Why LDN matters!
Many people do not know about the benefits of LDN.
LDN is not marketed by the large drug companies because it is off patent and they don’t make money. Therefore many people overpay or worse continue to suffer. LDN matters because many people could benefit.
And for your pharmacy, LDN matters because it makes good business sense. How much sense? Well let’s look at the statistics.
How big is your LDN Catchment Area?
Combining all the statistics, we estimate a guideline of 12.2% of the population in your catchment area will have 1 of the main condition categories that LDN can address.
Note, this analysis does not include all the listed conditions that LDN could address, such as depression.
If your pharmacy’s catchment area has 100,000 people, the guideline suggests that about 12,200 people will be suffering from the highlighted conditions that LDN can address.
Despite, the prescription value of LDN being relatively low e.g $40-$45, the Total Available Market or TAM in a catchment area of 100,000 people totals $5.8m.
Uniquely, LDN is a medication that is largely exclusive to pharmacies specializing in compounding. So you may not have to split the TAM with too many competitors.
5 Key Tactics to Market and Grow your Pharmacy’s LDN Business
Many patients could benefit from using LDN and deserve to hear about LDN, yet few do. Here are 5 key tactics to building your LDN business.
Build Awareness: Building brand awareness is the start point. Get in front of your target audience with the correct content is key. Your target audience are the people suffering from chronic pain and may have pain associated with fibromyalgia, cancer, neuropathic, autoimmune, thyroid or HIV/Aids. The correct content addresses chronic pain and highlights the diversity of conditions that LDN can address.
Top-Of-Mind Awareness: TOMA advertising yields great long-term benefits. Not everyone will consider LDN today, so advertising for a month or two is a waste. Reminding a large group of patients, who are most likely to benefit from LDN, about your pharmacy’s unique selling position over and over is most beneficial.
Educate Patients: Look at LDN from a patient perspective. LDN appears to be a wonder drug – a 50 year old, off-patent drug that can help with 200+ conditions? As well as slowing the disease progress, LDN can help to alleviate or reduce chronic pain.What a message and one that possible patients could find hard to believe. Successful pharmacies address this and provide continuous education for patients. Monthly seminars or workshops are key. The seminars provide a forum for prospective patients to learn about LDN from you the expert. And for patients to discuss it among themselves. They may not buy immediately, but they will continue to attend until they are convinced and ready to buy. Plus a seminar helps to spread the word – bring a friend, for example.
Facilitate Physicians: The sheer diversity of conditions, that LDN could address, can make it difficult for physicians. Plus they have so many other options. Make it easy for your physicians. Create a LDN Prescription Guidance form and train them on its use. This helps providers know what dosages to write for.
Patient Onboarding: Sometimes overlooked, but absolutely key to long term success is how you onboard your patients. It must be systematic and professional.You have to help the patient get to a final dose. Initially, a patient may notice benefits such as improved sleep or an improvement in their mood before a reduction in pain. Different symptoms improve at different rates and tend to improve the longer the patient take the LDN. Patients must pay close attention to how they are feeling. You could even create a personal journal form for them.
Refill Assistant specializes in social advertising for community pharmacies.
