In December we predicted a wild ride in 2008 for pharmaceutical marketing research.

For pharmaceutical marketing research, I believe that 2007 constituted a tipping point.

Good, old-fashioned pharmaceutical marketing research--comparing Product A and Product B--is still being conducted, but the drop in genuinely new molecules has substantially reduced the amount.

I've heard a lot of chatter recently about whether pharma companies are spending less on marketing research than in previous years.

I have a confession. I dont go to the movies. I dont like the long lines, endless trailers for coming attractions, and Im not a big fan of buttered popcorn.

Yikes! A report recently came across my desk that served for me, as it should for every pharmaceutical marketing researcher, as a clear indicator that our business is going to be changing rather significantly in the next few years—and that we better get ready for those changes now.

Marketing guru Seth Godin has done it again. Each year, he publishes a book, examining marketing from a whole new perspective, and then spends the balance of the year giving lectures from it, while I sit and ponder what his latest thinking means for pharma marketing and marketing research.

At the recent PMRG conference, Dr. Glenna Crooks, president of Strategic Health Policy International, delivered an informative, yet daunting, presentation.

It is with great pleasure, anticipation and, admittedly, some trepidation that I write this first in a monthly series of observations on pharmaceutical marketing research and its future.