Salix Pharmaceuticals

Social

• Anti drug movements
• Increased awareness of diseases due to media campaigns
• Social media marketing techniques (Twitter, Facebook)
• Face-to-face interaction between pharmaceutical companies and doctors
  

Legal

• Patents
  • Patents expire
• Market Exclusivity
  • After a patent expires, a pharmaceutical company can apply for a period of market exclusivity

Economic

• During hard economic times, people might only buy generic drugs instead of name brand
• People are somewhat price sensitive 
• Research, marketing, etc. cost a lot of money, therefore, barriers to entry in the pharmaceutical industry are high

Political

• Affordable Care Act and other health care policy changes 
  • Medicare
    • The 65 and over population are prescribed are most drugs
  • Medicaid

Technological

• Aids in producing new drugs
• Companies must keep up with new forms of technology introduced in order to stay ahead of the competition