Objectives Purchasing medicinal products from the internet has become more popular in the last three decades. Understanding consumers’ use and perception of the safety of medicinal products obtained online is essential. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the extent of medicines purchased from the internet in Saudi Arabia, types of products, sources of information, the satisfaction, the motivational factors, and estimate consumers’ vigilance and tendency to report ADRs if occurred. Design A prospective cross-sectional study using a custom-designed questionnaire was conducted among community adults in Saudi Arabia, age ≥ 18. Setting Evaluation of community subjects' perception towards buying medicinal products was done through the internet in Saudi Arabia from 1st July 2020 until the end of August 2020. Main outcome measure(s) The main outcome of the study was purchasing medicinal products from the internet (Yes, No). Results Overall, 36% of the study participants (n = 643) have ever bought medicinal products from the internet ( Table 2 ). Of those, the most obtained was herbal medicine, supplements, or cosmetics (61.3%). Motivational factors towards purchasing medicinal products from the internet were mostly positive, with the most commonly reported agreed motivational factors were lower cost (55.7%), easy online access (54.1%), a wide variety of products (52.6%), and more privacy (43.6%). Around 60.4% of participants believed that buying medicinal products from the internet can be safe. The most perceived risk was the difficulty of distinguishing between registered online pharmacies and other unlicensed commercial websites, with only 32.7% of the participants distinguishing between registered and unlicensed commercial websites. Conclusions This study sheds light on the consumers’ use and perception of the safety and risks of medicinal products purchased from the internet. The study findings noticeably describe the great need to increase safety awareness about obtaining medicinal products from the internet among the Saudi community.

Evaluating the frequency, consumers' motivation and perception of online medicinal, herbal, and health products purchase safety in Saudi Arabia.

Social marketing is a set of activities aimed at changing people’s behavior for good. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a significant concern in rural India. This article introduces a comprehensive social marketing plan to address this social issue among senior citizens of rural India. The model described in the study uses social marketing principles and practices such as environmental analysis, STP strategies, strategies for formulating behavioral objectives and goals, examining the barriers, benefits, competitions, and influential others, strategies for integrated marketing mix, evaluation and monitoring strategies, strategies for establishing budgets, raising funds and implementation plan. The plan’s objective may help the professionals to develop an action plan to counter vaccine hesitancy.

/pdf/social-marketing-plan-to-decrease-the-covid-19-vaccine-2xw6ka93.pdf

Social Marketing Plan to Decrease the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among Senior Citizens in Rural India

India started the largest vaccination drive in the world in Jan 2021 (Bagcchi, 2021). Even though the government of India is accelerating the vaccination drives (Shekhar & Jose, 2021), vaccination ...

Death Anxiety and Mental Health: A Case Analysis of Vaccination Hesitancy and Intervention Techniques.

People are now more health-conscious to live safe and hazard-free lives in modern society. If people are affected by any disease, choosing doctor services and medicines involves many complex decisions. Generic drugs seem to be a significant and well-known source of competition for labelled drugs, but they can likewise be a major idea for lowering costs in the pharmaceutical industry. This might result in savings for either the government or the patients. Given this perspective, it is critical to understand a patient's preferences amongst both drug kinds (brand and generics) as well as to discover what are the attitudes of patients on those and whether this impacts the actual behaviour and purchases in future because of their satisfaction levels. In this context, this paper is an early effort to investigate patients' attitudes and their effect on their level of satisfaction and switching intention in the pharmaceutical industry (i.e., generic and brand choices).
Responses were collected from 537 patients residing in different cities of Odisha state of India by survey method and analysis. In line with the study's results, patient satisfaction and switching intentions were positively affected by their attitude. In addition to patient pleasure, introducing generic drugs creates competition, which is necessary for originator businesses to innovate. Because of their lower costs and the competition, they foster, generic medications contribute to constructing a more sustainable healthcare system.
*(The paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Embracing Change & Transformation Innovation and Creativity 26-28 May 2022)

Effect of Patients’ Attitude on their Satisfaction and Switching Intention in Generic Medicine Industry: An Empirical Analysis in India


Purpose
This study aims at exploring the role of perceived disease seriousness in consumers’ preference for generic versus branded drugs, by shedding light on new factors impacting consumer purchase behaviour for pharmaceutical products.


Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory study based on a quantitative analysis has been conducted with a sample of 100 participants who have been presented with two different scenarios: one related to more serious disease (as in cardiological disease) and one related to less serious disease (as in the seasonal flu). This paper considered Italy as a research setting where the recent mandatory prescription of the active ingredient by doctors leaves the final purchase decision in consumers’ hands


Findings
Results show that, although consumers are free to choose whether to buy a branded or a generic prescribed active ingredient, their choice is mainly driven by the role of the brand. Consumers’ intention to buy generic drugs is higher in the case of diseases perceived as less serious, while the intention to buy branded drugs is higher in the case of disease perceived as more serious.


Originality/value
This study contributes to marketing research and practice by proposing that consumers’ perceived seriousness of their disease should be considered as a further factor in identifying new marketing strategies in those contexts in which the choice between branded or generic drugs is free.


Branded vs. Generic drugs: the role of self-perceived seriousness of disease

Pharmaceutical industry is a fastest growing industry in India. It is valued at above US 40 billion dollars. India exports large amount of drugs to difference parts of the world. Nowadays people are conscious of what they buy. Even if doctors prescribe a medicine, consumers resort to internet to get more information on the medicine before they consume it.  Consumers have different perceptions on various kinds of drugs. Understanding the consumer attitude towards drugs will help the marketers to formulate marketing strategies better. The present study examines as to what the consumers look out when they reach to purchase a drug from the pharmacy.  This paper scrutinizes and gives insights on consumer behavior and their attitudes towards buying different types of pharmaceuticals (like over-the counter drugs, herbals, ayurvedic, analgesics etc). The paper highlights the importance of factors like price, trust and  brand in making importance purchase decisions. Further it was also observed that most of the people prefer buying over-the-counter drugs, which might end up being misused by the consumers. However, it was also found that consumers try to be well-aware of the medicine before buying or consuming it. Along with it, price sensitivity is something which majorly dominates the buying behavior of the consumers.

https://pharmascope.org/index.php/ijrps/article/download/1649/2340

Consumer buying behavior and attitude towards pharmaceuticals

Dear Editor,India, which is the largest producer of generic drug across the globe, started its vaccination drive in January 2021.1 On a humanitarian ground, India exported COVID-19 vaccines to diff...

COVID-19 and second wave: can India become self-sufficient in vaccines?

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00332747.2021.1989856

Tony P Jose

Papers

Consumer buying behavior and attitude towards pharmaceuticals

COVID-19 and second wave: can India become self-sufficient in vaccines?

Prevalence of Thanatophobia and Necrophobia in India during the COVID-19 Pandemic Due to Black Fungus Infections.

Death Anxiety and Mental Health: A Case Analysis of Vaccination Hesitancy and Intervention Techniques.