Group 10 - Section C

ANSHIK YADAV (2012IPM014)

BONANI SAHU (2015PGP082)
JOLLY MONDAL (2015PGP159)
MRIGANKA SEKHAR BORAH (2015PGP210)
NIKHIL JOSEPH (2012IPM067)
RYAKALA ABHINAV (2015PGP317)
SOWMYA M RAJ (2015PGP371)
BIOCON: Launching a New Cancer Drug in India
Who is the buyer for BIOMAb?
Since the BIOMab was to be priced at international prices (approx. Rs.240000 to Rs.300000), we assume that
the target customers were the upper middle class customers suffering with head/neck cancer.
Also, the company aimed to make it affordable to the Indian customers, most of whom did not have a health
insurance. Also, since the treatment was six-dose, it limits the price to 300000*6 = Rs.1800000 (as compared
to infinite dosage for Erbitux). This one treatment, albeit expensive, is still affordable by the middle income
families in India; especially when it provides such promising results.
What is the decision making unit in this case?
The decision making unit:
The decision making unit consists the patient and their families firstly, when they decide whether to and what
type of treatment to go through, based on the doctors recommendation.
BIOMab could be sold directly to doctors, who suggest the treatment to the patients. Here, the decision makers
are mostly the doctors, as patients generally trust the recommended treatment.
Also, it could be sold through traditional pharmacies, which allows them to deliver to the needs of some doctors
who recommended these outlets to patients.
Thus the target market (and thus, the decision makers) consists of the specialists of the less than 300
oncologists in the market (as explained by Basak).

What are the benefits each member of the decision making unit seeks from BIOMAb?

Since the doctors depend a lot on sales reps to educate the families and patients, it
is not unusual for the sales reps to spend two to three hours with the patient
explaining the product and its usage.
As mentioned in the case, being a life threatening disease, there is high anxiety
among the patients and families. These families seek assurance and trust with the
doctor and the pharmacy. The aim of the company is to provide exactly this and
thus gain competitive advantage.
The pharmacies will seek for benefits like higher profit margins and the doctors will
seek benefits such as increasing goodwill and maybe a %age of the profit margin for
recommendation.