DEPARTMENT: AMITY Institute of Biotechnology

SUBJECT : Consumer Behavior

Topic : Consumer perception on the use of Antibiotics and

vaccine.

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Dr.Aparna GOYAL
1.OP ANURAG: A0500117003
2.Aakash: A0500117009
(MBA BIOTECHNOLOGY)
INTRODUCTION
Microorganisms play a very important role in ecological stability. They are ubiquitous in the
environment where they play a very important role in natural recycling of living material. For
medical purposes, they are used as antibiotics, vaccines for treating various infections and other
ailments .

Antibiotics
Antibiotics are one of the secondary metabolites produced by bacteria, fungi. They are one of
the most powerful medicines being used today to fight microbial infections. The word antibiotics
mean “against life”. And any drug that kill germ in your body are technically an antibiotics. There
main role is to either kill the microbe or to keep them from reproducing. Most of them are
obtained from natural habitats such as soil, water and air. Antibiotics are widely present in the
environment and play an important role in the regulation of the microbial population of soil and
water. Wide variety of antibiotics are present in the nature. Only a few are non-toxic and used
for medical purposes. Those that are of great use are derived from a small group of
microorganisms belonging to the genera of Penicillium, Streptomyces, Bacillus, Cephalosporin
etc.
Antibiotics which are produced as secondary metabolites are mainly obtained from the soil. So
species like Streptomyces are studied continuously for their ability to produce antibiotics.
Penicillin is one such antibiotic. It was produced in 1928 by Fleming. Research on this led to the
development of further antibacterial compounds.
Another such antibiotic is Streptomycin. Developed by Waksman in 1944 from a species of soil
bacteria called Streptomyces griseus, it has proven valuable to act against tuberculosis.
Chloromycetin, another widely used antibiotic, acts powerfully against infectious bacteria which
can be either gram positive or gram negative bacteria.
Vaccine
Vaccines are used to prevent infection. They work by using parts of the pathogen or a whole
inactive pathogen to stimulate the immune system. When our body meets a live pathogen during
an infection, the pathogen is recognized by a primed immune system and can swiftly mount a
response to eradicate the infection.
There are two types of vaccines :-
1. Adjuvant vaccine
2. Non- adjuvant vaccine

An adjuvant is an ingredient of a vaccine that is used to create a stronger immune

response in the patient’s body. It also helps the vaccines to perform better. Most of the
vaccines which are made today are adjuvant based vaccines.
 Literature Review

Today antibiotics are playing a very important role in the medicine sector saving millions
of lives. They act against the harmful bacteria and stop them from production. It is a highly
booming industry where, at present, a lot many pharmaceutical companies are producing
antibiotics and trying to be the market leader. Peoples’ views regarding the use of
antibiotics, how many prefer them and what is the reason behind their preference and
non-preference. Analysis of the results and the conclusion of the same is given. Studies
towards the most commonly use antibiotics and its pricing strategy in the market is also
done.

Research methodology
An exploratory research done by qualitative method is chosen for this research. It is done
in order to study the behavior of the consumer when it comes to the use of antibiotics
and to study at what rate the antibiotic industry is booming in India.

Objective:
1. To find out the consumer perspective regarding use of antibiotics.
2. What are the reasons that antibiotic medicines are sold faster as compared to other
medicines?
3. To explore the current market trend where antibiotics are sold at a very demanding
rate and what is the reason behind it and its pricing strategy.

Different forms of antibiotics

Antibiotics, as discussed above, are used in the prevention of antibacterial infection and are most
commonly used in the medical sector. There are many forms of antibiotics which help in curing
of infections. But my focus is on hepatitis b and penicillin. Penicillin is an antibiotic made from
fungus. It was developed by Fleming. The substance turned out to be an antibiotic that works by
inhibiting the bacterial cell wall enzyme D-alanine carboxypeptidase. Antibiotics used in the
prevention are sodacillin and Fortified Procaine Penicillin.
Why use Antibiotics?

 A bactericidal antibiotic (penicillin, for instance) kills the bacteria; these drugs usually
interfere with either the formation of the bacterium's cell wall or its cell contents
 A bacteriostatic stops bacterium from multiplying.
 A broad-spectrum antibiotic can be used to treat a wide range of infections. A narrow-
spectrum antibiotic is only effective against a few types of bacteria. Some antibiotics
attack aerobic bacteria, while others work against anaerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria
need oxygen, anaerobic bacteria don’t.
 They are very useful in medical sector, especially for cancer treatment. When
chemotherapy is done, our body gets prone to many infections. At that time, we need
antibiotics to fight against such infection.

Interpretation and analysis based on Public Perception on Antibiotics

Antibiotics play a very important role in medical sector as it helps in curing many infections. But
it has some demerits too. One such issue is people having less knowledge of antibiotics and they
don’t know how to use it, when to use it and at what dose. Many interventions have been
developed to attempt to reduce inappropriate prescribing and use. Those that have been
successful have had limited impact, and may not be sustainable in the longer term. One such
method involved a researcher perform a test where they explore the meaning of medication.
Method used were qualitative in nature.
Qualitative methods were chosen to allow the researchers to explore the meanings of
medications and their use in households in depth, and to respond to participant views of what is
important without imposing pre-conceived ideas about the topics. Ethnographic methods were
used to collect data from 7 focus groups from 59 households. Households, rather than
individuals, were the primary unit of data-gathering so that we could explore relationships
between household members and medicine-taking and explore the storage and use of medicines
within these households. They specifically sought different types of households: those with
children, those where one or more member has a chronic illness, those who used complementary
and alternative medicines, and households of a specific ethnicity (e.g., Tongan households).
Participant households which they met were purposefully sampled. This is appropriate in
qualitative research, where the aim is not to obtain a statistically representative sample and
make statistical inferences from the results, but rather to obtain an information rich sample and
make logical inferences from that sample.
Households were recruited through informal networks, advertising, and through health-related
organizations. For example, to recruit those with a chronic illness, organizations representing
people with illnesses were asked to suggest potential participants. Research team members from
particular ethnic groups recruited households through their informal networks and through
snowball sampling. However, many of the participant households fitted into more than one
category, for example, they may have children, use alternative medicines and have a member
with a chronic illness. A range of types of households were included, such as couples, single
parents with children, couples with children, and three generation households. Participants were
from a range of socio-economic positions such as professional and non-professional occupations,
retired people, people reliant on unemployment or other benefits. Within each participating
household, all household members participated in the research. Most participating households
volunteered by responding to an advertisement or request from an agency or a friend or
colleague.
Results from the discussion
The result which came from this method was that most of the people try to avoid antibiotics as
it has severe side effects on them
Mostly used antibiotics and its pricing strategy

Penicillin is one such antibiotic that is used to treat infections caused by bacteria. They work by
killing the bacteria or preventing their growth. There are several different kinds of penicillin. Each
is used to treat different kinds of infections. One kind of penicillin usually can’t be used in place
of another. In addition, penicillin is used to treat bacterial infections in many different parts of
the body. They are sometimes given with other antibacterial medicines (antibiotics

PRICING STRATEGIES
1. VACCINES
a> HEPATITIS b
Hepatitis b is a viral infection that attacks the liver and causes both chronic and acute
disorders. This virus is transmitted through contact of blood with other body fluids.

Drug used for curing Hepatitis B:

1. Engerix B:
1.1. It’s an immunizing agent used to prevent hepatitis b infection.
1.2. It is taken in the form of an injection.
1.3. Price: Rs399 per injection.
1.4. Manufacturing company: GlaxoSmithKline

2. Enivac HB:
2.1. It is also an immunizing agent which is used to prevent hepatitis b
infection.
2.2. It is taken in the form of an injection.
2.3. Price: Rs170 per injection.
 2.4. Manufacturing company: Panacea Biotec.

Analysis: Both the vaccines are good and help in curing hepatitis b but the reason for the
lower price of Enivac HB produced by Panacea Biotec is that it is a well-established and renowned
company with a good profit rate in the production of vaccine. So, to be more profitable in the
market, it has reduced the price of Enivac HB to attract more buyers.

2 Antibiotics
a> Penicillin: It’s an antibiotic made from fungus. It was developed by Fleming. The substance
turned out to be an antibiotic that works by inhibiting the bacterial cell wall enzyme D-
alanine carboxypeptidase. This enzyme catalyzes the formation of bonds between
peptidoglycan polymers in the bacterial cell wall. If this enzyme cannot function, the cell
wall is weakened, resulting in bacterial death.
Antibiotics used are:
1. Sodicillin
1.1. It contains Penicillin G as an active ingredient.
1.2. It works by killing the bacteria by interrupting the bacterial cell wall
formation.
1.3. Price: Rs5 per vial
1.4. Company: Hindustan antibiotics

2. Fortified Procaine Penicillin

2.1. It is an antibiotic that fights against bacteria.
2.2. Price: Rs6 per vial
2.3. Company: Alembic LTD

Analysis: Both the companies are doing great in the market and both the
antibiotics are good. Reason for the lower price of antibiotic sodicillin is to
attract the buyers. More the buyers, more the profit.

STRATERGY USED BY COMPANIES

After reading and observing the products of various companies, I came to a conclusion that in
order to attract buyers, the trustworthy companies lower their prices so that their product is
easily taken. More the product sold, more is the profit for the company and hence, their brand
name and brand value increases.