If you zoom out on India’s pharma market over the past 18 months, one pattern jumps off the page: marketing is no longer just about pushing brands; it’s about owning moments across the care journey - from the first symptom search to diagnosis, therapy start, adherence, and even sustainability expectations from doctors and payers.

The winners are reframing “promotion” as evidence, services, platforms, and purpose—and doing it measurably. This post brings together recent Indian examples and global parallels so readers can see where India sits in a worldwide shift.

What’s New: Fresh Moves by Indian Pharma:

• Corporate trust as a growth lever

Sun Pharma ran a large-scale multilingual corporate brand campaign in 2025 – TV, digital, OOH and OTT- explicitly positioning purpose to patients, physicians and talent. The campaign signals how corporate reputation is being deployed to protect and accelerate product launches.¹

• Consumerization & D2C pathways

Dr. Reddy’s launched a diabetes-focused direct-to-consumer platform, Celevida Wellness, aiming to combine commerce, education and services for people with Type 2 diabetes – an early Indian example of a product company building a services-and-data arm.²

• Disease-first awareness, compliance-forward

Alkem’s Reliever-Free India outreach (large camp footprint and inhaler training) exemplifies how Indian firms are investing in disease-awareness programs that drive correct use and build measurable public-health outcomes.³

• Sustainability in product differentiation

Lupin announced plans to use Honeywell’s Solstice Air (a near-zero‑GWP propellant) for pMDIs -moving sustainability into product choice and procurement conversations.⁴

• Portfolio shaping for sharper marketing

Biocon sold its India branded formulations business to Eris Lifesciences to focus Biocon Biologics on biosimilars and specialty – an explicit marketing and commercial refocus through portfolio design.⁵

• Performance media & culture-first acts

Mankind Pharma increased ad and promotion investment (FY25) and mounted high-frequency cultural placements (metro OOH, festival activations) while OTC brands like Micro Labs’ DOLO are leveraging sports partnerships for deeper regional penetration.⁶

Global Parallels: Comparable Strategic Moves Abroad:

• Direct-to-consumer platforms – LillyDirect and PfizerForAll

Eli Lilly’s LillyDirect (launched Jan 4, 2024) and Pfizer’s PfizerForAll (2024) are examples of major global pharma firms building platforms that combine telehealth connections, patient resources and home delivery – aiming to own parts of the care journey and shorten friction between diagnosis and treatment start.⁷

• Beyond-the-pill — Novo Nordisk & digital partnerships

Novo Nordisk has actively built digital partnerships and patient-support programs to improve onboarding, adherence and long-term outcomes for people on diabetes and obesity medicines -reflecting a strategic move from product to continuous care.⁸

• Real-World Evidence & platform acquisitions — Roche + Flatiron

Roche’s acquisition of Flatiron (announced Feb 2018) showed how pharma can integrate oncology-focused EHR/data platforms to generate RWE that supports outcomes claims, clinical development and product positioning – an early example of platforms becoming central to commercial strategy.⁹

• Performance and access-linked models

Across markets companies are experimenting with value/outcome-based contracting, digital therapeutics tie‑ups and service bundles that pay for verified starts or persistence rather than impressions – shifting commercial metrics from reach to results.

Why This Shift—Right Now:

• Compliance tightening. Regulatory codes and disclosure expectations push companies away from gray‑area inducement and toward transparent, outcomes-oriented programs.
• Platformized demand. E-pharmacies, marketplaces and hospital apps concentrate patient flows – owning (or partnering on) those flows creates a competitive moat.
• Specialty and outcomes pressure. As portfolios skew to biologics and specialty care, market access increasingly depends on adherence, persistence and RWE-backed value propositions.
• Sustainability salience. Green product attributes move from CSR to procurement levers in institutional tenders and buyer evaluations.

The Next: Plausible Futures:

A) Outcome-Backed Omnichannel

Marketing begins with adherence and persistence targets and reverse-engineers media, field and patient-support investments to hit those outcomes.

B) Platform Partnerships as Distribution

Co-branded digital pathways with hospitals, insurers and marketplaces replace many legacy trade schemes; contracts reward verified starts, not GRPs.

C) Green-Rx Differentiation

Climate credentials – low‑GWP propellants, recyclable packaging – become tender-winning features.

Risks to Watch:

• Compliance surprises when disclosures don’t align with activations.
• D2C initiatives without real services will have poor retention.
• Superficial purpose claims invite backlash; purpose must map to measurable patient and system benefits.

Suggesting A Checklist:

Five actions pharma leaders can start this week:

• Design for compliance: Turn UCPMP/Code needs into campaign requirements and audit trails.
• Own one patient journey end-to-end: Launch a staffed PSP/D2C pilot for a flagship therapy and track 90‑day persistence.
• Run twin-engine branding: Corporate trust campaigns + category growth programs measured separately.
• Green your hero SKU: Brief R&D + procurement + brand to produce a climate-impact target and timeline.
• Shape your portfolio for focus: Consider partnership/divestment to reallocate selling resources.

Conclusion: Closing Provocation:

For a decade Indian pharma marketing optimized messages and reach. The next decade will reward those who optimize behaviors and outcomes - with compliance, platforms and purpose built into launch plans from day one.

By: Tapan J. Ray

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

Sources

1. Sun Pharma corporate campaign press release / media note, May 2025 ↩
2. Dr. Reddy’s Celevida Wellness press release, Oct 25, 2023 – Economic Times coverage ↩
3. BW HealthcareWorld – Alkem Reliever-Free India coverage, 2023–24 ↩
4. Honeywell & Lupin joint release, May 2025 – Times of India coverage ↩
5. Reuters – Biocon divestment to Eris Lifesciences, Mar 14, 2024 ↩
6. Exchange4Media / Storyboard18 – Mankind Pharma campaigns and filings, 2024–25 ↩
7. Eli Lilly LillyDirect press release, Jan 4, 2024 / PfizerForAll press release, 2024 ↩
8. Novo Nordisk – NovoCare and digital partnership resources ↩
9. Roche acquisition of Flatiron press release, Feb 2018 ↩