Metabical Case

When innovations are made, companies sometimes struggle with pricing. The innovations may or may not meet the consumers desires. Medi-cult developed In Vitro Maturation (IVM) technique of making women pregnant. However, the success rate is low. Furthermore, the women are reluctant to repeat the process once the first trial fails. It is also expensive. A major threat to Medi-Cult is the stiff competition by other pharmaceutical companies. Good pricing criteria should be adopted to compete effectively while improving on meeting consumers’ demands.

Cost-plus pricing puts many distributors in a difficult position. Unless distributors manufacture the medical supplies they sell, they have difficulty offering competitive prices to customers while continuing to make reasonable profit margins. Applying only the cost-plus pricing method forces distributors to absorb the costs associated with holding, managing, and delivering inventory, regardless of the variations in weight, size or handling difficulties among different products. This is in addition to

In 2008, a marketing and positioning strategy was needed for Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceutical’s (CSP) new weight loss drug called Metabical. Metabical was touted as being a revolutionary weight loss drug with fewer negative side effects than the usual medicinal weight loss remedies.

There are multiple health concerns worldwide and more and more drugs are needed every day. Many drugs however, are extremely expensive to develop, test, and produce. According to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (2002), it costs up to $802 million to bring a new drug to the market. In 2002, pharmaceutical companies spent $34 billion in research and development (Center-Watch, 2003). In addition to the costs, the overall time from the discovery to approve and market the drug can take up to 15 years.

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.

All the weight presented was high numbers, Giselle C. lost 38 pounds, Rose U. lost 50 pounds, and Barbara N. lost 81 pounds. The stories does not sound authentic because some of the stories talked about the same situation, for example, they would talk about their traveling experience and described how they hated traveling on a plane because their seat belt was too tight or their fat would hang over the seat. All stories would emphasize how they didn’t have to work out to lose weight; all they did was just eat Jenny’s Cuisines. So that makes people feel like that don’t have to work out to lose weight, but health wise, you need to balance physical activity and a healthy diet in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Jenny Craig’s videos online interviewing their clients makes it sound like this program will work because their clients have all lost over 35 pounds and tells you how their life change because they have lost so much weight. Their support system really helps boost people’s self esteem because in a time of losing weight, they need a partner to motivate them and give them positive feedback. It has all give them confidence and their life style has changed drastically because they feel beautiful and

4)      What different factors does Printup use to identify an appropriate price for a package of Metabical?  What

Low because there are many alternatives Weight Watchers can turn to in order to stay successful

The important issue here is to build awareness of Metabical for the consumer, and then make sure that the consumer knows enough information about it. The more the advantages of safety, FDA approval and long term results due to the support program are advertised the easier it becomes for the consumer to like Metabical, and prefer it over Alli, or others. Once it becomes in the consumers consideration set he/she might develop the conviction to buy it, and eventually purchase it at the end. This hierarchy of effects model helps in knowing where to fit advertising. Media and the TV ads would spread knowledge and awareness to consumers (Direct to consumer advertising). Also the print ads in medical journals would help raise awareness amongst medical practitioners. The promotions like the informational pamphlets and the two high profile medical education events would also help in contributing to health care provider preference. The viral marketing campaign: Metabical Challenge contest and the contestant blogs in the social networking sites would greatly enhance consumer knowledge and preference as well. To succeed; it’s important to understand this hierarchy of effects: THINK, FEEL, and DO that the consumer goes through.

Recently, there has been a debate about the high prescription drug prices in the United States. Accounting for 9.7% of the national health expenditure, $329.2 billion was spent on prescription medications ($931 per person) in 2011 (Linton, 2014). So what exactly is the average American getting with their $931? Well, because there is an extraordinary amount of time, effort, and energy that goes into creating, manufacturing, and distributing a new drug, it’s no wonder the prices are so high. But what other costs are folded into the prices of your prescribed medications? This review looks beyond just the research and development costs needed to take a new drug from idea to shelf by examining several journals and other credible, secondary sources, to shed some light on how much pharmaceutical companies are spending to develop, advertise, and sell their drugs.

Partner with some of the largest health insurance plans to develop a specific program through Weight Watchers to be offered to members. Weight Watchers has the opportunity to increase revenues that may be paid by the health insurance corporations in return the members weight loss should provide an ROI to the health insurance company through decreased health insurance expenses.

“Metastasis is a complex process that involves the spread of a tumor or cancer to distant parts of the body from its original site.”[1] For the scratch assay experiment, cell migration is being measured through Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) using different controls: no treatment (media), camptothecin, a vehicle control, and the compound. To proceed with the experiment a wound was made to the cells, after the wound was made the cells were incubated, all of this to find cell metastatic on each of the different controls and see if it can be prevented, covering the wounded region. My hypothesis is that the camptothecin (control) will prevent metastasis due to the fact that this control is an anticancer treatment.

Purchasing decisions made by customers regarding weight management is biased and can easily be affected by many different things. Weight Watchers’ competition is anything that is perceived to be more effective or a more favorable weight management system. This industry is contingent on the customer demands, based on the popular appeal of the latest and greatest programs.

The prices of drugs by Pharmaceutical companies are dependent on various costs such as Production, Cost of R&D, Marketing & Distribution and Demand for the Drug4.

The three tablets offered by this company were introduced to the market at different times. The price of X5 and X6 were $285 and $ 430 respectively. During the same period, X7 was the cheapest at $190 per unit. The sales of each tablet show the diminishing trend with the highest records registered during the year of introduction (Lee, 2006).This is a common phenomenon in the technology industry as research and innovation are employed.