American academic John M. Richardson once said that when it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened. We choose door number two and offer five New Year’s resolutions in response to some changes and trends that had an impact on pharma marketers in 2010.

#1: We resolve to keep pushing the envelope when promoting brands, despite increasing regulatory restrictions.

2010 was a “bah, humbug” year for DDMAC. At last count, the FDA’s promotional enforcers issued 102 cease and desist letters to pharma and device companies. From footnote font sizes to Important Safety Information placement to the correct order of warnings, precautions, and contraindications; you’d better comply, or risk having your letter posted on the Internet. Being aggressive in our promotional endeavors is vital to our shared success, and if our clients don’t know the new rules, it’s our job to educate them. But pharmaceutical branding must not lower its standards to the “sea of sameness” we’re beginning to see in response to constraints imposed by the FDA. We believe in differentiating brands by giving healthcare professionals something they can relate to and by making an emotional connection between your brand and your target audience. Identify a problem that’s vexing them and offer a viable solution. Moving forward in 2011, it’s all about positive engagement and building relationships. And that means finding even more creative ways to engage healthcare professionals in two-way conversations and providing information that compels, adds value, and benefits them. Game on!

#2: We resolve to leverage comparative effectiveness research as a way to change physician behavior.

Raise your eggnog and toast that data from prospective comparative effectiveness trials are now beginning to be released. As hoped, these endpoints provide decision makers with higher resolution data to support patient management. Very shortly, we’ll be saying “sayonara” to the days of comparing effective to non- or less-effective medications. Now physicians must choose between two or three therapies, which at first glance (when using primary endpoints) could be seen as equally effective. Which one wins? Which one will be best for patients? Comparative effectiveness trials will tell us, and third-party insurers will rely on them when making future formulary decisions. It’s time to get on the train or get out of its way.

#3: We resolve to commit to more proactive patient education programs because patients have the power to drive scripts.

Ho, ho, hum alert: Unidirectional conversations between doctors and patients are passé. In 2011, more patients will arrive at physician appointments armed with knowledge, will initiate discussions, and make more demands. These patients want better disease management education, according to a recent survey of more than 7,000 patients. There’s currently a deep disconnect between the information doctors provide and the information their patients desire (95% of respondents wanted more comprehensive information on how to better manage their illness). In addition to spending time developing educational materials to try to change patient behavior, we need to spend more time thinking about how we can turn informed patients into more powerful advocates for our brands.

#4: We resolve to work smarter to help our clients maximize their digital communications.

Even Santa knows that the digital communications landscape is evolving by the minute (see three of his many sites at http://www.claus.com, http://www.northpole.com, and http://www.santaclaus.net). Before you get caught up in all the hype, take a deep breath and consider that digital technology is just a tool and should never be substituted for strategic thinking. Keep in mind for 2011 that it’s no longer about multi-channel marketing, but cross-channel marketing. We need to coordinate our efforts across channels to drive consistent messaging within an engaging marketing campaign. And because digital channels often overlap, the key is determining how they can best be integrated. Remember that targeting audiences is multifaceted and includes considering their search behaviors, the content they read, the keywords they type in, where they live, and what gets them jazzed when they click on your website. Finally, digital can be an exciting addition to your marketing plan in 2011, but don’t make the mistake of throwing traditional media out with the bathwater just yet.

#5: We resolve to prepare ourselves for the reality that the Hippocratic Oath also pertains to drugs: first do no harm.

Oh, go ahead and eat the whole gingerbread house this year. It took a while, but an FDA advisory committee finally approved a new drug primarily indicated to treat obesity. Three drugs were evaluated in the past 12 months, but only Contrave (Orexigen) was green-lighted. Qnexa (Vivus) and Lorqess (Arena) tanked due to unimpressive efficacy and unacceptable safety risks. Contrave’s efficacy was even less impressive than the others, but apparently patients can “live with” its safety issues. The real lesson here? In the future, “safer drugs” will be approved to fill unmet medical needs, even if they are less effective than potential competitors. This will cause a ripple effect that will affect all aspects of a drug’s development, from early clinical trials to sales promotion. It will also change the paradigm of how we currently promote drugs. Without head-to-head comparative trials, our challenge will be to come up with brand platforms that will be compelling for physicians, because “less effective but possibly safer” just isn’t going to cut it.

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