Key opinion leaders: used as a marketing tool by drug companies
Prescrire International
|July 25, 2012
Abstract:
In marketing, "key opinion leaders" are used to influence purchasing behaviour through their perceived position of authority. In drug marketing, key opinion leaders are renowned physicians and other healthcare professionals on whom the medical profession rely when forming an opinion on a drug or practice. Pharmaceutical companies use key opinion leaders as marketing tools to promote their drugs or influence the decisions of regulatory agencies and other institutions. Opinion leaders are carefully handled and their management is often outsourced to specialised marketing agencies.
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