Brand positioning in pharma is all about capitalizing on hesitation. Positioning ≠ efficacy claims.
🔮Most pharma brand positioning statements on a visual aid, or a tagline of the brand, do not change how clinicians think. The belief that the positioning statement or the tagline will translate into brand recall or prescriptions is a myth. Why?
👨🏻⚕️Because when a clinician is choosing between therapies, they are not thinking ‘Which brand has the best tagline’.
Most brands make the mistake of focusing on the disease rather than a specific patient profile.
Good positioning lets a doctor say:
✅ “Yes—this is the drug I think of when I see that patient
🤷♀️For a clinically relevant brand positioning, try framing your brand around one unresolved clinical question (the hesitation in choosing a drug). The brand should own a decision moment.
Let us take an example of ARNI in heart failure. In heart failure, almost every guideline-recommended drug today can claim:
✔ Guideline support
✔ Mortality benefit
✔ Strong trial data
Yet, when a clinician sees a particular patient, the questions in his/her mind might be:
👉 Can I start ARNI NOW —or should I wait?
👉 Will it destabilize my patient’s BP or kidneys?
👉 What should I drop if I add ARNI?
That’s HESITATION. And that is an opportunity to position your brand.
🥀Weak positioning says:
“This drug reduces CV death and HF hospitalizations.”
🏋🏻♀️Strong positioning says:
“This is the drug you reach for when you want to act early—without destabilizing the patient.”
💯A simple test for HF brand positioning. Ask this question to yourself:
Which heart-failure patient makes my brand the obvious choice?
If the answer is “most patients with HF,” you have no brand positioning.
🥀Weak positioning:
“ARNI is superior to ACE inhibitors.” Weak because that is known to a clinician
🏋🏻♀️ Strong positioning:
“Move to ARNI early, once the patient is stable, not perfect.”
🫀👩🏻⚕️If a cardiologist can say:
“This is the patient where I should stop waiting further and switch to ARNI,” your ARNI brand has positioning.
But “Strong data. Guideline-recommended” is NOT brand positioning
Brands win by answering the clinician’s hesitation at one critical moment.
That is positioning.
It lets the clinician say✅ “Yes—this is the drug I think of when I see that patient.”
Try NOT to make your brand relevant to all patients. Choose your patients to create a brand.
You can see 2 actual case studies where I helped my clients with brand positioning. One was for ARNI https://medicomindspro.com/creating-a-brand-persona-when-launching-a-branded-generic/ and the other for rivaroxaban https://medicomindspro.com/recreating-a-brand-positioning-through-a-patient-persona-an-interesting-case-of-a-rivaroxaban-brand/
MedicoMindsPro 