Pharma marketing in Kazakhstan: how to talk to doctors, pharmacists and patients
A pharma brand has three audiences, and each needs its own conversation: doctors need data, pharmacists need recognition and ready answers for the counter, patients need clear explanations and support. The law in Kazakhstan strictly limits advertising but does not limit useful content. That gap is where pharma content works.
Three audiences, three different conversations
| Audience | What it needs | Formats | What to avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctors | studies, design and conclusions, practical algorithms | newsletters, closed website sections, scales, conferences | advertising claims without data |
| Pharmacists | answers to customers' questions, respect for their role, burnout prevention | messenger newsletters, short guides, cases from the counter | a “salesperson in a white coat” tone |
| Patients | to understand what is wrong with them and stop worrying | media, social media, leaflets, events | scaremongering and promises of results |
What the law allows and prohibits
Advertising of medicines, medical devices and dietary supplements in Kazakhstan is regulated by the Code “On Public Health and the Healthcare System”, the Law “On Advertising” and Ministry of Health orders. The main rules:
- Prescription drugs may not be advertised in the media or to consumers. Materials about them are addressed to specialists only.
- Advertising of medicines and medical devices, including banners, video and audio online, undergoes a compliance review. The review takes 10 working days (Order No. ҚР ДСМ-288/2020).
- You may not call a drug the most effective or the safest, promise a guaranteed effect or no side effects, cite “naturalness” as proof of safety, or compare it with competitors.
- Doctors and pharmacists cannot be the faces of advertising for medicines. But the law does provide for scientific, educational and awareness content involving experts.
- Children: their images and voices may not be used unless the drug is for children.
- Dietary supplements: new rules have applied since July 2024: advertising must include the composition, directions for use, contraindications and the warning “not a medicine”.
The takeaway: the closer a piece is to advertising a drug, the more restrictions apply. The closer it is to education and usefulness, the more freedom the brand has. That is why strong pharma projects are built around a person's topic and problem, with the product built into it natively.
Cases: what it looks like in practice
Patients: “Life on Ultra”. Joint diseases are getting younger, but people aged 25–35 think of them as a topic for older people. For Teraflex Ultra, we created an Instagram media about sport for non-athletes with an orthopaedic surgeon and ambassador runners, and tied the launch to the Almaty Marathon. In the first two months, pharmacy sales grew by more than 90% and regional market share by 1.6%.
Pharmacists: the Ramadan newsletter. Instead of a greeting card, the story of the Nuriev family and a doctor's answers about diet during the fast. Sales of the three brands in the newsletter grew by 200% compared with the previous Ramadan.
Two audiences at once: “Pain Navigator”. The open part of the website tells patients about pain through culture, anthropology and evidence-based medicine and teaches them to describe pain to a doctor. The closed part for neurologists is evidence-based medicine only, with access via a newsletter.
Why you cannot do without a medical editorial team
In pharma, a mistake in a text is a risk to the reader's health and to the company's reputation. A medical editorial team checks every claim against sources, makes sure the text does not turn into advertising for a prescription drug, and makes complex things clear without distortion. At TELLER Kazakhstan, a medical editorial team and external medical experts work on pharma projects.
Pharma content checklist
- It is clear which of the three audiences the piece is for
- Every medical claim is backed by a source
- Prescription drugs are mentioned only in materials for specialists
- No words like “the most”, “guaranteed”, “no side effects”
- Advertising materials for medicines have passed the compliance review
- Dietary supplements carry the warning “not a medicine”
- There are versions in Kazakh and Russian
Sources: Pravosite.kz: regulation of healthcare advertising · AdIndex: what has changed in drug advertising · Zakon.kz: 2024 rules for advertising dietary supplements