 | Prof. Tat ChanSenior Editor of Marketing Science Philip L. Siteman Professor of Marketing Washington University |
Professor Tat Chan is the Philip L. Siteman Professor of Marketing in Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. He received a Ph.D. in Economics at Yale University in 2001. His research interests are in empirical modeling various types of consumer and firm behaviors, offline and online, using econometric methodologies. He has conducted a wide range of research in the domain of economics and marketing. His research has been published in top economics and marketing journals. He currently serves as a senior editor at the journal of Marketing Science.
Physician Education Seminars and the Effects on New Drug Prescriptions: Evidence from Verquvo
Abstract:
Using data from an online healthcare platform in China, we study the effects of physician education seminars, an important marketing activity that focuses on providing physicians medical knowledge without any in-person interactions with or monetary incentives from pharmaceutical firms, on physicians’ prescription choices of the new cardiac drug Verquvo. The causal effects are identified from the variation in the timing of seminars across geographical regions. The stringent regulatory environment in China also helps rule out confounders arising from other marketing activities. We find that participating in a seminar will increase a physician’s prescriptions of the drug by 28.8%, while reducing that of other drugs by 17.8%, suggesting these seminars are highly effective for drug promotion. The effects are not due entirely to the seminars’ informative function: the prestige of seminar speakers also plays a significant persuasive role. We also find a strong spillover effect, as participating in seminar will also increase the prescriptions of the physician’s colleagues in the same hospital. We use these results to predict the revenue and profit of running seminars to promote the drug.
Authors:
Jingcun Cao, Tat Chan, Echo Wen Wan, Fangmin Xie, Wenjing Xiang