An investigation was performed into the current marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies through a literature search, case studies and interviews. The literature search focussed on the regulations and guidelines that control the promotion of pharmaceutical products in four markets; Europe, United States, Japan and Ireland. The two products that were investigated for the case studies are Claritin (Clarityn) from Schering-Plough and Lipitor from Pfizer. The case studies focussed on how the companies promoted and influenced patients to buy their products through television commercials and websites in order to keep their market share and maybe entice new customers to buy it. Interviews were preformed with various personnel that work in and with the pharmaceutical industry.