Denosumab Marketing Plan

Anna Ferreira
Megan Hinricher
Kyle Lanham
Aaron Stucker

MKTG 4050: 003
PeterMax M. Miller, Ed.D., MBA

1.0 Executive Summary Our goal is to introduce Denosumab as both a preventative and ongoing treatment for men over 50 who now suffer from osteoporosis due to their use of glucocorticoids. Since we are aiming across the country, we are prepared to tailor our advertising to adjust for different cultural attitudes and lifestyles. Global sales for total osteoporosis/menopausal disorders market as of November of 2001 were $5.5 billion (9). This is a huge opportunity, especially because awareness of osteoporosis is becoming a larger market in itself. Currently, our market share is only 0.5%, or about $500 million annually. Therefore our budget for advertising will remain under $100 million for urban and $200 million for rural (due to television ads being more expensive than radio and magazine ads). This will include more television commercials in states with lower physical activity and adjust for radio and magazine ads in states with higher physical activity rates. We will know if we have been successful if our market share grows by 2.5% in the first year of it being available.
2.0 Situation Analysis
2.1 Market Summary Osteoporosis is defined as porous bones, or a disease in which the density and quality of bones are reduced (1). Osteoporosis along with low bone mass is estimated to affect nearly 44 million Americans (1). Around the world it is estimated that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men are at risk for osteoporosis (1). Despite this ratio, the occurrence of osteoporosis is just recently becoming addressed as a growing problem throughout the world’s population. Many times people who suffer from osteoporosis are unaware of it until a yearly check-up at their physician’s office. Usually the first indicator to check for osteoporosis is a significant decrease in height. Physicians generally check for osteoporosis in the form of tiny fractures in spinal vertebrae which causes the spine to compress, thus shortening a person’s height. There are a number of fixed risks that, although cannot be changed, are helpful to keep in mind when analyzing a patient’s risk for developing osteoporosis. These risks include: age, gender, family history of osteoporosis, previous fractures, ethnicity, menopause, rheumatoid arthritis, and hypogonadism (low levels of testosterone) in males (1). Along with these fixed risks, diets low in calcium and lifestyles with low physical activity also contribute to an increase in a patient’s chances to develop osteoporosis. It is clear that osteoporosis occurs most often in postmenopausal women, however the number of men who are at risk for experiencing even one osteoporotic fracture over the age of 50 is now 30% (3). Recent articles suggest that the occurrence of osteoporotic fractures in men is becoming a bigger public health issue due to increase longevity and knowledge (5). Because men with osteoporosis is such a growing market sector, our target will be men over the age of 50 who are at an increased risk for developing or are already suffering from osteoporosis due to previous treatment with a glucocorticoid therapy. Glucocorticoid steroids are most commonly used to treat rhumatological, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary disorders (7). According to the arthritis foundation, rheumatoid arthritis affects more than one million Americans (4) and the occurrence in women is nearly three times as often as men. This means that the market of men with osteoporosis, especially those who develop it due to treatments for arthritis or other inflammatory health disorders, is a sector commonly ignored by most pharmaceutical companies. Capozzi et al. explain that “the growing attention on male osteoporosis is mainly explained by the increasing use of some drugs producing bone loss as a frequent side effect, like gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)