Innovation and Marketing in Pharma and Consumer Healthcare

Catalog description

Health is the foundation of all things in this life. Scientists, researchers, and healthcare professionals (HCP) are relentlessly pursuing innovative solutions in preventing and curing health issues. According to CDC, the US healthcare expenditures increased steeply and reached over 4 trillion dollars. Americans spent over 600 billion on medicine, which includes over the counter (OTC), pharmaceutical and biotech products. There are many challenges impacting consumers/patients, healthcare professionals, drug manufacturers, payers, and government regulators. For instance, as a consumer/patient, have you struggled to schedule a doctor appointment in time, to understand more about your choices for medicines and treatments, and to manage unknown and high medical bills? Additionally, people want to take more control of their own health, therefore we continue to see a booming market for consumer healthcare OTC products, digital healthcare products and wearable devices. On the other hand, pharmaceuticals are facing challenges of limited patent protection period and strong demand to develop the next big therapy. Also, how could pharma and biotech reduce the high probability of failure and cost in drug development? As commercial models are evolving, how to effectively reach and engage HCP and patients becomes more and more critical. Disruptive innovations in therapy are changing market dynamics and infrastructures, such as new diagnostics, drug delivery systems and disease awareness education and campaigns. In this course, we are on the journey to discuss these issues and possible solutions primarily through a marketing/commercial lens. Students will learn how to apply core principles of marketing, innovation, and new product development to the unique complexities of the consumer healthcare (OTC), pharmaceutical and biotech industries.