Essay - Crestor's Product Life Cycle: the Bloom is Off the Statin...

Crestor's Product Life Cycle: The bloom is off the statin drug rose

Appropriately enough when analyzing the life cycle of a medical product such as the cholesterol-lowering ***** drug Crestor, it is worthy of note that a commercial product's ***** cycle ***** based upon a living organism's biological life cycle. "For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); ***** shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (matur*****y)." (Marketing Teacher, "Product Life *****," 2004) Then, after a (traditionally) long period as ***** adult ***** plant begins to shrink and die out and decline.

*****, ***** a period ***** development, a product is introduced or launched into the market. Hopefully, for its makers, it gains more and more customers as it grows in reputation ***** customers desire to use it more and more, and see its value in their daily lives. Then, eventually the ***** stabilizes and the product becomes mature. Competitors seize some of the market share ***** deploy other systems ***** maximizing ***** own ***** chains. After a period of time the product ***** overtaken by development and the introduction of superior competitors, it goes into decline and is eventually withdrawn. Of course, most *****s fail in ***** introduction phase. Others have very cyclical maturity phases where *****s reverse, and the life ********** begin again as the product ***** promoted and regains customers ***** market share. (Marketing Teacher, "Product Life Cycle," *****)

The drug *****, however, burst onto ***** *****, rather than slowly unfurling in the public's view. Usually, at the beginning ***** a product life cycle, *****re are limited numbers of ********** available in few channels of distribution. But the demand for the drug was so tremendous, as it created an almost immediate impression. Although officially disclaimed, many consumers felt one could simply pop a pill to lower one's cholesterol. "Some*****s, people resist taking medicine to ***** their cholesterol because they think all they need is willpower. They think if they just cut a little more f*****t out of ***** diet, and make it ***** the gym once ***** each week, ***** should do it. But studies have shown that, for many people, diet ***** exerc*****e *****n't lower cholesterol enough. One re*****on is that most of ***** cholesterol in our blood is made right inside our bodies, by the liver," the *****a targeted by the *****. ("Ab***** Crestor," Official site, 2004)

Th***** except of official advertising encapsulates the drug's appeal. What was there to lose, ***** patients reasoned, by ***** the drug, as side effects *****med so minimal? According to the web ***** seem "the most common ***** effects are muscle pain, constipation, weakness, and stomach *****." ("Side Effects," Official site, 2004) Thus, from the beginning, ***** relied upon captive product pricing and innate attraction in *****-conscious consumers. Some products must create demand, but for Crestor the demand was there, thus it could charge a premium price w*****h its ***** audience. (***** T*****er, "Pric*****g," 2004)

***** ***** was first introduced,