall
promotional spend, were deeper than elsewhere. Pfizer reduced its field force
16%, while Novartis cut 18%, GSK 19% and Abbott a whopping 23%. Adding sales
force jobs were AstraZeneca (+11%), Forest Labs (+3%) and Boehringer Ingelheim
(+19%).