Marketing Practices in Pharmaceutical Industry in Kathmandu

Abstract

In the area of pharmaceutical marketing, ethical dilemmas are common, and the use of financial incentives influences doctors' prescribing habits and causes a rise in prices in a sector that is mainly dependent on imports, especially in the fraught situation of the pandemic transition to digitalization. The study, which has crisis constraints, used a quantitative approach and convenience sampling to survey the marketing representatives with self-administered questionnaires. Age and experience played moderate roles in the demographics and the analyses showed that public relations surpassed print media as the leading promotional tool with little effect from gender. The efficiency gain that these practices entail, however, raises the concern of undue commercial influence over healthcare decisions, which is exacerbated by supply chain vulnerabilities. The marketing representatives, doctors, and suppliers' relationships are at the center of the inquiry influencing the market change. The hypotheses validated disclosed positive relations resulting in moderate correlations and increased awareness that in turn facilitate drug availability and acceptance. The study highlights the marketing's role as both an inventor and potential disruptor, thus necessitating the institutions to enforce the use of the rational drug policy. The future studies should cover the shifts in the digital sphere and the country-wide drug governance, thus strengthening the regulatory frameworks in the developing countries.