Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry Essay Example

Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry Essay Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: We will write a custom essay sample on Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Factors and Indicators Affecting Past and Projected Sales in the Ovarian Cancer Industry Introduction Many factors and indicators exist that influence the past and projected sales in all service industries. Most of these factors are the same irrespective of the different and diverse services offered in the current market. The medical industry is one of them since it offers services to the people. Specifically, this paper deals with factors and indicators that affect the past and projected sales of ovarian cancer services. Just like any other service, several factors affect its sales such as technology, government policies, economy of the country, social demographics and the industry leaders. Ovarian cancer has been recognized as the most lethal gynecologic cancer. The following diagram shows the death rate of all races in United States since 1999 70 2009. It is takes up 3% of cancer in women (Ovarian Cancer National Alliance 2010). http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/statistics/race.htm Factors Affecting Sales of Ovarian Cancer Services Technology Factor Ovarian cancer is the type of cancer that affects women in the ovaries. It is estimated that ovarian cancer affects about 20,000 women every year in the United States. In 2009, 20,460 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 14,436 died out of it in the same year. It is also ranked the fifth leading death cancer after several others in women. Just like other services, ovarian cancer cervices are influenced by several factors. The first one is technology that affects all services. When there is better technology for screening of ovarian cancer, many people will want to go for the test due to the importance of having it. However, if the technology is expensive, it will discourage many people from going for the screening. One of the technologies that are likely to increase sale of ovarian cancer services is nanotechnology, which researchers ascertain that it has the ability to kill the cancerous cells without eliciting the side effects seen in chemotherapy such as loosing hair. With such technology, patients will be encouraged to use it since it reduces other side effects and is far more effective and safer as opposed to the other technologies. On the other hand, ovarian cancer is not very popular and its screening methods have not been effective. The technology used such as conducting blood test for a cancer marker known as antigen-125 or the use of trans-viginal ultrasonography on healthy women. Many of the women put in further testing after signs of ovarian cancer using this methods end up not having the cancer. Further testing includes surgery, which leaves other side effects. Therefore, such technology affects sales negatively since health groups have recommended against it based on reasons that it does not reduce ovarian cancer deaths and causes harm to patients after further screening. Thus, it is not effective and discourages sales of ovarian cancer services. The current screening methods of ovarian cancer are not effective and could end up causing even more harm to the patients who might be healthy. Therefore, this discourages many healthy women from going for such screening using this technology unless they show the symptoms. However, if the new nanotechnology proves to be effective, it is bound to increase the sales in the future. Therefore, one can say that technology affects past and prospective sales of ovarian cancer services. The United States Economy Economy of any country determines the amount of money people are willing to spend on healthcare. During a recession, majority of the people prefer to save more and spend less. During such a time, many people will consider going for medical test especially if they have no symptoms indicating they should. For instance, considering the time the recession had hit, the projected sales for ovarian cancer clearly went down than expected since very few people were willing to spend money on healthcare issues. Furthermore, ovarian cancer treatment and screening like any other type of cancer is quite expensive and rarely can the majority afford. For instance, it takes from around $40,000 to $50,000 to treat cancer in the United States. This makes it quite expensive and sometimes more expensive than a person’s annual earning especially for the low income earners. With such a huge amount of money to pay, many people will avoid such services until the cancer has already spread to the stomach area. The screening cost runs at around $80 for the CA-125 test while an ultrasound might cost $600. Although this is not quite expensive, further screening is more expensive and has largely been considered ineffective. The fact that it is harmful makes many women refrain from taking the risk associated with screening. In the United States, the economy has a bigger impact on healthcare than any other country. Many people are covered by healthcare insurances such as the Medicare and employers who pay for some of the medical expenses. When the economy is down, these employers, usually companies and other organizations find it hard to provide medical cover for their employees especially when hit hard by the economy. Therefore, when employees are not well covered by their employer, it becomes more expensive for them to buy ovarian cancer services. Therefore, when companies face economic crisis, one of the things they do is downsize their labor force where some people loose their jobs. When this happens, those who loose their jobs have no means of paying for such services. This way, the economy influences the medical cover of people who need ovarian cancer. This is again discussed in the subtopic of unemployment. Therefore, a decline in the economy affects past and prospective sales where people may not be willing to spend their money on screening or other ovarian cancer services. Government Impact on Past and Prospective Sales of Ovarian Cancer A government of any country plays a big role when it comes to services including medical services such as provision of cancer treatment. The United States government plays a crucial role in medical services including cancer. For instance, it makes it mandatory for employers to cover their patients on healthcare issues. The government is responsible for making policies of healthcare as well as others. Therefore, depending on the policies the government imposes, sales will either go up or go down. For instance, when the government makes ovarian cancer screening a must for all women, the sales are likely to hike. Not only will sales for screening increase, but also sales for treatment for those diagnosed, who probably could not have gone for the screening. On the other hand, the government can issue funds to help in treatment of ovarian cancer where it pays for some of the costs while patients pay the other part. This makes it cheap for the women to go for ovarian cancer testing or screening. Additionally, the government can offer more funds to those investing in cancer treatment and researchers as well in order to make the treatment available to all women in need of ovarian cancer treatment. One example of government action that encourages better healthcare is the â€Å"affordable Care Act of 2010 that sought to make healthcare more affordable to the people. This included all health issues including cancer that is prevalent in United States. The reform sought to do this by ensuring that all people are covered by insurance in order to have enough support for their medical needs. With such a move, the government is sure to increase the sales of ovarian cancer since more women will be able to afford the services. Social Demographic Factors Social demographic factors play a major role in the past and prospective sales of ovarian cancer such as unemployment. Even though the government does provide some cover for healthcare to unemployed and poor people, it does not cover all costs especially for cancer treatment. Therefore, one still has to dig into their pocket for some money. When one has no income to sustain themselves medical services become a burden as well. Therefore, when the unemployment rate increases, the number of sales for ovarian cancer services might go down considering the costs associated with both treatment and screening. Unemployment reduces the number of people willing to go for tests and treatment considering other needs have to be fulfilled with the little that one might have. Within the social demographics, the awareness of the issue is a factor as well that can influence the number of sales. When more women and youths are well informed of the dangers posed by ovarian cancer, many could go for the screening in order to prevent it from occurring. Therefore, while unemployment will reduce sales, decreased awareness will increase the past and projected sales of ovarian cancer. Industry Leaders Within any industry including the medical industry, there are leaders that set the pace for others to follow. In the cancer industry, there are several players influencing the services. For instance, the companies that develop the equipment have a big role to play since the leader sets the pace and price at which to sell the equipments necessary for providing the services such as the chemotherapy equipments. When the leading manufacturer sets the prices at a lower price, the others are likely to lower, thus making hospitals acquire the equipments at better prices that translate to cheaper services. Cheaper services have the ability to increase sales. On the other hand, pharmaceutical manufacturers producing the drugs influence the sales as well. When the leading companies set the prices high, others follow and vice versa when they reduce the cost of drugs. Therefore, when prices for the drugs go up there is likely to be lower sales while a decrease means cheaper prices that can affec t the past and projected sales. Key indicators that have a significant impact on sales of ovarian cancer services Research suggests that majority of services ranging from banking, medical, food industry, among other services are affected by the same indicators. The indicators affect sales of these services as well as products within the services industries. This is because all services are directed towards the customer who is the most influential factor within any industry. In the ovarian cancer services, the same indicators affect the sales of these services. These indicators include customer activity, investor activity, inflation and unemployment that are discussed individually below. Customer Activity Currently, the United States market has seen an increase in the number of people going for screening as well as patients undergoing cancer treatment (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012). The advancement in cancer technology in United States has not only attracted patients nationally, but also internationally, where many patients go for treatment in United States. This has increased the sales within this market. Ovarian cancer has also come to the lime light as a major threat to humanity considering that it is estimated to stand at 204,000 people world wide with 125,000 deaths. It has been recognized as the most lethal gynecological malignancies in the developed world with patients diagnosed at an advanced level taking no more than five years to die. The awareness has seen an increase in customer activity concerning ovarian cancer where more and more women are going for the screening since diagnosis at an early stage of the disease increases chances of surviving after treatment. The following table shows the rate of survival within five years http://www.ovariancancer.org/about-ovarian-cancer/statistics/ Investor Activity The number of people and institutions investing in cancer treatment as well as its provision are increasing day by day due to the increasing demand for these services. The American market is not only attracting domestic investors, but also foreign investors. Considering that many consider the market is prospective and many foreigners seek services from United States, many investors are seeking to invest in United States. The investors are increasing considering that the share price of Novogen’s (ASX: NRT) went up more than doubled after an experiment on the anti-ovarian cancer drug CS-6showed that it was capable of killing the ovarian cancer cells as well as stem cancer cells found in several cancer types. The shares went up by 311% to reach $0.37 per share (Proactive Investors, 2013). This has attracted many investors to by its shares because of the expected sales it would make. The drug proves to be better since it has duo activity, where it acts against the normal ovarian cancer cells and the stem cancer cells as well that are more resistant to radiotherapy. With this drug, the industry is likely to see an increased number of patients going for the drug as opposed to the other methods that have more side effects. This investor activity is bound to see an increase in the sales of ovarian cancer drugs since more investors means more of its production. Inflation Inflation is the third indicator, which affects all services within a country. Inflation is the increase in the price of goods above normal prices. This is known to increase the prices of cancer services as well. Therefore, when the inflation increases, the sales are most likely to go down since not many people may be willing or be in a position to afford the high prices. However, this might be to the benefit of investors and stakeholders within the United States. New foreign investors will have a hard time since the cost of investing will be quite high. Ovarian cancer just like any other type of cancer is quite expensive to treat as well as screen. Therefore, inflation could affect the number of people willing to go for screening while many people may not afford the drugs. For instance, if the new drug CS-6 is unleashed during an inflation period, its price will be defiantly too high and many people could find it hard to buy. Therefore, inflation has the ability to influence sales of ovarian cancer services both positively of negatively since when there is a deflation more people can afford the services. Unemployment This is the fourth indicator of services performance where unemployed people have little to spend. When the unemployment rate is high, the number of people without employment is quite high and leads to less money for spending. Therefore, with high unemployment rate the sales of ovarian cancer services are likely to go down including other services. Unemployment determines the amount of money people have at their disposal for spending. This reduces the number of women going for ovarian cancer check up. However, those diagnosed with ovarian cancer might still go on with their treatment since they might have little choice to make considering they need the services for survival. Most of the people affected by unemployment are the youths although many of the elderly do not need employment. However, the distribution of ovarian cancer between the different ages is as shown below http://www.ovariancancer.org/about-ovarian-cancer/statistics/ Conclusion It is clear that ovarian cancer services just like other services within other industries are affected by the same factors as well as indicators. Technology is one of the factors affecting ovarian cancer services since it determines the effectiveness of the screening as well as treatment such as chemotherapy and other services. Other factors such as economy of the country, government, industry leaders and social demographics play a huge role as well. Indicators that affect the same, customer activity, investor activity, inflation and unemployment play a huge role in the sales of ovarian cancer services. Consideration of these factors and indicators can determine the effectiveness of ovarian cancer treatment I United States as well as other countries across the world. Work Cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ovarian Cancer Rates by Race and Ethnicity. cdc.gov, December 19, 2012. Web. April 03, 2013: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/ovarian/statistics/race.htm Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Statistics. ovariancancer.org, 2010. Web. April 03, 2013: http://www.ovariancancer.org/about-ovarian-cancer/statistics/ Proactive Investors. Novogen shares soar on the potential of its experimental anti ovarian cancer drug. proactiveinvestors.com, February 18, 20143. Web. April 03, 2013.