Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharma Product Managers Reveal Budgets

Product managers at major pharmaceutical companies recently gave details about their marketing budgets and tactics. More than half of the respondents believe their budget is not enough to market their product(s) effectively.

Readers of Product Management Today responded to questions put to them for the 2007 Product Management Survey, published in May. This year, almost 75 percent of them came from pharma, and more than 50 percent were male. The majority work for Big Pharma, have graduate degrees, have reached senior level positions and, above all, value strategic thinking both within themselves and in the vendors they choose. Summarized are their answers regarding marketing budgets:

What is your annual marketing budget?

Do you think your budget is enough to competitively market your brand?

For those who didn't think their budget was adequate, what should the budget be?

In terms of spending, how much are you authorized to sign off on?

What percent of your budget is devoted to the following?

What percent of the budget that you allocated to non-personal promotion is devoted to the following?

When describing which vendors you'll be trusting with your brand, what criteria do you consider important?