Essay on Metabical Case Study

The amount of obese and overweight individuals is increasing every year in the United States. With 33.9% of American adults obese, and 34.4% overweight, but not obese, more and more people are looking for any alternative to lose weight (Anonymous 2011). If someone told you that they knew of a weight loss pill that actually works, would you consider it?

Pharmaceutical products do not obey the rule of marginal utility. One gets no additional satisfaction by consuming an additional unit of a drug. The majority of consumers only take prescription drugs whenever they need them and are prescribed by a doctor. This means there is low likelihood of people taking more drugs to satisfy their desire, just like other goods.

Martin, a behavior analyst, is working with Sara, a 14-year-old girl with severe developmental delays who exhibits self-injurious behavior (SIB). The self-injurious behaviors included pulling her hair, biting her arm and banging her head against the wall. After conducting a functional analysis, Martin decided to employ an intervention program consisting of differential reinforcement of other (DRO) desired behavior. Martin collected data on Sara's SIB before and during the intervention. Below is a depiction of the data that Martin collected:

Drake, P. (n.d.). What is free cash flow and how do I calculate it? Florida Atlantic University, pp. 1-6. Retrieved from: http://educ.jmu.edu/~drakepp/general/FCF.pdf [Accessed: 6 Aug 2013].

The purpose of the “Systematic Review: An Evaluation of Major Commercial Weight Loss Programs in the United States” was to determine if what the individual companies offer the customers of their

Since Metabical is a prescription drug for weight loss which can only be bought via a prescription, the overweight patients are not the only decision makers involved. The health care providers are also decision makers in this process for they are the ones who prescribe the drug.

All patients regardless of healthy BMI or not should have their BMI check by a healthcare worker at least yearly. Patients that are noted to have one co morbidity and a BMI of 25 should be counseled on weight loss. Patients that are noted to be obese have a suggested weight loss goal of anywhere from 3% to 10%. Obesity is a lifestyle disease so it would only be right to have the next point beginning at changing your diet, and physical activity while still counseled by your healthcare worker. When dieting an individual’s diet should be tailored to their co morbidities if any present. Patient that need to be counseled will need to be advised on how to reduce their caloric intake while gradually starting toincreasetheirworkouts and physical activity. A caloric restriction of 1800 kcal for men and 1500 kcal a day for women is usually recommended. Some patients may also benefit from different workout programs like group sessions or one to one sessions with a personal trainer. If those intervention fail and the patient has a BMI of 40 or more or a BMI of 35 or more with one or more comorbidities some form of bariatric surgery may be suggested. There are not many pharmaceutical treatments available for weight loss management. Many of these drugs on the market are known to have severe side effects such as cardiac

1. Table 8.1 shows results of an eight-center clinical trial to compare a drug to placebo for curing an infection. At each center, subjects were randomly assigned to two groups.

In order to position the product properly, it might be best to not emphasize the pill aspect of

In this report, Printup will provide all recommendations for the successfull marketing communication strategy and to ensure the long-term steady demand for Metabical. 3.1 IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM OVERVIEW OF OVERWEIGHT ISSUES IN THE UNITED STATE Excess weight is considered a public health crisis in the U.S, with approximately 65% of the entire adult population categorized as overweight, obese, or severely obese. Being overweight is related to a number of serious health complications, and according to the American Obesity Association in 2005, ³the second leading cause of preventable death in U.S. In addition to health risks, overweight individuals endure a significant social stigma as well as outright discrimination. Laziness and self indulgence are common stereotypes associated with this group. Many overweight people feel like social outcasts. The professional life of an overweight individual could also be negatively affected, as excess weight has been found to adversely influence, hiring decisions, wages, and promotions. Researchers and health care professionals measure excess weight using the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. The BMI scale, which calculates the relationship between weight and height associated with body fat and health risk, is appropriate for both men and women. It has three BMI categories of excess weight for adults:overweight (25 to 30); obese (30 to 40); and severely, or morbidly obese (over 40). According to CDC

Barbara Printup must determine the packaging for Metabical that will best capture the accurately forecasted demand of the target market. With many substitutes for weight loss in a variety of packages and price points, it will be important to create a package that can be priced in a way to both drive sales and continued use of the 12-week drug.

Have you ever had a colonoscopy or endoscopy – where they take a camera and look through your mouth down into your stomach; or a camera that goes in your rectum that looks through your bowel and intestines?

+ To be effective, the drug had to be a constant presence in the blood stream, so the optimal package would be a days-of-the-week package similar to birth control, this for easily keep track of dosing by seeing each pill and its corresponding day of the week.

Barbara Printup, Senior Director of Marketing for CSP, is in charge of managing the upcoming launch for Metabical. After an analysis of a 2007 survey of overweight individuals, it concluded that 70 percent of respondents are not satisfied with their current weight, 35 percent are actively trying to lose weight, and 15 percent are comfortable using prescription drugs to help reach their weight-loss goals. Out of these respondents, 12 percent said they would immediately make an appointment with their health care provider and request a prescription. The ideal Metabical consumer was determined by Printup and found to be overweight college-educated females ages 35 to 65.

Program I would be the least effective as it is the 2nd highest in turnover (30%) and has the least weekly profit ($5,700)