ROLE OF INCENTIVES IN PROMOTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS IN LARKANA SINDH PAKISTAN

Abstract

The role of incentives have always motivated physicians for drug promotion around the world. The promotion of drugs become more accessible with the help of doctors. The drug industries influenced the market by discovering, developing, marketizing, and selling the drug to generate revenue and compete with existing products. The researcher has used mixed method research design for conducting this study. The universe for this study was district Larkana Sindh province. The targeted population was the medical representatives who played an essential role in the promotion of the drug and the doctors who are the prescriber of the drugs. The researcher chose the survey method for salespersons and a case study guide for in-depth interviews of the doctors as a tool for this study. Purposive sampling was used to select the sample of 100 questionnaires filled by medical representatives, while 10 doctors were interviewed to collect the data and significant perceptions of respondents. The researcher used a two-way analysis for the study. The first statistical analysis of the questionnaire using SPSS involves transcribing interviews and generating their themes and sub-themes for knowing doctors' thoughts and discernments. The study's main findings with the help of primary data and existing literature. The researcher concluded that doctors and medical representatives were equally playing their part in promoting drugs. The study found that more than 80 percent of pharmaceutical companies’ representatives visited the hospitals, medical centers, and especially private clinics of physicians only to convince the physicians for promotion purposes through incentives. Key Words: Incentives, Pharmaceutical Drugs, Promotion, Drug Industries,