Have you ever been into a pharmacy to buy a pharmacy-
only drug? What was that experience like? Was there a lengthy discussion of the suitability of that drug and discussion of alternatives or was it a cursory, ‘Have you used it before? OK then, here it is’? What that represents is the front line of the pharmaceutical industry and manufacturers depend heavily on pharmacists’
advice if a drug is not on prescription.
The market for drugs, while heavily regulated, is changing and that is largely due to the way in which consumers are allowed to buy. In most EU countries many drugs are dispensed on prescription only. That means visiting the doctor to get a prescription to take to the pharmacist who provides exactly what the doctor ordered, as required by law along with information about dosage and frequency. There are, however, two other categories of medicine that do not require prescriptions. There are category P medicines that can only be sold under the supervision of a pharmacist. P medicines might require a discussion with the pharmacist before dispensing, which could vary from an in-depth exploration of symptoms and other medication that the patient is taking, to a cursory check.
Rarely are consumer requests for P medicines refused by pharmacists. The other type is called the general sales list (GSL), for the dispensation of which no pharmacy training is required, and staff do not even have to interact with the consumer by asking questions.
Typically, these GSL products are widely sold in supermarkets, grocery stores and garages as well as more traditional pharmacy outlets. Examples include painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen. The decision as to which category a drug falls into is taken by each nation’s regulatory agency. For P and GSL medicines, no prescription is required and effectively it’s the consumer who makes the final decision; a buyer-behaviour situation which the drugs companies are trying to influence. For the purposes of this case study, from now on P and GSL medicines will be referred to collectively as OTC (over the counter) medicines.

Questions 

1. What kind of influences might affect the problem recognition, information search and information evaluation stages for a consumer buying an OTC medicine?
2. What are the risks of consumers considering OTC drugs, such as painkillers, as routine response purchases, and how can the marketers counteract them?
3. Assess GSK’s approach to marketing Alli in the UK. To what extent do you think it is appropriate or sufficient for a category P drug?
4. How might the decision-making process for buying an OTC medicine differ between a pharmacist wanting to re-sell it and a consumer wanting to self-medicate?